Article:
Leaders carry an unsaid responsibility of making their teammates feel comfortable, valued, and heard. As a leader, you must literally practice the last one – hear them out or listen to them. Listening is an uncharted but very crucial soft skill and employers seek them in leaders.
Let’s get to the root of the matter for a better understanding.
Why is ‘listening’ seen as a crucial soft skill and why are we so bothered about it now more than ever before?
Now, because every aspect of human behavior, work, and activities is under the microscope; attention is given to the details for a better understanding of the minor to major factors that have a role in shaping matters. ‘Listening’ has always been an important factor in communication; with time it has become more prominent in creating effective communication. That’s why more and more people are talking about it and made it one of the most demanded soft skills.
Organizations deal with one of the most important resources – human resources who have free will, and priorities and need to be appreciated and valued to feel motivated. Listening to team members is the first step in establishing a relationship with them and prepares the ground for effective communication.
A team member may come to you for several reasons and levels of urgency – actively listening to them builds up trust that they will be heard, and thus makes you an approachable leader. Reciprocating to their conversation strengthens it further and providing solutions to their problems seals the deal. The idea or thought behind active listening is being empathetic towards your team members. When you listen also pay attention to the body language and how similar it is to the message being spoken. It can help you verify what you hear without the need to ask it verbally.
You also listen to get the details. Often when talking to people we tend to miss out on certain information. If the missed piece of information turns out to be a crucial link, it would be unfortunate. So, you must listen attentively, to pick up every information shared. Besides information, it helps you to build a meaningful relationship with the speaker.
While listening you may feel the need for clarification, or certain questions may arise in your mind. While listening, you must engage in a conversation to make it more effective. So, you must listen for clarity, ask them where you need clarification, and thus dissolve any scope of miscommunication.
Active listening helps in creating a compact team, ensuring a smooth flow of information, clear concepts and perception about the shared goals, and a better understanding of each other in the team, better internal relations, minimized scope of conflict, and more possibility of averting crisis.