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Guest Post by Laura Janusik, Ph.D., MBA
Listening, not speaking, is what greases the wheels of a business. So, when there are miscommunications in the workplace, they are often due to differences in listening styles, as opposed to what the speaker said.
The issue is that people can have different takeaways when presented with the same information. They remember details based on their specific listening styles. Groundbreaking 2020 research by Graham Bodie, Ph.D., an international expert on listening, and his colleagues shed light on this crucial aspect of communication.
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In business as in all of life, the goal of communication is to create shared meaning and get everyone on the same page. Bodie and his colleagues’ research revealed that listening is a habit, not a personality trait. As a habit, this means you can cultivate and refine your listening skills to dramatically improve business communications.
Bodie and his colleagues also identified four listening styles or listening habits:
Connective Listeners filter information by their interests in others. They’re attuned to:
Connective Listeners influence conversations by bringing in perspectives of various stakeholders and considering the human impact of decisions. They tend to make eye contact and perhaps nod their heads, behaviors usually interpreted as signs of a good listener.
Their facial expressions and body language often reveal whether they do or don’t like what they’re hearing. Their takeaways frequently focus on emotions, team dynamics and stakeholder reactions – essentially how the information is going to make people feel.
Reflective Listeners decipher information based on their own backgrounds and purposes. They’re focused on:
Reflective Listeners might seem quiet during conversations and may look like they aren’t listening, when in fact they are deeply engaged in internal processing.
They may be asking themselves whether they’ve tried or read about something similar in the past and, if so, what worked well and what didn’t work.
Their takeaways are often comprehensive and well thought-out, though they may not share those points of view until later, after the conversation has ended and they have had time to thoroughly process the information.
Analytical Listeners are most concerned with results and facts. They listen for:
Analytical Listeners want to nail down the reality of today before they even consider the possibilities of tomorrow.
They often drive discussions toward practical facts and may challenge statements that lack supporting data. They are concerned with metrics, like budgets and deadlines. Their takeaways typically focus on measurable outcomes and actionable steps.
Conceptual Listeners focus on concepts and possibilities. They’re tuned in to:
Conceptual Listeners tend to steer conversations toward brainstorming and exploring new concepts. They consider the future more than the present, envisioning how they can improve ideas down the road. Their takeaways usually revolve around potential strategies and long-term visions.
If you want to see these listening styles in action, try this exercise with your team: Read a short business case or news article aloud, and then have everyone write down their main takeaway.
The differences in responses will likely align with each person’s dominant listening style, demonstrating how we each hear things from our own unique perspectives.
Understanding these four listening styles is like uncovering the hidden gears of conversation. Imagine communications as pasta in a strainer.
Your dominant listening style, combined with long-term memory that has attached meaning to the words and ideas you hear, determines what information you catch and what slips through the holes of the strainer.
We latch onto the incoming information that matches up with what we’re listening to and for and what meaning we’re attaching to the “pasta” we keep.
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Bodie’s research has profound implications for business communication. Only about 2% of people ever receive listening training. Instead, people model the listening style they learned from their childhood caregivers.
It’s not widely known that people have learned to listen differently. Without that awareness, people don’t even recognize the need to expand how they listen. It explains why team members can walk away from the same meeting with vastly different understandings.
While we can’t see how somebody listens, we can listen to how somebody speaks. If we do that, we can make good, educated guesses about how they’re processing information, what kind of information they value and what their dominant listening habit is.
By recognizing the four different listening styles, you can:
Small business owners should consider the listening styles of team members before important meetings and then prepare information in a way that relates to all styles.
For instance, be ready to explain stakeholder impacts for Connective Listeners, give Reflective Listeners time to process conversations after they’re over, have hard data for Analytical Listeners and offer big-picture ideas for Conceptual Listeners.
Understanding and improving listening habits positions employees and employers for more effective communication and better outcomes. So, the next time you’re in a meeting:
In the workplace, effective communication relies as much on strategic, informed listening as on speaking. When you understand the different listening styles, begin broadening what you listen for and help each employee do the same, you’re on a path not only to better communication but also to unlocking your company’s full potential.
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Dr. Laura Janusik is a results-driven communication/listening coach and trainer and a recognized worldwide expert in teaching and training listening. Her Ph.D. in communication with a specialization in listening, as well as her MBA, allow her to see different ways to solve problems through both communication and process systems. She is passionate about helping individuals and teams better align their communication through the Power of Listening.
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