Ten-Plus Low-cost/No-cost Tips for Optimal Listening in the Workplace 

by Rebecca Shafir

Who would argue that good listening in the workplace promotes the sharing of good ideas, getting work done and creating loyal customers and employees? However, sending your employees to expensive communication courses involves a lot of downtime with a wink and a prayer that the payoff will at least cover the costs!

Consider, first, taking a few steps that don’t cost much time or money with more return on investment than a syllabus. Here are ten tips for managers in search of better connections in the workplace.

1. Hold regular open forums/town meetings for all levels of employees on a day and time when everyone can attend with at least one representative from upper management present. Offer a bagel breakfast, a pizza lunch or an after work happy hour with soft drinks and light appetizers. Have a marker board or a note taker available to jot down bright ideas or topics that require more investigation. Local restaurants wanting to increase their business will often agree to supply food at a significant discount. Offer these forums frequently, at least twice a month, so people get to know each other by name.

2. Once a week local management should walk around and drop in on meetings, performance reviews, or individual offices during less busy times. Sitting down with a project crew in the cafeteria and listening in on their other interests - families and vacation plans, etc. fosters a good feeling that management cares about their employees as people too!

3. Evaluate your ability to listen mindfully. Take the quiz in Chapter 2 of The Zen of Listening (Quest Books 2003) and see where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Identify one bad habit that’s easy to break and stick with it until it is no longer an obstacle. Take on one improvement at a time. Notice how, with cultivating just one good habit at a time, people will open up to you more and how much better you understand them. 

Practice your listening strategies in more comfortable environments – perhaps at home or in non-work situations; then carry over these habits to your workplace. Be sure that new hires get trained in the mindful listening method preferably by your example and mentorship.

4. When greeting a new client or vendor make an effort to remember their name. Repeat it at the introduction and when you depart. People love to hear their name, but in most large organizations we identify folks more by their title or what department they work in rather than their name. If you forget someone’s name, make a point of asking them again. It shows a sincere effort to connect and that you’re not afraid to make an honest mistake. 

During your conversation use their name often (but not too often!) to help you associate the content of the conversation with the person you’ve just met. Ask for their card, and right after the conversation, make a couple notes about your conversation with them on the back of the card. Keep this information in place where you can access it easily prior to attending a meeting or a function in which remembering a name will come in handy. 

5. Is your website listening? Is there a way for customers and employees to air a complaint or a complement? Who gets to see these comments? Be sure it’s YOU, (not your webmaster) that reads these and responds to the visitor in a timely manner.

6. Follow up after directing employees into action. Employees may act like they’re listening but often feel shy about asking for clarification on a set of directions or an action plan when they’re not sure. After communicating, follow up in person to make sure that people really understand, talk with them to get a read of their buy-in, and involve them to make sure they are committed to execution. Follow up may take a little time, but it’s much less than the time wasted on inaction or miscommunication. 

7. Plan meetings so that people will listen. Define the goal, state the objectives, define rules of engagement, be aware of different learning styles and accommodate, follow up (see previous step) and ask for feedback from participants.

8. In one-on-one meetings be sensitive to how others best process information. Don’t let the head bobbing response fool you. If people’s comments or non-verbal gestures suggest confusion try pulling out a paper and pen and drawing a simple diagram that describes the process. Others may prefer to digest the information first in a narrative format before having a conversation about it. Follow up with an e-mail they can save for reference. 

Speak slower and allow some breaks for processing of orally presented material, particularly if they are foreign-born English speakers or not from the fast speaking (Northeast) part of the country. 

9. Get employees at all levels to listen to their e-mails BEFORE they send them. In order to get to the point and deliver information quickly we may tend to type out sentences that lack the pleasantries (hello, please and thank you, etc) that we would ordinarily use in real conversation. 

Beware of the use of sarcastic humor, command-like instructions or the use of all capital letters. A warm demeanor in person and aggressive e-mails create a cognitive dissonance and reduced trust in the eyes of the receiver. 

10. Welcome complaints from customers. Seek out not only positive feedback, but the negative feedback as well. Listen to their concerns in person. Feel their frustration and emotional angst. Get these chronic complainers on your team and in your focus group. Most of the time, complainers are complaining because they want to see your product or service succeed. 

Losing customers without knowing why is a sad, common fact in too many businesses these days. Some folks may be chronic complainers for other reasons (i.e. they suffer from depression or anxiety or may be overly cautious or pessimistic). These persons are not helpful to the process, and may actually hinder progress. 

Bonus tip #11: Years ago, Bob Bly, a marketing guru, wrote an article on marketing your way through a recession. He suggested that simply by calling past clients to say hello and to find out what was going on in their business, you would get an average of one out of ten giving you a new assignment simply because you showed up in their awareness at an opportune time.

Bonus tip #12: When interviewing candidates that would be expected to perform as team players, get all the candidates in one room and get them talking. Video tape or observe the session. Who is doing all the talking, who is planning what they are going to say next while another is talking? Make note of those who comments are reflect others comments? In other words, who are and who are not the good listeners? It’s the listeners you want on your team.