What is listening? Or rather what is considered listening? According to the International Listening Association, listening is defined as “the process of receiving, constructing meaning form, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages” (DeVito, 2012). The actual definition for listening is defined as “to give ear to” (Merriam-Webster, 2013), and that’s the very true essence of listening; to give ear to, to hear with thoughtful attention, to pay attention. Managers in the workplace are well known for having a reputation of not being great listeners. Whether it’s from lack of caring or just too many things clouding one’s mind, the overall problem lies with the lack of attention. Not all managers are bad, many can actually listen and give thoughtful responses, but the ratio of which ones listen and which do not is usually in the favor of those who do not. When there is more than one manager overseeing a group of employees, conflict arises, but not solely out of pride or who’s higher on the social ladder. Many conflicts arise because they simply do not listen.
There are five different types of listening styles; empathetic/objective listening, nonjudgmental/critical listening, surface/depth listening, polite/impolite listening, and active/inactive listening (DeVito, 2012). Each manager has to learn and master these five types of listening or several barriers are placed between them and the employee. A company then has to listen. If employees conclude that a manager is just trying to win points by paying lip service to consulting them; and has no intention of acting on their advice, they are likely to stop offering input and, worse, act out their frustration by clashing with their colleagues. Morale and dedication is important when it comes to being a manager and if one could not keep their employees in line, the whole business suffers from it. The problem really lies in the old saying ‘too many chiefs, not enough Indians.’ A lot of businesses, these days, feel that the workload is more evenly distributed if there are more higher up’s commanding smaller groups of individuals. That would work in theory, but not so much in real life. Even if one manager listens, another may come by and hear something else and thus give a different order. Orders that conflict with each other only manage to induce a great deal of stress on the employee.
Many managers use their higher ups as a crutch for when things go wrong and conflict happens. They, too, know that the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing most of the time and so they can get away with using it as an excuse when they get in trouble themselves. Take empathetic/objective listening, for example. To think empathetically is to understand what a person means and feels (DeVito, 2012). Managers often can get this right if they have had some personal connection with the employee; either through small talk, or a crisis which required them to interact more intimately. Unfortunately this has a side effect of becoming too attached. As such when another manager comes by and is not as attached to the employee, they show no interest in listening and even ignores the other managers previous orders. This makes a conflict with not only the employee and manager, but between the two managers as well. When neither manager tries to listen empathetically, the problem is not resolved and the employee ends up frustrated and unappreciated. A clock works only if all its gears are well oiled, the same principle holds true when it comes to a business or corporation.
Nonjudgmental/critical thinking is what the managers should practice most. This style of listening keeps them from getting too close to one employee over another when it comes to a conflict within the ranks. It is also required to have an open mind and view situations from all angles. When too many managers, however, try to see the same thing from different angles, minds clash regarding who is right and who is not. Many times, managers do not see eye to eye, regardless how they see the employee. Having a higher position than others can inflate an ego and when minds clash, those egos enlarge. Who is right? Who is supposed to back down? Conflict arises, ensues, and is either overcome or neglected, leaving nothing accomplished. If two alpha wolves were put in a room with a baby pup, they would fight to see who takes care of the pup, in many instances harming the pup in the process.
Surface/depth listening is one of the hardest to master, especially for managers since it requires them to pay more attention than they have time to do. Depth listening is where one listens to not only the words, but the meaning behind the words. Many employees cannot express adequately how they feel about a certain problem and so ‘beat around the bush’ as it were. When a manager is too busy or does not show enough interest, they miss the underlining context of the words and may do against what the employee wishes. The same holds true when two managers hear the same words, but hear it differently. One could hear the surface context, where as the other sees the meaning behind the words. Two different actions are then taken and the results are vastly different from what the employee wanted.
Polite/impolite listening is by far the easiest of the styles to master; however, there are many instances where that is not always true. Being polite comes naturally to those who grew up within proper society boundaries and had proper schooling, as well as being raised properly. Even so, when a manager is angry or too stressed, they will lash out at their employees. The ‘snowball’ effect is a big dilemma when it comes to polite listening. The top boss gets mad at the boss under him, that boss goes to their underling, and that underling goes to theirs. The negativity rolls down the social ladder until it reaches the lowest rung and causes many problems. When does not try to listen or is too stressed to properly listen, the system breaks down to avoidance or conflict; fight or flight. It opens more wounds and causes the employees to suffer. Especially when there is more than one manager; they all will not listen to the employee, the employee feels unappreciated, and the work slows down. Employees will come to each other’s rescue before a manager will which will build up resistance against the higher ups and cause increased aggravation and even mutiny. No one wants to work for someone who is impolite to them.
One of the most important communication skills a manager can learn is active listening. When an employee comes up and asks a question, if a manager does not listen actively, they will not show they are understanding and thus help the employee properly. Active listening is a process of sending back to the speaker what one as a listener think the speaker meant, both in content and in feelings (DeVito, 2012). When more than one manager tries this technique, they will clash on whether they listened properly or not. They may try to make the employee feel better, but they go about it in very different ways and surely with different results. Especially when questions are not asked; then each manager perceives the words of the employee differently and doesn’t care to try and learn whether or not they are correct.
From the employee's vantage point, they need to feel informed and a part of the organization. By specifically seeing the connection between what they do and the bottom line, their contribution becomes real. That is the technical part of the foundation for becoming and staying in the communication loop. The other side is the interpersonal part; they need to feel an interpersonal connection to the owner and managers. They need to feel appreciated. Healthy employees need to have their say; unhealthy employees have to have their way. Mentally healthy employees need to have a say in what happens around them. If they are denied the ability to have some kind of legitimate say in what happens in their work's orbit, they will become apathetic. The logic behind this attitude is "Nobody seems to care what I have to say, so why should I care about what they (management) are saying?" When one sees employees demanding their way, one is seeing abnormal and unrealistic expectations. But when there are several managers present, the ability to restrain the employees becomes more difficult. If managers cannot learn to adequately listen to their employees, word effectiveness goes down significantly and the business suffers for it.
Steps that managers could take to better themselves in the workplace include; less distractions, more positive morale, proper active listening, and working cooperatively with the coworker and the other managers to meet a specific goal. Less distractions comes from simply being so overwhelmed at times. The average manager is constantly running around, making sure everything is in order and there are no issues. When a worker stops them to ask a question or talk, which is just another layer of distractions that impedes their work productivity. If a particularly stressful situation was raised, the manager would give more attention to that than whatever an employee was talking about, shrugging them off in the process. This will cause a major conflict and a feeling of detachment from the employee, something that will hurt work productivity a lot. When a manager can appropriately juggle so many different tasks and still show a good sense of active listening, then they will be to the coworker and show true dedication and management skills.
Positive morale is a very important concept when discussing the relationship between a manager and an employee. By showing and projecting positive morale, the employee is therefore motivated to work more effectively and efficiently and thus less stress and distractions will occur for the manager. It also will help strengthen their relationship, allowing the manager to call upon that employee at a later day for a different project and get a stable response in return. By showing any of the listening skills, a manager makes the employee feel wanted and appreciated and boost their motivation to strive for excellence. Without a positive morale buffer, managers will only hear the same complaints and arguments over and over again and then stop listening, which will cause even more problems.
Active listening can solve so many problems, but managers tend to think themselves higher than their employees, and thus the act of active listening becomes a dream. Employees constantly complain that they aren’t being listened to and a lot can change and help if it was done properly. When a manager actively listens, they should first pay attention; giving the employee their full attention. They should show that they are listening, through the use eye contact and repeating the statements. Managers should also provide feedback. It’s not enough to just be heard, an employee wants to know that their point is getting across somehow, or that something will be done about the situation. When a manager argues back or interrupts the employee, it will frustrate them and cause a conflict, so managers should look to let the employee or speaker finish their points before responding. That way both feel like they had a reasonable conversation; the employee feels appreciated while the manager leaves feeling good that the situation was resolved. To show that they are listening, a manager should also ask to clarify or repeat a statement to show that what the employee said actually hit home.
Working together with the other managers is a major boost to productivity and puts far less stress on the employees. When a machine is well oiled and all the pieces move together, the machine works perfectly. The same holds true to a business or corporation where there are several managers and employees. By talking to the other managers and listening to them, things will become easier and run more smoothly, as opposed to each manager trying to be better than the other. ‘The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing’ is a common saying around the workplace when it comes to more than one manager trying to govern the department. By working together, everything will become more efficient and the people will be better for it. Fewer hot attitudes, less stress, more productivity; the system only works if everything works together; and listening is the first and most important step in making that process happen.