Firstly, and apology for the aggressive title of this blog, but seriously… we all need to listen more.

One of the statements in the Best Companies annual employee engagement survey is “my manager does a lot of telling and not much listening.” To me, this is a statement designed to open up conversation on being a more collaborative workplace. As we have explored in previous blogs, if employees feel like they are part of the organisation’s journey, and their expertise is valued, then the organisation will reap the benefits. 

Tell, tell tell.

Take a look at your employees… why did you hire them in the first place? If your recruitment process is robust, then the answer here should be ‘because they could do the job.’ It’s that simple. So, if you’ve employed someone to do that job then constantly just telling them what to do and not listening to their subject matter expertise can:

-        Undermine their confidence

-        Feel like they are just a number to the organisation 

-        Come across as disrespecting their knowledge and skills

-        Demotivate employees 

-        Lead them to leave the organisation

Asking their opinion on a situation that is going to affect them can make a huge difference. Properly listening and taking their views into consideration will help you to keep an engaged team who want to keep working well for the organisation. 

Employees need to know what is going on in their organisation, so they need to be given this information, but it’s how you inform them. The workforce has changed a lot in the last couple of decades, and employees today expect that interactivity, collaboration and the chance to ask questions. 

I hear you…

Listening to your team can have so many benefits. They might not always say what you want to hear, but differing opinions and healthy debate can lead to better understanding across the workforce. It can:

- Lead to greater collaboration, as colleagues feel like part of the    organisation. 

- Help to show respect for their knowledge and skills.

- Help to build a hive mind – knowing that all ideas are listened to. 

How can you go about instilling a listening culture?

To be effective, a listening culture needs to be present across all areas of the business – right from the top down. All levels of management need to buy into this concept. Simply having an open-door policy is not enough. You need to walk the talk… sorry… let’s change that saying to walk and listen! 

For example:

1. Expecting your team to come to you can be daunting. Managers need to go to their teams in their workspace. This is their comfort zone and they are more likely to speak up if they are in a familiar or neutral environment. 
2. Thank your team members for their opinions, views and suggestions. It can take a lot for some to speak up about something they don’t understand, or see a better way to do something. 
3. Don’t dismiss their idea out of hand either, even if it is unfeasible. Give them the reason why it might not work, but encourage them to come forward with more ideas. Being shut down can be incredibly demoralising, so don’t be that person to stifle other’s ideas. The next one they have might just be a gem, but they’re too afraid to speak up. 

I’ll leave you with this old adage… we have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. We should listen twice as much as we speak.