When team members feel heard, their involvement and commitment rises and their performance improves, delivering big benefits to the projects and teams working on cutting edge solutions.
But did you know that many leaders are considered bad at listening? Because listening is mentally taxing and demands empathy and patience.
This article describes the five common causes of poor listening and explains ways to counter each.
- The foremost reason is the rush to complete the conversation. To avoid it, set aside distraction-free time for conversations, ask clarifying questions, seek more details, and plan follow-up discussions
- The second drawback is being overly defensive and trying to win every conversation. As a leader, you need to calm your emotions, buy yourself time by restating what you’ve heard, and get more information before responding
- The third mistake is displaying invisibility—not showing that you’re listening. So, demonstrate that you are with body language and verbal cues and by summarizing what people have told you. They include maintaining eye contact, nodding, and adopting an open posture when meeting your team
- The fourth common reason is exhaustion, which prevents leaders from engaging productively. Setting clear boundaries and acknowledging your limits on your time and capacity will help you address this problem.
- The last pitfall is inaction. Always ensure to close the loop. Before ending a conversation, affirm what you’ve heard, identify the next steps, and agree on a timeline to circle back. Be transparent about what you can or cannot act on and clearly explain the “why”. If you’re taking a team member’s suggestion, outline how you want the team to make it happen. If a requested change cannot be implemented because of various reasons like company policy, or technical/financial limitations, acknowledge that reality. Underlining the reasons behind the inability to implement ideas exchanged can open the door to brainstorming alternative approaches.
So Happy Listening
