LEADERSHIP AND THE ART OF ACTIVE LISTENING

Abstract

AbstractThe author, founder & CEO of Employee Fanatix, a leading employee engagement and consulting firm, explains the role of active listening within leadership. She notes that “listening at work is flawed because people don’t feel safe telling the truth, and listening is usually one‐sided, so it rarely produces any results or the outcomes that we are looking for.” In Figure 1, The Cycle of Active Listening, she includes step 1: Recognize the unsaid 2: seek to understand 3: Decode 4: act. In Figure 2, Seeking to Understand, she includes the following: Demonstrate empathy, Be present, Embrace Inclusion, Exhibit courage, Stay curious, and minimize assumptions. She explains different types of listening, active reflective, empathetic, and evaluative. listening. Active “is about making a conscious effort to hear and understand someone else.” Reflective “is a communication strategy involving two key steps: seeking to understand what another person is saying and then repeating what we think we heard back to them to confirm that we understood correctly.” Empathetic “takes active listening to the next level because it requires us to make an emotional connection with another person and search for common ground that will enable us to respond in a meaningful way.” Evaluative “is when we make a judgment about what another person says.”