Peter Drucker, the guru of management education had said “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said”. Karl Weick, professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology went one step further and said ‘Listen as if you are wrong’. While both those may not be easy-to-find skills, most lack even common listening skills.
All communication can be divided into reading, writing, talking and listening. Listening is the very first part of communication that anyone is exposed to. It begins in the mother’s womb, while talking reading and writing follow much later. A study at the University of Washington shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy. Yet most adults find it easier to talk or write a memo or even read reports than listen. It is one of the most underrated skills in the corporate world.
In a , only about 31 per cent of employees reported that their boss listened to them. ‘Psychology today’ states this to be a significant problem on several levels. How often have you heard someone say “I don’t want to listen to your complaints”? You have probably said it many times yourself. Wisdom suggests that as a boss you should actively seek feedback, even if it is negative, listen with an open mind and fully consider what is being said. Not all problems have magic solutions, but letting an employee vent goes a long way toward building loyalty and high morale.
When employees can voice concerns and have them dealt with before they become lingering problems, they feel valued which raises productivity and lowers turnover. Also when employees feel they have been heard, they become much more attentive and responsive to the concerns that management might have.
Listening tells you about people’s past experience, what they like doing, what they excel at, what their dreams are; all of which could dovetail with how you get them to be at their most productive. It helps you gain trust. Listening is the glue that holds the entire team together because it also ensures individuals to be most effective in their communication.
Even if one were to use money as a yardstick for success and productivity, listening pays. The Mars Orbiter mission which burnt in space in 1999 and ended up losing over $125 million is said to have failed because the two engineering teams that were responsible for collaborating on the design, failed to listen to what the other was communicating. One team used metric units while the other used English units when determining key spacecraft operations. A simple communication gap that ended up in a colossal waste of time, energy and resources!
Success comes to those who acknowledge truth as imperative and create safe spaces for the truth to flourish, downplay punishment for failure, and commit to listening to what to everyone has to say. Opportunities knock very softly and only those who fine-tune their listening skills can hear them.
Anand Kumar