One of the most important aspects of effective communication is listening to others so that they feel understood and heard. The LSD technique stands for listening, summarising, and delving deeper. By using this technique, both the sender and the receiver understand each other better, resulting in improved communication.
With the LSD (listening, summarising, delving deeper) technique, woolly or complicated stories can be transformed into clear language for both sender and listener. We'll explain how you can simply implement this somewhat peculiar trick in practice.
Listening
The L stands for listening. An apparently simple task. Yet, it often happens that either someone else or yourself does not listen properly to the core of the story.
Your mind often already has a response ready to the question. In this case, you think you know what the other person is going to say. This results in a conversation based on assumptions, which are not always accurate.
Communication is always a two-way street between the sender and the listener. Poor listening leads to significant miscommunication and can even lead to conflict. Understanding each other, unlike poor listening, is vital here. In the word understanding, there is the word comprehension.
Attentive listening starts with the listener's mindset. By allowing each other to speak, staying focused at all times and remaining engaged, you give someone the idea that you are genuinely there for him or her. Empathise and be open. Only then will you have full attention for the other person and ensure that they feel seen and heard.
Tips for listening to conversations
Empathise, sense the other and show empathy.
Lean forward when you listen to others in a physical conversation.
Nod occasionally and indicate that you are paying attention. Make sounds like mhum for example.
Make eye contact when you are listening in a physical conversation.
Pay attention to the tone of the voice of the other. This speaks volumes about their mood. Read more about this in our intonation and voice tone blog.
Show genuine interest in the other person's story.
Active listening? How do you actually do that? One of the essential parts of effective communication is listening to others so that they feel understood and heard.
Summarising
Summarising during a conversation ensures that you are certain that you have understood the other well. Repeat in your own words the information that has reached you. In this way, you check if all the information is interpreted correctly. It also makes it easy to show that there has been real attentive listening. Furthermore, you give the other the chance to expand or correct the story. An additional benefit is that summarising is a useful tool to put all the information in order again and gain insight into which questions still need to be asked.
You summarise by using words like….
Have I understood correctly that…...
So you want……
Do I understand correctly…..
Delving deeper
Often, there is more behind a story than initially thought. In order to discover the underlying message, it is important to delve deeper. It provides insight into what motivates someone or what the underlying problem is. Without thoroughly delving deeper, there is a risk that valuable information might remain uncovered. Delving can be daunting, especially if there is suspicion that emotional chords might be struck. This can be resolved by mentioning beforehand that it is up to the speaker what he/she shares. It is important to ask open-ended questions. This gives the interlocutor the feeling that they can freely share their story. Avoid why-starting questions. The other tends to feel less free to speak openly in such cases.
