ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The best business leaders ensure people have a platform to air views.
- Employees need to feel their opinions are heard and valued.
- Reach out to customers and partners for their sentiments.
Great managers don’t just talk a good game; they also deliver results — and great outcomes are often tied to an ability to listen to people effectively.
Harvard Business Review suggests that leaders who listen well create company cultures where people feel heard, valued, and engaged. HBR also reports that employees who experience high-quality listening have higher levels of job satisfaction.
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Here are five techniques you can use to ensure people feel like you’re listening to them effectively.
1. Practice active listening
Tim Chilton, managing consultant at Ordnance Survey, the UK’s national mapping service, said he’s chatty but practices active listening every day.
He told ZDNET about how some of his earlier workplace experiences, including as a product manager and business analyst, have shaped his current approach to leadership.
“You talk to people, but the whole point is, you also let them talk, so you can find out what their requirements are, and then you play those objectives back,” he said.
“The whole idea of active listening is that you listen, you learn, and then you say, ‘Here’s my understanding. Is that correct?'”
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Chilton has used that technique for many years. The strategy helps people feel they’ve been listened to because they hear their suggestions played back.
“It gives them a chance to refine and comment, and you build a relationship that way, because it’s an interactive conversation,” he said.
Chilton said the key to listening actively is spending time with the people you interact with.
“Before you go in with your PowerPoint slides saying, ‘This is what you need,’ you do a large round of coffees to find out what’s going on in their world,” he said.
“And that initial phase must be a little bit slower than going in all guns blazing. So, success is about active listening and taking your time in that initial relationship-building phase.”
2. Act with humility
Antony Hausdoerfer, group CIO at auto breakdown specialist The AA, said effective leaders recognize that other people will challenge established ways of working. Hearing these opinions comes with an open management approach.
“You need to ensure that you’re humble in listening, but then able to make decisions, commit, and act,” he said. “Effective listening is about managing with humility with commitment, and that’s something we’ve been very focused on recently.”
Hausdoerfer told ZDNET how that process works in his IT organization.
“I don’t know the answer to everything,” he said. “In fact, I don’t know the answer to many things, but my team does, and by listening to them, we’ll probably get the best outcome. Then we commit to act.”
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Hausdoerfer said effective leaders act with humility. They recognize that great ideas can bubble up from anywhere and foster inclusivity across their teams.
“The things that perhaps you might not have seen, other people may see. The ideas that other people have had have potentially turned into multi-billion-pound businesses,” he said.
“So, you’ve got to be open to new ideas and have that growth mindset because otherwise you will miss things.”
3. Avoid busy forums
Rom Kosla, CIO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), said the best way to listen to people is to spend time hearing their viewpoints.
“I do a lot of one-on-ones, and my goal is to take every opportunity to do as many as possible,” he said.
“Too many forums, where there are too many meetings with too many people, dilute the conversation.”
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While Kosla told ZDNET that he recognizes the power of one-to-one conversations, he also understands it’s impossible to spend hours with every individual, especially in a big business like HPE. Therefore, priorities matter.
“We’re a virtual, global organization. As much as we can, our senior leaders want to spend one-on-ones with senior managers on their teams,” he said, before outlining how these meetings work.
“I meet with my direct reports at least once every other week. I meet with my boss, who’s the COO, weekly. And it’s quick, it’s punchy. But we’re never guessing where we’re going and what we’re doing next.”
4. Adapt your style
Bev White, CEO at technology and talent solutions provider Nash Squared, said open ears are a key attribute for successful executives.
“There are times to speak and times to listen — good leaders recognize which is which,” she said.
“The more you listen, the more you will understand how people are really thinking and feeling — and with so many great people in any business, you’re also sure to pick up new information, deepen your understanding of certain issues, and gain key insights you need.”
White told ZDNET that it’s crucial to remember people will only listen if they trust you and feel confident.
“That’s why it’s vital to be open, honest, and transparent with people about where the business is and where it’s heading. If anything needs to change, be candid and explain why. Then listen to what they have to say,” she said.
“Part of fostering people’s confidence so that they open up to you comes from trust. If you trust them, and they can feel that you do, they are so much more likely to be transparent and honest.”
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White also said effective listeners recognize the multigenerational nature of modern workplaces and adapt their style depending on the audience.
Finally, she suggested holding a mirror up to your leadership style.
“Keep asking yourself: am I approachable, am I empowering people, do they feel able to talk honestly to me?” she said.
“If you think there is an issue, try to make changes that encourage people to open up and give you those invaluable thoughts and insights to listen to.”
5. Reach out to customers
Manish Jethwa, CTO at Ordnance Survey (OS), said effective listening also means ensuring your staff hear the views of other people, particularly customers.
“That’s an area where we’re on a journey,” he said. “We’ve just developed a new product function inside OS. We’re refining that approach into an established process that you would recognize in any product-led organization, and that approach is bedding in.”
Jethwa told ZDNET that this listening-focused approach means measuring customer feedback, understanding what they find valuable, and establishing a mechanism that uses that insight within the business.
He recognized that making the connection between staff and customers can be a challenge, especially in organizations like the OS, which offer their products and services through third-party partners.
“Typically, we’ve relied on things like user groups and direct interactions with customers. However, we’ve also adopted a partner-first model within OS, which means you’re separated from the customer by an extra degree,” he said.
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Jethwa said his staff must develop a bond with partners to understand client requirements — and that’s where the processes associated with the new product function will be helpful.
“You need to be attuned to understanding how the partners are getting value and the end customer, and that product capability is still evolving within our organization,” he said.
“We’re fully mindful that’s an area that we’re developing, but now that we have a product team with clear product responsibilities, that’s one of the key areas to target.”
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