Listening Impact

Client after client after client, no matter where in an organizational hierarchy, is often described as being a poor listener. I cannot begin to count the number of times the issue comes up during coaching, interviewing colleagues, or in written evaluations.

What’s strange is how little is done to improve the person’s listening effectiveness. This might be because we go with what we know and what we’ve experienced. So, when we’re looking at “fixing” communication skills the focus is usually on improving the output, or talking. Or it might be that people just don’t know how they listen, let alone how to improve it.

Recently I was interviewed to coach a high-potential, mid-level executive (I’ll call her Jani), and her manager said my job would be to “make her a better communicator.” When I probed for the meaning behind that statement, the manager jumped to focus on outputs: he wanted Jani to “say more, talk more, contribute more:” to participate more in meetings, make assertions, and volunteer for presentations.

However, as our conversation progressed, the manager acknowledged that Jani was very effective as a communicator. She was skilled in understanding, and being understood, by colleagues and team members alike. I wanted to say, “Look, the problem here is not Jani’s skills, but it’s the culture that equates good communication with talking. Jani is a skilled communicator, but she might not fit into what you perceive is the way to communicate—to be like you.”

Well, I didn’t blurt that out, but I did come pretty close. Eventually, after much back and forth, the manager and I shifted our definition of the “communication” problem. Now we’re working on the broad topic of communication for his whole team: assessing styles, practicing how to balance talking and listening, and developing observation skills.

Situations like this led me to become a serious researcher of listening and after more than a year of delving into the topic, I developed Hear! Hear? Your Listening Portfolio? an instrument that assesses listening habits. The people who take Hear! Hear? learn what habits they rely upon, identify the strengths and challenges associated with those habits, and analyze the effectiveness of the habits in the workplace.

We also created Tune Up Your Listening, both a webinar and workshop that furthers the understanding of the participants’ listening habits. Participants practice flexing their listening habits to meet the needs of the listening situation.

This blog will be a way to share my learning and experience, and mostly, to help people see what an impact improved listening can make. Some blog posts will be “Notes from the Field” where my colleagues will write about their stories and experiences with improving listening skills in the workplace. We hope to stimulate your thinking and actions for improving listening in your field of work, whether that is in management, coaching, sales, research, service or operations.

What listening issues do you experience in the workplace? We’d love your anecdotes and observations about both good and bad listening.