Listening to your employees is an art which is integral to the growth of your business organization. Good leaders and managers are known for their unwavering opinions, relentless attitudes and their ability to take decisive actions instantly. Undeniably, these are very important physiognomies which help them to move to the next level, but at the same time, it is equally significant for them to carefully listen to their employee’s opinions.
Generally, people are unable to perform this basic activity, since they become just accustomed to speaking rather than listening. At times, they believe that they have all the answers and thus, there is no need for them to listen to others. Many people have the opinion that listening to others is a sign of weakness and that they always need to speak up. Although it is difficult to change yourself, it is worthwhile to make a conscious effort of developing listening skills.
It is rightly stated that “A real conversation is a two-way dialogue; it requires both parts.” It is imperative to enrich your listening skills by concentrating on co-creation. Even if you recognize your own intellect, it is crucial that you also comprehend that your team members or employees also possess good brainpower and are worth listening to. But being an HR manager at Octal IT Solution, I strongly believe that if you listen to your employees and their opinions you may be able to reach to better and more rational conclusions.
Listening skills enhance value of your business organization
Respectable Leaders and decision-makers are also intelligent listeners. Undoubtedly, you are solely responsible for your business, but it is equally important to understand that people who work with you also contribute to the success of it.Listening is significant for taking out your employees’ best performance. It will also help you to resolve any disruptions within the company. Listening carefully to their woes and solving them will surely add up value to your business set up.
Few reasons for listening carefully to your employees
- It helps to create trust
- Initiates and strengthens commitment to your employees
- Impacts the base of your business organizations, the ideas of the employees are heard and valued
- Enhances employee engagement and promotes innovation
- Minimises any employee conflicts
- Boosts the morale of the employees
- Motivates them to become achievers
How to enhance your listening skills
- Introspect
For developing a good listening skill, some introspection is certainly required. It is important to basically understand your personal disposition and what holds you from paying attention to your employees. Always ask yourself whether you are a good listener naturally or do you have an extremely assertive personality? Many a time it so happens that you may be totally unaware of your poor listening skills. You can break out of this bad habit if you focus consciously while interacting with people around you, whether at home or in the office.
- Beware of disturbances
As you converse with your employees, you may get distracted by your smartphone or tablet. When your attention is not focused on the person during a conversation, it implies that the speaker and his message is not important. This creates a really negative impact. Diverting your attention prevents you from understanding the real essence of conversation as you may ignore the facial expressions. It is important to demonstrate clearly that you listen attentively to your employees by silencing your phones or darkening your desktop monitor.
Listening kick starts the performance of your employees
There are numerous ways to listen to your employees and make them feel an important part of your business set up. It is a fact that employees want to be heard.Listening attentively is the ideal way to build trust in your organization. You must encourage your team members to speak up and also carefully listen to their opinions and suggestions.This will further inspire them to bring out innovative ideas for your business since they know that their propositions will be duly heard and implemented.
Listening involves that you focus not just on content, but also on the context. During any conversation with an employee, you also need to sharpen your listening skills in order to understand their body language and comprehend the hidden cues beneath their words.It will give you the opportunity to augment engagement and motivation in your workplace.
Learn to spend some time listening to your employees and witness the positivity in the work environment. You are sure to enjoy a much broader view of your business.