Reflective listening is essentially the act of repeating back to someone, in your own words, what they have just said. The idea here is that you 1) check to see if you’ve heard them correctly, and 2) help them realize you are listening. While this can be a useful skill, I’ve found that it is frequently misunderstood and poorly implemented. If you’re not tactful, simply reflecting back what someone has said can come across as mechanical and inauthentic.
