How Can Companies Better Listen to Their Employees?

We’ve heard of the term “Great Resignation” many times throughout 2021. A record 4.3 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in August in addition to the 20 million people who voluntarily left their jobs since April. Companies struggle to keep talent as they move on to different careers or jobs.

Listening to your employees is more important than ever right now. An Explorance survey found that many employees want to share feedback to improve their workplace, but they don’t feel heard.

Even with all the options out there for employee surveys and review-based programming, companies aren’t driving change. Employees feel unheard, causing them to leave for better opportunities. How can companies better listen to their employees?

Let’s Start With Active Listening

Active listening is vital in many conversations because you need to grasp what the other person is saying. Active listening builds strong relationships inside and outside the workplace.

While it may not come naturally to many of us, it’s an invaluable communication skill. Seventy to eighty percent of our day is spent communicating with others and roughly 45% of that time is spent listening.

You may be physically present while someone is speaking but are you fully present? And are you listening well? 

While most professionals will say that they're good active listeners, it's surprising when we realize how rarely people actually do attentively listen to one another when interacting.

We allow ourselves to be continuously distracted and preoccupied by other matters of importance, or even thinking about what we’re going to say next. In fact, one of the most difficult communication skills to learn is to give someone the respect and consideration they deserve by being fully present. Here are some tips on how to master active listening:

Show Genuine Interest

With all of the competing interests for our time and attention, it can be hard to be fully present in a conversation with another party. This has only worsened with social media and technology. Our posts on Twitter need to be shorter than 280 characters, the TikTok videos we consume can be no longer than 60 seconds. These are just a few examples of what we've become accustomed to and demonstrations of our impatience and shorter attention spans.

As a result, truly being present, enjoying an in-person conversation, and demonstrating genuine curiosity and interest are now more rare and valuable than ever. 

But your listening skills are like any other soft skill and can be developed over time. What are some practical tips?

The first is paraphrasing what you heard and repeating it back to the other person. This keeps you engaged, signals to the other party you're listening and ensures that you received the message the way they hoped you would.

This can be taken a step further by emotional labeling. Emotional labeling is the act of identifying and putting a label on an emotion. When you label another person’s emotions, you’re acknowledging their emotional state and making them feel like it’s safe for them to feel that way. Either way, it allows you to demonstrate empathy to the other party. 

For example, say you're speaking with senior leadership on ways to improve employee retention. You provide concrete examples and feedback from your latest employee engagement survey on how mid-level employees don’t feel appreciated. Countless studies show appreciation helps retain top talent, increases employee engagement and encourages high performance.

Senior leadership believes it's time to attract new talent versus providing bonuses to current workers. Both sides understand that in order to attract new talent, you have to be willing to provide competitive pay.

While it may be frustrating or difficult to listen to senior leadership, hear what they have to say first. After further discussion, they may give you a new perspective on the matter.

Finally, avoid quickly jumping to conclusions. While men and women generally have different preferences, there is a universality to wanting to be heard.

Don’t immediately jump to solutions and problem-solving. This is perhaps the hardest of all to master, as it requires patience and letting the other side come up with their own solutions, even if we think we know the answer and it's quite obvious.  

Another way to show you're engaged in the conversation is through your body language. Face the person speaking and make eye contact. Try nodding to show you understand and be sure to keep a relaxed, open posture.

While body language often occurs at a subconscious level, you can be aware of it - and should, given research indicates it says more about you than even what you say. 

Ask Probing Questions

Another key component to successful communication is asking questions. Asking questions signals to the other party that you care and are interested in what they have to say. It gets them talking, and when paired with great listening, makes them feel heard, which is one of the most effective ways to build a strong relationship.

What are appropriate questions to ask? Start as broad as you can. Using open-ended questions helps the other side express themselves. Take the time to ask about their needs and concerns.

For example, ask employees, “what can we do to help you feel more appreciated?” Don't ruin a great question by adding responses for them to choose from. Let the employees express themselves. It also encourages them to speak longer, which provides more insight and perspective into their side of things.

You can also facilitate this process by using “probing encouragers.” These are statements like “Okay” “I see” “Go on” and “Tell me more.” 

Do Not Interrupt

Has anyone ever thanked you for interrupting them? Definitely not. Interrupting someone sends the message you're not listening and what you have to say is more important - even if that's not what you intend to do.

So, how do we avoid doing this? Take notes! The best listeners understand the difference between listening and waiting to speak.

So, if the other party is talking, they take notes to not forget what they're going to say so that they can truly listen to the other party. The other side sees you taking notes and that signals to them that you're listening. And then when they finish their thought, you can refer back to your notes to see if they are relevant before responding.

One final note - research shows that people spend 60% of a conversation speaking about themselves. This isn’t altogether surprising, as it’s a subject in which we’re comfortable. It also isn’t inherently wrong, but it is “me-centric.” So, make sure you are thinking about the other party both when you are listening and when you are speaking.

Next time you're having a conversation - whether it be at work or in your personal life - remember to show real curiosity, ask lots of broad questions, do not interrupt and make sure to be thinking about the other party even when you're speaking.

By practicing these techniques, you'll become a more successful communicator in no time!