6 Critical Listening Skills Leaders Must Internalise

Listening skills are a highly underrated leadership attribute. Effective leadership isn’t just about speaking well and making the right decisions—it’s also about mastering listening skills.

The ability to listen effectively can significantly enhance a leader’s impact, helping to build trust, foster collaboration, and create a more inclusive workplace. Listening skills allow leaders to understand the needs, concerns, and motivations of their team members, leading to better decision-making and a more engaged workforce.

To truly master listening skills, leaders must remember that ‘time’ is the secret key. When you pledge to listen, you automatically sign up to ask questions, have longer uninterrupted conversations, and sometimes, follow up conversations.

In today’s fast-paced and often fragmented work environment, taking the time to truly listen can set exceptional leaders apart from the rest.

Listen to Understand, Not to Respond

Imagine this: During a one-on-one conversation, a leader notices an employee is unusually quiet. Instead of assuming they’re disengaged, the leader says, “I’ve noticed you seem quieter than usual today. Is there something on your mind?” This opens the door for the employee to share their thoughts and feelings, fostering a sense of trust and understanding.

What this demonstrates is, that when leaders listen to understand, rather than simply hurry to respond, they build stronger relationships, foster trust, and create a more collaborative and productive environment.

In a team meeting, a leader who listens to understand will hear out an employee’s concerns about a project deadline and ask follow-up questions to delve deeper into the issue. “Can you explain more about the challenges you’re facing with the timeline?”, is one way of asking. This shows the employee that their concerns are valued and taken seriously.

The underscored ground rule here is listening to understand. It involves fully comprehending the speaker’s message, both their words, and the emotions behind them. This approach requires patience, empathy, and a genuine interest in the speaker’s perspective. In contrast, listening to respond focuses on preparing your reply while the other person is still speaking, often leading to misunderstandings and missed opportunities for meaningful connection.

Here, we delve into the six critical steps leaders must internalise to enhance their listening skills.

1. Commit to Listen:

Committing to listen involves actively engaging with and understanding team members, building trust, and fostering collaboration. One can commit only by prioritising – giving listening time. Mere lip service of listening and doing what you had already set out to do, is not listening. It requires committing time, and really setting things aside and listening without prejudice or preconceived notions. It takes practice and patience. How can a leader develop that?

Adopt the SOLER Posture

Once you create space to listen, the next is to make the other person feel that you are fully focused and listening. The SOLER posture is not just a technique but a powerful demonstration of active listening.

SOLER stands for:

• Squarely face the person

• Open your posture

• Lean towards the speaker

• Eye contact maintained

• Relax

By being mindful of all this while listening, you signal genuine engagement. In an office setting, this approach is invaluable. When a team member approaches their leader with a problem, the leader adopting SOLER principles fosters an atmosphere of attentiveness and respect. This simple yet profound gesture ensures the speaker feels heard and valued, enhancing communication and teamwork within the organisation.

Adopting the SOLER posture signals to the speaker that you are fully engaged and interested in what they have to say. For example, in an office setting, when a team member approaches their leader with a problem, the leader can adopt these principles and ensure they remain relaxed. This conveys attentiveness and readiness to listen, making the speaker feel heard and valued.

2. Listen for Facts and Feelings

Effective listening involves understanding both the factual content and the emotional context of the speaker’s message. This means paying attention not only to the words being said but also to the tone, body language, and underlying emotions.

During a performance review, an employee tells a leader, “I’ve been feeling stressed with the workload.” By listening for both the facts (heavy workload) and feelings (stress), the leader can ask questions to understand what might be leading to this and guide the employee by discussing ways to manage the workload or providing additional support. As opposed to denying the fact that there is a workload or simply without context recommending stress-busting textbook ideas.

3. Do Not Interrupt

Interrupting not only disrupts the speaker’s train of thought but also signals that their message is not important. Allowing the speaker to finish their thoughts without interruption shows respect and helps you gather complete information before responding.

For instance, in a brainstorming session, a leader should ideally let each team member finish presenting their ideas before chiming in. Important to note here, that merely going around the room to allow everyone to speak, whilst you are going through your emails or messages over the phone is not listening. Every step mentioned above and the ones coming below are to be held together as a combination to truly become a leader who listens.

When an employee feels heard, this encourages open dialogue, ensures all voices are heard, real inputs are shared and fosters a more inclusive and productive environment where everyone feels valued and respected.

4. Make Notes

Whenever there’s a project update meeting, a leader should jot down key points as team members report their progress. This not only helps them remember important details but also shows the team that their contributions are being taken seriously. It is a great way to actively listen when a grievance is being reported.

Making notes can help capture important points for future reference and demonstrate that you value the speaker’s input. Additionally, these notes can serve as a reference for addressing any issues that arise later, ensuring accountability and transparency. They can also be shared with the team to keep everyone informed and aligned with the project’s goals, fostering a collaborative environment.

5. Ask Questions to Clarify

Asking clarifying questions ensures you fully understand the speaker’s message and shows that you are actively engaged in the conversation. This step is crucial for avoiding misunderstandings. This approach is especially necessary during conflict resolution.

In a conflict resolution scenario, if an employee expresses they felt left out of a decision-making process, a possible way a leader can address it is by asking questions like, “When you mentioned feeling left out of decisions, can you give me an example of a specific incident?” This helps clarify the issue, opens up a productive dialogue, and demonstrates that the leader values the employee’s perspective, paving the way for finding a resolution.

6. Summarise Your Understanding

Summarising what you’ve heard and understood helps confirm that you are on the same page with the speaker. It also allows the speaker to correct any misunderstandings.

Leaders must most definitely summarise the discussion. For example, a leader who asks the following: “So, if I understand correctly, you’re suggesting that we focus our marketing efforts on social media channels to reach a younger audience, right?”, can ensure they have understood the brief correctly, to make future impactful decisions.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of listening is an essential skill for effective leadership. By listening to understand rather than to respond, leaders can build stronger relationships, foster a culture of trust and collaboration, and make more informed decisions. Following the steps of effective listening—committing to listening, adopting the SOLER posture, listening for facts and feelings, avoiding interruptions, making notes, asking clarifying questions, and summarising your understanding—can significantly enhance a leader’s ability to connect with their team and lead with empathy and insight.

By integrating these practices into daily interactions, leaders not only improve their listening skills but also set a positive example for their teams, encouraging a more inclusive and communicative workplace culture. In the end, the art of listening is not just about hearing words; it’s about understanding and valuing the people who speak them.

Embracing active listening fosters trust, enhances collaboration, and helps you lead with empathy. Need coaching with your listening skills? Write to us at contact@yellowspark.in

Author Profile: Aparna Joshi Khandwala is a passionate HR professional. She co-founded Yellow Spark to work with like-minded people who believe in the power of leadership, which is the only business differentiator in today’s time.