Hearing and Active Listening in the Workplace

Hearing and Active Listening in the Workplace

Hearing and active listening are two contrasting skills for communication in the workplace. 'Hearing' is the perception or apprehension by ear so as to gain vital information as disseminated. On the other hand, active listening entails paying an acute, thoughtful and considerate attention to a sound from a given source like the organizational leadership. Hearing demands an active participation status to understand the information and its meaning. It takes a receptive individual and hard work to listen actively and to decipher the information as shared within the organization. It is hard for an employee to be connected to his/her peers and the management unless they have the ability to not only listen actively but also hear. Improving the communication skills is imperative for advancing the level of emotional intelligence because it increases the chances of happiness, satisfaction, motivation, and success both in interpersonal relationship and at the workplace (Rogers & Farson 2011).

As a communication skill, active listening facilitates comprehension, compassion, and understanding between the employees and the top level leadership within an internal environment of the organization. Effective listeners can process the information actively, ask relevant and applicable questions, and comment pertinently. Often, the workers that listen actively can build intimacy and solve organizational problems cooperatively.

'Hearing' is a natural passive process of absorbing sound. Active listening is a learned or acquired cognitive process that includes attentiveness and the processing of the sensory data passing through the hearing mechanism to the nervous system. Active listening is fundamental as it conveys a clarified meaning. It is one of the most consequential skills of communication in the workplace. However, critics still regard active listening to be playing a lesser role in political, educational and social spheres. There are multiple barriers that should be avoided when acquiring proper active listening skills (Bond, 2012).

It is worth noting that business information is an intangible and invisible that ought to be passed from a speaker to an active listener. As such, it is imperative for both parties to develop concise listening skills to communicate effectively and to ease the breakdown burden in the workplace.  The active listening technique is most appropriate when engaging in negotiations, arguments or listening to the problems that need to be tackled in the work environment. The focus of an employee should shift towards the speaker to get a reflective image on his feelings and intention.

Skills

There are numerous skills subsets incorporated in active listening in the workplace. They include the value of silence, listening to the actual or hidden meaning of the information, body language affirmation, and the reaffirmation or a double check on the disseminated information. Silence is vital because it reveals the listener’s level of attention. Besides, it enables the speakers to go pass the message successfully without external interruption. It also ensures that the speakers can hear themselves as they talk. The listener should also wrestle his thoughts to clear the mind for new information as shared. While there is a temptation to interrupt the speaker with an intention of making an addition or an objection, doing so may result in a speaker missing the real meaning of the information. Besides, it is uncouth for the junior staff to interrupt their superiors without using the proper communication channels.  Affirmative body language plays an important role in ensuring that the speaker understands the attentiveness of the listener. For instance, a listener can nod or smile to give a go-ahead to the speaker. Lastly, the active listener should learn to repeat their version of the absorbed information to allow the speaker to clarify details.

Active listening is applicable in both vertical and horizontal communication situations within the workplace. Effective hearing and listening skills form the basis for the attainment of quality personal and workplace relationships. Utilization of active listening in the work environment ensures an understanding between the employers and the employers. Therefore, a response to the employee needs is made easier and swift. In the service industry, for example, active listening instead of just hearing ensures that the service providers have a clear understanding of customer expectations. As such, they can plan effectively on intervention strategies to meet the expectations (Bodie 2013). The delicate nature of the healthcare sector necessitates active listening skills for nurses and doctors to understand the patient needs hence the provision of better healthcare services. Cooperation and effectiveness in the workplace can be linked to the existing bond in the families of employees. Therefore, it is imperative for the workers to adopt their active listening skills in a family setting to build trust and intimacy between them and their children and spouses.

Employees whose work revolves around workflow analysis, authoring of procedure manuals and the development of hire orientation programming interacts most of the times with the employees of all the organizational department and sectors. Meeting with employees from managerial staff to the subordinate clerks leads to a better understanding of the process workflow from one individual to the other. Besides, studying the process efficiencies sheds light on its impact on profitability and productivity. Such a delicate responsibility requires a heightened level of hearing and active listening. Occupations like this involve complaint launch by different employees. Therefore, the person in charge has to maintain neutrality to get to the heart if the matter. It entails questioning for clarification of raised issues. In this case, a section of workers can be agitated. Allowing for a time to vent and empathizing with their situation are all part of hearing and active listening (Geart & Bodie, 2011). Of keen to note is the complicated nature of the entire process. Adequate training on hearing and active listening skills enable the employees in such professions to handle their tasks effectively.

In an educational workplace, teachers that apply active listening skills establish a bond with the students that allows for a constructive engagement, especially in the participatory learning aspects. Active listening promotes cohesion and understanding besides sending a clear message on the importance of a learner. As students internalize the positive motivational messages, the behavior and communication in the learning environment greatly improve. When the instructors listen actively, it is intuitive for learners to be empowered in communicating their needs openly and effectively.

It is not only the managers that benefit from active listening--the employees acquire resourceful benefits from learning hearing and listening skills as well. The workers with active listening skills can process information fast and effectively. In fact, they can employ their knowledge and experience to decipher complex concepts and conceive new useful ideas for the advancement of innovation in the corporation (Guffey & Loewy 2014). The management should serve as role models and impart knowledge to the junior workforce on hearing and active listening skill. Over time, a corporate culture that embraces interaction and communication will develop.

 Integration of communication skills with the organization policies and values ensures that competent listeners have an ability to demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of the entire process. In addition, the employees will utilize effective and appropriate hearing and active listening skills in a given workplace setting and communication situation. The leadership is also presented with an opportunity to identify, manage, and regulate the active listening barriers.

While training the workers on listening skills is necessary, it is the employer that models the appropriate and influential listening skills. Top and mid-level managers model active listening and hearing by according an undivided attention to junior and subordinate staff during the supervision process (Baldwin et al., 2012). As the employees deliver their mandate, it is a responsibility of their superiors and departmental heads to appreciate their efforts.  It is unrealistic for an organizational leader to spend most of their time to listen actively to the employees, but they should frequent their exhibition of active listening behavior. In addition to one-on-one interactions during conferences, presentations, and general discussions are the best opportunities to model active listening in the workplace.

Modeling of hearing and active listening in an organizational setting is imperative, especially when building and establishing a cooperative business environment where employees advance their skills on how to communicate their ideas, feelings and opinions productively among themselves and to different organizational levels. They can solve issues arising between each other or with the leadership by incorporating tactics and strategies yielding a positive outcome. When employees are dissatisfied and are sharing his views with the concerned authorities, they can vent emotional issues that so not represent their ultimate needs (Bodie, 2013). The employer’s response to such situations is to demonstrate his ability to pay a keen attention through active listening. Through attentive listening, there is an elimination of reactive and impulsive judgment. Instead, it is replaced by an understanding and sourcing for strategies for conflict resolution. Next, the employer ought to listen critically to evaluate the situation and gain additional details. Interruption can only ensure during the question and answer session. Lastly, there is a need for the use of non-verbal and verbal cues for an employee to understand the reaction of the employer. Application of these techniques encourages the workers to communicate more openly and honestly thus revealing hidden details and brewing issues within the organization.

Assertive communication and discipline--as one of the organizational management plans—involves less use of active listening and hearing as effective tools of communication. Managers that employ authoritarian leadership style and hard forms of motivation strategies have unwavering expectations that the employees will heed to their calls. Authoritative leaders apply specified forms of consequences and rewards to workers as per their performance and effort. In this case, the employees regard the leader as lacking active listening skills thus are afraid to establish a communication channel for a fear of reprisal consequences (International Society for Performance Improvement, 2013). As a result, the employees become numb to adopting proper communication skills hence yielding poor organizational performance. In addition, the organization earns a poor reputation for the infringement of employee rights.

Active Listening Techniques at the Workplace

It is an irritating behavior for employees not to pay a keen attention to what their leaders are communicating. In a small organizational setting, each member of the workforce has an important role to play, thus, can be the sole cause of unsuccessful operations. As such, it is recommendable for business owners and employees to be attentive to the information shared by a co-worker. A regular practice of active listening techniques curb the instances of missed or zoned-out vital details.

Focusing implies that a listener should avoid distraction from the surroundings. Today, technological gadgets such as smartphones often distract workers as they check the social sites updates on a regular basis. Such a move directly conflict with the objectives of the organization, especially if the activity is conducted during the working hours. In fact, workplace distractions result in divided attentions hence poor hearing and listening skills. Even worse, it is nearly impossible to stay focused and to engage effectively in a heated constructive debate if an employee cannot listen actively.

Another technique for Active listening at the workplace is the use of body language. Paying keen attention entails looking directly to the speaker. An active listener should avoid staring at the papers on the desk during a crucial meeting or a conversation so as to absorb all the information details. A smile or a nod of the head indicates that a listener is curious and enthusiastic on the subject matter discussed.

Speakers get irritated quickly if the listener interrupts before their turn. This is because an interruption derails the communicator's train of thought, thus disturbing a cohesive presentation of the intended message. An active listener should also not divert the conversation by injecting a personal issue. The reason for this is that the speaker interprets the diversion as lack of interest and appreciation of his/her experience. Besides, it is unnecessary for a listener to accord unsolicited advice. Notably, most speakers in an organization are after sharing their thoughts on a given subject.

Active listeners ask questions to verify their understanding of the communicated message. Jumping into conclusion is risky, especially if the topic of conversation touches on a delicate matter. As such, it is necessary for an active listener to give time for a speaker to exhaust their information before offering a response. A clear summary at the end of discussions or a meeting notifies the speaker of the listener's level of understanding, hence the determination of a need for further classification.

Effective active listening is a compensator to other workplace competencies because it neutralizes the negative gap effects. As employees pursue other competencies, they should strive as well to gain active listening skills to minimize the time involved in bridging the existing gap. Gaps that exist in the workplace include the intellectual power, inadequate negotiation skills, inappropriate or inapplicable strategic agility, and process management. The organizational leadership and employees often overlook or misunderstand the distinction between hearing and active listening, despite the contributions of each to the stability of the firm (Van Kham, 2014). Resultantly, a handful of the workers takes time to pursue and appreciate its impact. Many departmental heads are convinced that their experience at the helm has earned them the necessary active listening skills. What they do not realize is the extent of damage that the misconception can spell to the future of the organization. Such leaders confuse hearing for active listening.

Hearing is merely a passive act naturally granted to people with hearing ability. It does not involve an application of effort thus its wrong misinterpretation for listening. However, listening involves a mental activity apart from just the ear. Listeners must pay attention to the information details. Active listeners should concentrate on the deliberation and processing of delivered message. The modern workplace embraces multitasking, thus making it harder for employees to engage in active listening. Workers spend a remarkable amount of time preparing to speak than listening actively. As people divert attention to what they are saying active listening techniques get impaired.

Benefits of Active Listening

Acquisition of Active and effective listening skills yield effective business communication. Employees blame misinterpretation or miscommunication for below average presentation skills. During such a time, the onus does not fall on the listener but the speaker. A right understanding of the communicated message involves both the listener and the communicator playing their crucial roles.  Therefore, active listeners should pay an undivided attention to fully understand the message.

Development of active listening techniques aids in the spread of minimal misunderstanding within the organization, Active listeners have the ability to halt misunderstandings thus a setback to miscommunication (Ross, 2014). In this case, settlement of disputes can occur irrespective of the spoken or written message.

Development of healthy and strong interpersonal relationship in the work center is within reach if active listening is embraced. A poorly developed workplace relationship causes misrepresentations and misunderstandings that can have a long-lasting effect on the work environment status. Indulging in effective active listening strategies and practices conveys the importance and respect that the listener has towards co-workers or superiors.

Not only does active listening improve personal development but also, it positively influences and raises the workplace conditions. Active listening is one of the most effective ways of learning. As such, good active listeners grasp new ideas and knowledge from their engagements. Sustainable growth as an employee is possible when an individual integrates active listening to the routine work schedule. The development of emotional intelligence is an outcome of effective listening skills mostly applicable in active listening. Conflicts will hardly occur if the employees embrace and practice active listening instead of becoming ordinary hearers.

Effectiveness in Hearing and Active Listening

Communication in the workplace is increasingly becoming a way of life. Modern managers view effective listening as a door-opener to success and attainment of business objectives. Unfortunately, each managerial level experiences escalated tension coupled with market uncertainties but induced by lacking active listening within the work environment. As such, there is a need for a concerted effort to conceive new strategies incorporating proper listening preparations.  They should entail behavioral, physical, and mental aspects needed for listening and communicating effectively (Thompson, 2013). Therefore, active listening skills in corporate management are vital for adequate technical leadership within the workplace.

Many organizations are convinced of poor listening habits as the main barrier to the effectiveness of the workforce. Thus, active listening skills development is important for the management to sustain the self-concept of employees. If the leadership can share adequate information with the employees, chances are that the ensuing uncertainties on their future and jobs will be diminished. As a result, their perception of the organization and personal well-being will resurface.

Some of the strategies that the organizational leadership employ in overcoming conflicts and communication barriers include a clear definition of the responsibilities if each employee and incorporating active listening techniques to the aired concerns hence improving the workforce communication competencies. A productive atmosphere at the workplace is a product of good relations, positive self-concepts and equal empowerment shared between the employees and the management (Weger et al., 2014). Employees need to be valued through praised for accomplished tasks. In so doing, the idea of self-concept takes root in the workplace.

A remarkable amount of financial resources is wasted annually by organizations because of poor listening technique. As such, it is a necessity for employers and the workforce to adopt the art of effective communication to ensure a productive work environment. A success of employees and the organization as whole hinges on the management showing a leading the way by being active listeners, effective communicators and adopt compromise as an option.

It has been proven times and again that an improvement of hearing and listening skills in life guarantees success and productivity in the workplace. It is an implication that the rewards will be more as stress levels drop for both the firms and their workers. For leaders, they become valued as the success level of the organization increase because of active listening (Housel, 2011). Worth remembering is that active listening skills demand the application of critical thinking. Thinking critically allows employees to be in control of their mindset and opinions to avert jumping to conclusions and make a better judgment. As such, it is clear that an application of effective listening skills provides the listener with the necessary intellectual standards required in questioning distinct situations otherwise overlooked. 

Engaging in extensive thinking and becoming an open minded individual are some of the best ways to approach scenarios that demand active listening skills. Throughout the active years of an employee, changes in perceptions and self-concept are imminent due to their active listening skills. Strategies such as proper assessments of situations and active listening ensure flexibility in effective communication. Blending a positive attitude and active listening ensures success in an employee's career at the same time benefiting the organization. Most importantly, it is the best strategy to gain an in-depth understanding of the way an organization works and the nature and personalities of co-workers.

Active listening is a skill that is hard to acquire in a work environment because it requires an alteration of basic attitudes. Employees must be sincerely interested in the speaker’s message to be effective active listeners. There is a strong risk element carried by active listening. Active listeners are prone to influence by the speaker, hence, care should be taken to only absorb constructive information and to discard negative influence. It demands alertness, courage, and inner security to take such bold risks and understand their long-term consequences. One of the most evident barriers to successful and effective interpersonal listening skills is the listener's personal reference frame, and disapproval or approval of the disseminated message by the other party (Bodie, 2011).

            In summary, it is clear that listening skills play a critical role in the workplace. The leadership therefore, should adopt active listening techniques in to embrace the ideas and opinions of the employees. On the other hand, the employees need to be trained on the on communication skills and techniques. An investment in such training not only creates awareness but also guarantees better performance and sustainability in the organization. 

References

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