If you are a manager or supervisor of people, communication is the foundation of what you do. Unfortunately, many managers underestimate the value of the communication coming from the people below them in their organization—theirdirect reports.
Yet those at the bottom level of organizations—front-line workers—have a front-row seat to issues that arise on the most basic level for organizations. So why do managers so often fail to listen to their direct reports when it comes to proposing new ways of doing things that solve organizational problems?
Put briefly, thinking from the Industrial Age suggests that workers are just cogs in the machine, not thinkers with ideas that can be useful. Therefore, these front-line workers should do their jobs and keep their mouths shut. This thinking limits the possibilities for organizations to surface and solve problems that managers and those higher up in the organizations may not realize exist. Instead, managers should engage in a healthy dose of “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO) and tap into this hidden resource.
All it takes to do so is a simple communication skill: listening. Inviting your direct reports to share ideas and solutions with you and then truly listening can go a long way toward improving the whole company.
Here are the steps to excellent listening:
- First, get ready to listen. You must prepare yourself to put aside other concerns in your mind and open it to hearing what this person is trying to share with you.
- Second, pay attention! Remove yourself from any distractions–screens or anything else–and fully place your focus on your direct report.
- Third, control your biases. Forget that this person is “below you” on the food chain and imagine they are a highly-paid consultant who has closely analyzed your business.
- Fourth, separate fact from feeling. Recognize what can be observed (seen, touched, counted) as fact and what is a feeling or an evaluation by yourself or another person.
- Fifth, use paralanguage. Encourage the speaker with your non-verbal cues and your tone of voice as you respond to them.
- Finally, paraphrase back to the speaker. To make sure you have understood their meaning, from their point of view, rephrase back to them what you believe they have said. And then give them an opportunity to correct you if you have misunderstood.
Changing the way you view your direct reports can yield unexpected benefits and solutions to problems you didn’t even know were there. All it takes is careful attention to listening when an opportunity arises. Now,go forth and listen!
