Why Listening Matters
“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” — Ralph Nichols
We live in a culture of showing and telling.
In such a world, a key to distinguishing ourselves and our organizations, to building a brand (personal or corporate), is generating compelling content. In other words, the way we get ahead is by having something to say. It’s no surprise that finding a place of belonging is so often referred to as having a voice. Perhaps this has always been the case throughout human history, but it seems the competition to gain and hold the attention of others by making the most interesting noise, and in so doing to really matter, is as fierce as it’s ever been.
Living in this world often means waffling between two positions: on the one hand vying for the attention of audiences (our friends, followers, customers), or on the other hand participating as audience members ourselves — passive consumers of information (content) that comes and goes ever so quickly.
It’s no surprise that in a system of human interactions based on competing for airtime and the ever-shortening attention spans of various audience groups, listening has become an undervalued skill.
True listening, the active and conscious engagement with another being (not simply the content that being is generated), requires us to step out of the two positions described above (striving to compete in the world of showing/telling and passively consuming the never-ending stream of stimuli coming our way).
True listening is rare. And yet, we believe it’s among the most needed life and leadership skills of our time.
Attentive, conscious listening not only connects us in meaningful ways with the other human beings in our lives (supporting strong, healthy relational bonds), but it can also profoundly impact practical results in our organizations. For example, when we listen consciously we promote freer flow of crucial information across positional and functional boundaries, we give ourselves and others more space to examine our mental models, and we’re more likely to be engaging in our work from a learning mindset. Listening supports better decision making, smarter problem solving, and more innovative solution creation.
Though it may seem counterintuitive in an age of hot takes, listening may be the less-traveled-but-surer path to the impact we’d like to have in the world.
In a series of blog posts, we’ll explore ways we can improve our listening practices and better put to use this powerful, yet undervalued, tool.
