We all know well that hearing and listening are not the same. Hearing is a passive act and listening is active. Hearing is perceiving with the ear and listening is paying attention to what is heard. The same happens with seeing and looking, eating and tasting, breathing and inhaling/exhaling. In each case, the second verb denotes a higher degree of consciousness and attention, transforming an automatic action into a deliberate and conscious act.

Walking and strolling could be another example. Walking can be an ordinary act for many, but we can stroll “as if it were the venture and adventure of the day,” as suggested by the writer Henry David Thoreau, or even as a way of being in the world, according to sociology professor David Le Breton.

With listening, from the Latin auscultare, which literally means applying the ear (auris), the same thing happens as with walking; it implies intentionality. And this intentionality generates significant benefits for people and organisations, such as a positive environment, increased trust, reduced misunderstandings, or better decision-making. This is what is known as active listening.

What will I read about in this article?

 

Active listening at work: what does the research say?

Research on active listening in organisations remains quite fragmented. Researchers Yip and Fisher, authors of “Listening in Organisations: Synthesis and Future Agenda,” conducted an integrative review of the literature on listening in the workplace, analysing publications from 2000 to 2021 and covering three disciplines: business management, psychology, and communication. In total, they reviewed 117 publications which can be classified into three types of perspectives that can be useful for organisations and the people within them.

  1. Perceived listening: refers to how speakers perceive that listeners are listening to them.
  2. The listener’s experience: is based on the cognitive and emotional experiences of the listeners.
  3. Listening structures: are defined as systems that facilitate and value listening.

 

Perceived listening: how do we think we are listened to?

The predominant focus in research on active listening in the workplace has been perceived listening, that is, the way we understand that we’re being listened to.

Studies have shown that high-quality listening (empathetic, attentive, respectful, and non-judgmental) in the workplace can reduce social anxiety and susceptibility among speakers, increase their self-awareness, clarify their attitudes, and improve their motivation.

When members of an organisation practice good listening, clients’ trust in the organisation increases. This type of listening also directly influences employee behaviour, facilitating their performance and increasing their commitment to the creative process. Moreover, the best listeners are often perceived as the most influential within the organisation.

Research in this field has focused on identifying the signals of high-quality active listening. The results reveal that these indicators include responding appropriately, providing constructive feedback, asking relevant questions, and using non-verbal communication to follow the conversation.

 

The listener’s experience: what do those who receive our words feel?

The second major area of research resulting from the review of the literature on listening in organisations is the listener’s experience. This field of study focuses on the listener’s effort to understand, interpret, and give meaning to the messages of the speaker. The research proposes these reflections:

* Listening requires effort. As psychologist Pichora-Fuller points out, when listening, “we offer not only our time but also our psychological presence.” Research in this subfield shows that if active listening is very demanding, some people in the organisation may lose interest, which disrupts the communication process and reduces the effectiveness of the interaction.

* Listening can be emotionally exhausting. While confessing a distressing event can be a relief or a respite for the speaker, this message can be stressful for the listener. Research reveals that it’s important to consider the emotional demand of the listener’s experience.

* Listening in groups. If the task of listening to another person is not easy, listening in groups is even more complex due to the “problem of many minds,” as it’s cognitively more challenging because of the need to process different points of view, but it’s pivotal for collective performance. Organisations face the challenge of strengthening the art of group listening.

 

Listening structures: how are we communicating?

The third area of research derived from the literature review is active listening structures. This field focuses on the procedures, norms, and practices that shape, experience, and perceive listening in the workplace. It includes formalised structures such as meetings or informal structures such as group norms on speaking turns during discussions.

Formal and informal procedures can promote high-quality active listening within organisations. For example, establishing turns for each participant to speak in a meeting can improve listening. A study explored how a programme in the healthcare sector that encourages doctors and staff to deliberately focus on listening to patients at their bedside improves the quality of communication.

Another study examined how to improve deteriorated relationships between work teams in the United States and India by implementing an interaction guide that included questions like “how do you feel?” or “what do you think is the value of the work we’re doing?”. These types of facilitating structures helped build deeper relationships.

Finally, the review highlights that sometimes the structures designed to facilitate listening, such as formal assemblies or mandatory turn-taking systems, can have the opposite effect and be perceived as “pseudo-listening”. In these cases, it gives the impression that opinions are being shared without them really influencing decision-making. To avoid this, it’s crucial that organisations not only implement structures that promote listening but also ensure that this active listening is genuinely valued in the decision-making process. Only then will the opinions and contributions received be effectively taken into account, and the trust and commitment of the members of the organisation will be strengthened.

Organisations that value active listening in work teams and strive to promote it can:

  • Offer training programmes that teach and reinforce listening skills in the workplace. These programmes can include workshops on listening techniques, group listening, and identifying the key elements of high-quality listening.
  • Include specific sections on the quality of listening in performance evaluations, providing regular and constructive feedback. This will help employees and managers recognise the importance of high-quality active listening.
  • Provide tools for emotional management in listening to others’ experiences.
  • Implement techniques and norms in meetings and group discussions to ensure that all group members have the opportunity to be heard.

 

 

Sources:

  • Thoreau, H. D. (2020). El arte de caminar: Walking, un manifiesto inspirador. Ned ediciones.
  • Le Breton, D. (2015). Elogio del caminar. Siruela.
  • Yip, J., & Fisher, C. M. (2022). Listening in organizations: A synthesis and future agenda. Academy of Management Annals, 16(2), 657-679.
  • Pichora-Fuller, M. K. (2016). How social psychological factors may modulate auditory and cognitive functioning during listening. Ear and Hearing, 37, 92S-100S.
  • Golden-Biddle, K. (2020). Discovery as an abductive mechanism for reorienting habits within organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 63(6), 1951-1975.
  • Lee, M. Y., Mazmanian, M., & Perlow, L. (2020). Fostering positive relational dynamics: The power of spaces and interaction scripts. Academy of Management Journal, 63(1), 96-123.