Listening Impact

In the past year I’ve been studying and conducting research into listening because so many of my clients struggle with it.  One piece of research conducted by Madelyn Burley-Allen indicates that managers spend about 45% of their time listening and executives even more at around 55%.  With such a time demand, it’s crucial that it be done well.

In one case, a group of sales people, folks whose livelihood depends upon their listening skills, was administered a 360 performance skills instrument. They scored well on the Communication category, but, when the assessment delved deeper into individual behaviors, they rated poorly on Listening.  They couldn’t understand how they could be seen as good communicators yet poor listeners until we began to examine their definition of being a good communicator.

They saw themselves as good communicators because they were adept at talking, making presentations and “selling.”  They assumed the job of a sales person is to talk, ultimately getting a prospect to buy their products or services. Mostly they saw talking as an active part of the sales process and listening as passive. They described listening in terms of getting enough information to make the sale, although they would not describe it quite so bluntly.

Interestingly, when we followed the 360 with Hear! Hear? Your Listening Portfolio,ä a tool we developed to assess listening habits, the sales people could see the relationship between their listening habits and why they scored so unsatisfactorily in the 360.  They discovered that their existing listening habits dominated how they listened, not the needs of the situation.

Since the assessment work, several of the sales people have focused on flexing their listening habits to the requirements of the situation. They talk and listen with the same level of attention and intention. Their change in listening behavior correlates with a marked improvement in their sales performance.

Listening, as you’ve heard before, is so basic it is often overlooked. If you are so busy thinking of what you’re going to say next that you can’t hear what your prospect or employee is saying, you’re going to miss your opportunity to connect to their felt need. If you don’t know what their perception is, you can’t address their issues. You may as well have skipped the whole encounter. Slow down, focus and pay more sincere attention to what is being said than your prospect, client or employee expects. You’ll be surprised at how good listening creates a feeling of partnership.

Zig Ziglar, “Everyone Sells, Mastering the Essentials,” Success Magazine, May 12, 2009

I doubt anyone would disagree that listening matters, but not as many people know that the way they listen affects their success.

“We used the Hear! Hear? Your Listening Portfolio, along with a 360 assessment, with a group of Sales Managers.  The listening profile provided additional valuable insight into their communication skills that the 360 tool didn’t provide.”

Brenda Williams, People Development Manager, Aggreko, LLC