To better understand the importance of having great listening skills, it is necessary to take into consideration the multiple advantages that can derive from it, in the workplace and by extension in the classroom.
1-In the workplace
a) Employee’s perspective
For the employee, listening:
-Expands capacity and knowledge
Great listening skills make an employee more competent and capable, regardless of his position. The more an individual can get information out of the meetings, the instructions, and reports provided to him, the more efficient and successful he will at completing his tasks. By listening effectively, he s able to grasp the t exact information he needs in order to execute his work without committing regrettable mistakes. Also as a result, listening enriches know-how and knowledge and helps fulfilling job requirements through progressive learning.
-Intensifies successful conversation
Another advantage of effective listening for an employee is that he becomes a better team player. If employees take the time to listen to each other, to their suggestions, warnings, advice and informational inputs, it allows them and the departments they work in to coordinate better, to avoid misunderstandings, and build profitable relationships among workers. Furthermore, effective listening reduces risks of inter-personal conflicts in a workplace creates an environment of peace, respect which facilitates enduring success for the whole enterprise
-Saves time and money
Effective listening not only reduces risks of misunderstanding and mistakes that could be very damaging to the business, it saves time and money for all departments forming a collaborative workforce. How? … by avoiding the trouble and inconvenience of starting a task or a project over again, just because the directives given were misunderstood. Employees do not waste precious time and a specific budget allocated to a specific project, given that time and money are the two most important resources in business.
b) Leader/boss’s perspective
For a manager, listening:
- Helps detects and solve problems quickly
As a leader, an entrepreneur should always be attentive to what employees have to say, whether it concerns the mechanism, the processes or the project of a business platform. In the workplace, they are the first ones to spot flaws and come up with suggestions for amelioration. It is up the manager to grasp and distinguish necessary and useful information to take the actions needed. In the same perspective, with “good ears”, he’s able to make better decisions and to discover more about all aspects of the company.
-Confers respect and trust
By listening to staff members, a leader shows great respect and care to them. As a result, he gains the trust and esteem of workers and achieve referent power as mentioned by French & in Raven in the article “the bases of social power”. As an appreciated leader, he gets people to open up and is able to collect useful information about them and their capabilities.
- Enhances motivation and encouragement
Listening gives a leader the power and ability to encourage and motivate employees. Moreover, a boss who listens stimulates his subordinates in reaching their maximal potential and at the same time a maximum success. This is way to inspire a level of commitment in people and the feeling of membership. Sometimes, it only take for a boss to listen to someone and give feedback showing understanding , for the same person to feel he’s part of a group, to find the encourage to overcome some difficulties he might find at work.
- Allows better negotiations terms and resistance overcoming
A leader also assumes the role of a negotiator and often faces problematic situations in negotiations: When the parties are more focusing on imposing their ideas and getting approval for their suggestions and propositions, they miss important information such as the underlying demands and offer of each group. The meeting can continue on for the interlocutors to realize at the end that they did not manage to come to an agreement. Knowing how to listen effectively keeps negotiators from committing these types of errors and capture useful information that will be able to use against the opponent and bend his offer at their benefit.
c) Customer’s perspective
For the relations customers have with the company, listening:
-Strengthen customer relationships and facilitates products and services improvement
By putting in place a system to collect customers’ feedback on the usage of a product or a service, the company let the consumers know that their opinion matters and gain their loyalty. Furthermore, the suggestions, critics and experience are used to ameliorate the products and services and innovate.
(drawn from Communication in Organizations, by Dalmar Fisher)
2-In the classroom
A student listening in class ( image taken from http://www.providence.edu/oas/shop/note.htm)
a) Student’ perspective
Overall, effective listening contribute to the student’s progress and the immediate and observable advantages are that it :
-Enriches knowledge
-Allows to sort, select and retain essential information
For more information about the subject, click here.
b) Teacher’ perspective
As for the teacher who has the responsibility of guiding instructing students, when he listens he s able to:
- Uncover areas of misunderstanding and flaws, in which students with whom students struggle more
- Improve teaching skills because the instructor learns to what method students respond better.
