Leaders know that communication is critical. And the pressure has been on during this pandemic for leaders to “over-communicate.” When leaders communicate frequently and with urgency, transparency, and empathy, it helps people adjust to the constantly changing conditions a crisis brings.
However, all this focus is on outward communication. Speaking is less than half of the equation when it comes to communicating effectively. Speaking + Listening = Effective Communication.
What would happen if rather than over-communicating, we over-listened instead?
Research shows that when leaders listen well productivity and profitability increase:
- $37 billion is the total estimated cost of mistakes made by employees who misunderstood or were misinformed about company policies, business process, job function or a combination of the three, according to a recent survey of 400 US- and UK-based corporations. That’s an average cost per company surveyed of $62.4 million per year.
- Most small to medium-sized businesses spend 17.5 hours per week clarifying miscommunications.
Listening boosts engagement:
- 65% of employees are not engaged at work, and one of the criteria in Gallup’s well-known Q12 engagement survey is “my opinions count.”
- 70% of disengaged employees cite “not feeling valued” as a core reason for their dissatisfaction.
- When leaders listen well employees feel valued and believe their opinions matter.
Active listening drives innovation by creating a culture of psychological safety:
- Amy Edmondson from the Harvard Business School defines psychological safety as an environment in which members of a team feel safe to be themselves, contribute their unique ideas and take interpersonal risks (Edmondson, 2019).
- Active listening is a hallmark trait of psychological safety (Ryan Jenkins, Entrepreneur magazine).
Think you’re either a good listener or you’re not? Think again. Listening is a skill you can build.
Here are three things you can do to improve your listening skills today:
- Practice active listening. Ask interesting, open-ended questions. Be curious about what the person has to say. Listen as if you expect to hear something significant.
- Western culture has a poor relationship with silence, often filling voids with words. One thing you can do to practice your listening skills is to say, “Tell me more” and then embrace the gap that follows. Allow the speaker to gather their thoughts, and then listen for their greatness.
- Test for one day how much time you spend communicating out and how much you are listening and taking in.
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