The Power Of Listening

Years ago, as a young college student trying to learn the ropes and figure out my path in life, I found myself in the office of an older, very sage professor, seeking advice. I was contemplating switching majors (again!), but the university didn’t then offer the specific program I was seeking.

Impactful Active Listening

This professor, who became a dear mentor to me, sat there and patiently listened as I expressed my scattered, naïve, probably incoherent thoughts. Instead of offering any specific advice, he simply listened intently, only speaking at times to restate something I had said in order to confirm understanding or to ask a thought-provoking question. As I left that brief meeting, I was amazed by the clarity I had regarding my conundrum and how to move forward. My questions and concerns had been heard, I felt understood, I felt genuine compassion and caring, and I felt empowered to make my decision.

Upon further reflection, I realized that I experienced firsthand the power of listening.

The Organizational And Individual Benefits

A recent article by Elle Kaplan defined effective listening as “giving your complete, intentional focus to what someone says, rather than what their words literally mean.” Effective listening requires active listening, which the University of the People defines as “a soft skill that directs the focus from what’s in your head to the words coming from the outside. By being able to focus on what another person is saying, you can understand needs and information more accurately.”

In other words, listening is more than just hearing the words someone is saying, but rather impactful active listening is all about understanding the context in which those words are shared, along with other verbal and nonverbal cues, such as voice inflection, tone, facial expressions and body language. When we actively listen, we practice mindfulness, we are present with those around us and we do not allow distractions to take away our focus on the most impart thing in that moment: seeking understanding, showing compassion and demonstrating empathy.

Listening And Servant Leadership

A tremendous amount of research has demonstrated the impact and power of listening. Effective active listening within an organizational setting has been shown to produce a wide range of positive benefits for companies, leaders and individuals, such as: (1) building stronger relationships, (2) developing greater trust, (3) more effective team collaborations, (4) enhanced individual and group decision-making, (5) greater productivity and (6) enhanced creativity and innovation.

While the business case for intentional, mindful and compassionate active listening is irrefutable, we should also not forget the many human benefits of helping individuals feel safe being their authentic self as they feel heard, validated, understood and valued.

In a previous article, I shared the importance of fostering a servant leadership approach to interact with and lead others. One of the foundational elements of servant leadership theory and practice is authentic listening.

Listening With Intent And Compassion

In her article, “ Listen to Serve: Servant Leadership and the Practice of Effective Listening,” Jessica Zisa examines the importance of listening in servant leadership and states. “Servant leadership reminds us of the importance of listening, and the practice of mindfulness. Listening allows us to look within ourselves and become aware of the barriers that inhibit our ability to listen effectively.” As we better understand ourselves, we are then in a better position to understand others and show authentic compassion and empathy.

Additionally, we need to listen carefully to perceive others’ needs, wants and desires, and thereby have the information needed to better serve and lift those we lead. As Zisa states, we need to create “a space where individual voices can grow and be heard, and where fear-based leadership is overcome” and “tune in to one another and share communication in a space of reciprocity.”

Conclusion

In his international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlined seven key principles that drive personal and organizational success, including habit number six, “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.” As part of this habit, in discussing the importance of listening with intent to understand, Covey states, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” If we fall into the all-too-common trap of tuning out while we formulate our own response, we will never fully “be” with the person sitting in front of us and we will have little chance of fully understanding them and helping them feel heard and valued. We will not have the information we need to effectively lead those in our teams and help them maximize their potential.

Furthermore, Tich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, stated, “Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart.” Compassionate, empathic, other-centered listening engenders authenticity and trust and will help leaders develop the meaningful and productive relationships in the workplace.

As we lead in organizations, we need to cultivate our self-understanding and our understanding of others through active and compassionate listening. As we adopt a servant leadership mentality and seek first to understand those we lead, we will develop trust and stronger workplace relationships, which will lead to increased collaborative capacity and greater innovation and productivity. We need to learn to leverage the power of effective active listening to better help our people to feel heard and valued.

Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.