Communication within the workplace engages all employees within the organsation, and employees learn more about their roles and they also learn more about the roles of other people and other departments within the wider business. When employees have a greater understanding of everyone’s roles within the business, the workplace has better cohesion, and departments work more closely together. This improves the overall productivity of the workplace.

Communication within the workplace greatly improves teamwork. Teams that work well together do so through good communication between team members. Communication is at the centre of an effective team, as this allows team members to work together and problem solve more effectively. Open discussions, idea sharing and feedback between team members are the key features of an effective team. Teams that are able to communicate effectively are significantly more productive than teams where communication between team members is lacking.

Employees that are regularly given feedback are more likely to stay working within an organisation and remain satisfied in their role for much longer. Being in regular communication with employees ensures that they feel engaged and included within the bigger picture of the organisation, and they are more motivated in the work that they do for the organisation. Being informed in the leader’s decisions and kept up to date is an important way to increase the motivation of employees.

When listening to someone, people are often waiting for their turn to respond. In doing so, they are not attentively listening to the whole message that is being communicated to them, as they are not listening with their full attention while they wait for their turn in the conversation.

Active listening is a different style of listening. It entails listening with all the senses so that the person speaking can see that they are being listened to and they are reassured that the listener is hearing the whole message.

When using active listening it is important to remain patient, neutral, and non-judgmental. The listener should avoid forming opinions too early in the conversation and resist the urge to interrupt the other person while they’re speaking or to inject with a question or a comment every time a silence or pause occurs during the conversation. By focusing more on the conversation, focus can provide valuable insight and change how you approach situations. This is why active listening is so essential.

Listening actively to someone encourages people to share their feelings and confide in the listener. The speaker feels welcome to speak freely, knowing there will be no interruptions and no interjections. They become more willing to work with the listener, which can create opportunities and help the listener to complete work more quickly.

When listening actively, the listener is engaging on a more focused level with the speaker, and this allows the listener to absorb specific items of information. If the speaker is instructing the listener or is conveying a message that must be shared with others, the listener will be able to recall more of the details.

The close attention paid through active listening will enable the listener to detect challenges or problems that their team or others within the organisation are facing or could face further into the future, sooner. Being able to identify issues early empowers the listener to tackle them before they develop into bigger, potentially more damaging issues.

Leaders always seek to improve their skills and knowledge, and because they’re focusing more, they absorb more information. When they learn something new, they can form a better understanding of the topic or subject because they’ve been able to retain more information, which they can then apply in the future.

There are a variety of verbal and non-verbal signals the listener can offer to show that they are listening. Paraphrasing, asking open-ended questions, asking specific questions, making statements of agreement, maintaining eye contact, and nodding to inform the speaker that the listener is paying attention are all useful signals that the listener can use to show that they are listening attentively.

Active listening is a skill that all aspiring leaders should practice. When a leader listens to their staff and is someone people believe they can trust is an important management and leadership skill. If a leader is a poor listener, people won’t confide in them or come forward with certain details. This lack of trust creates a disconnect between the leader and others, resulting in communication breakdowns and can lead to lower productivity levels, lower profitability and various other undesirable consequences for the organisation.

Leaders must have a vision, and, to achieve this vision, they must form a strategy. Strategic planning and thinking, especially if the organisation is about to enter a process of change, requires the ability to envisage potential setbacks and design a contingency plan to address them. Active listening is exceptionally valuable here. If a leader can detect problems early, through active listening, and keep operations running smoothly, they will certainly capture the attention of superiors.

Leaders who possess more passive styles of listening can become distracted during conversations. As a result, they will miss critical details and may struggle to understand new concepts or new approaches as quickly as leaders need to. Adaptability is another important leadership attribute, and this can require the ability to learn new things fast.

This same leader, through their lack of listening skills, will also be creating mistrust on their team or elsewhere in the organisation. The higher a leader ascends in their organisation, the more impactful their decisions will be. Organisations may not wish to promote people to more senior roles if they feel that, as a result of not listening carefully enough to capture information, this person will reach decisions without considering all the necessary details.