Is Active Listening Enough for Leaders?

Did you know, leaders spend approximately 70%-80% of their day engaging themselves in some form of communication, and only about 55% of their time is devoted to listening? But the real question here is, do they actively listen? 

‘Active listening’ is the term first coined by psychologists, Carl Rogers and Richard Farson in 1957 in a paper of the same title, where they demonstrated through clinical and research based evidences that active listening is one of most effective agents for changing an individual’s personality and in developing groups. It also indicates direct correlation of active listening with change in people’s attitudes toward themselves and others, and how it shapes their values and belief systems. 

While leaders must engage in active listening most of the time, they also need to adapt their listening across situations and people based on the need. Below are 5 approaches of listening (Source: Beyond DiSC Personal Listening Profile by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) that leaders must practice adapting their listening style. 

1. Appreciative Listening: This type of listening focuses on relaxing and enjoying the listening experience. This approach best suits leaders when they are in social events like in conferences, networking events, etc.  
2. Empathic Listening: This type of listening focuses on supporting and understanding emotions of the speaker. This approach best suits leader when they are talking to peers, team members or friends venting out their feelings.  
3. Discerning Listening: This type of listening focuses on gathering complete and accurate information. This approach best suits leader when they are in a meeting discussing business critical information to make important decisions. 
4. Comprehensive Listening: This type of listening focuses on organizing information and understanding the meaning of the message received. This approach best suits leader when they are ideating or brainstorming with their teams and also help their teams to organize their thoughts or information. 
5. Evaluative Listening: This type of listening focuses on critiquing information and making decisions. This approach best suits leader when someone pitches them new ideas, processes, etc. and the leader is required to evaluate the authenticity of that information based on facts rather than accepting anything at face value. 

There is not one listening style that is more critical than others. Active listening, in itself, is not sufficient. Leaders must use discretion and adapt based on situations to communicate effectively.