Active Listening: The Secret to Project Management Success

Communication makes up almost 80% of the overall work time in project management. It is the first and most fundamental component of each project - from understanding the client’s needs and setting up the weekly goals to ensuring tasks are delivered on time and every team member understands what they should be doing next. Nonetheless, quality communication goes beyond listening to others and waiting for your turn to speak. The secret to effective conversations lies in the skill of active listening. In this article, we are going to share our insights about active listening in project management.

Active listening explained

Active listening is a communication practice that requires deep concentration on what the speaker is saying, both verbally and non-verbally, to understand their point of view and feelings, appropriately respond, and retain information for future reference.

Simply put, active listening is listening to understand and respond in a way that shows your understanding and empathy. It requires full immersion into the conversation, presence in the moment, and genuine interest in your speaker.

In fact, the term itself reflects the idea of being active and taking action while you are listening to someone. This can include simple actions such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing the statement, or making meeting notes to ensure that important ideas are captured for further review and analysis.

What hinders active listening?

From my own experience, I can differentiate the following barriers a project manager can face:

• Physical barriers - poor speakers, poor internet connection (if it’s an online meeting), or background noise. For example, conducting meetings with clients from public places like cafes can be stressful and even annoying. You might miss some important information or ideas that the client wants to convey because of the background noise, random people, and other distractions. Plus, you are likely to look unprofessional in the client’s eyes when conducting your meetings from public places.

• Linguistic barriers - lack of knowledge of the language or professional jargon, differences in accents, too slow or too fast language speed. While English is a lingua franca for many, people often have accents and a lack of vocabulary, especially when it comes to domain-specific jargon, grammar issues, etc. These factors can influence the information perception
• Personal barriers - stress and work overload. Stress coupled with having too much work on your plate can also be an enemy of active listening. When you’re so busy that you can barely listen to what the speaker is saying, you will most probably end up in an unpleasant situation when you’ll have to follow up with this person and ask the same questions once again.
• Focus barriers - focusing on your own agenda and thinking about what you have to say next, concentrating on other things, and losing track of the conversation. Instead of focusing on what a person is saying,? a person can be thinking about their next steps, what they need to find out, how they need to behave, and what they need to say to look professional.

Why active listening matters?

A deeper understanding of the project

In developing an application, your goal has to be the same as the client’s goal. Without listening attentively to your clients and asking open-ended questions, it will be difficult to identify what your project should look like, its requirements, goals, and objectives. Active listening removes the guesswork from project management and enables you to create a more precise and effective project plan that fully addresses your client’s needs.

Enhanced decision-making

The key to making the right decision lies in gathering relevant information and seeing the issue from different perspectives. Again, this is nearly impossible to achieve without mindfully listening to other people. By taking into account the team’s feedback and clients’ thoughts, a project manager gains a complete picture of the project and its progress. With all these insights, it’s easier to evaluate the pros and cons of each decision.

For example, in situations when the team and the client want to choose completely opposite ways of solving an issue, and the client’s choice may not be effective in the long run, active listening will provide some additional information on whether it is possible or not to convince the client to listen to the team’s opinion and follow it.

Increased collaboration

Active listening goes beyond just hearing words and provides a deeper insight into a person’s intentions and character. It helps to understand what your colleague’s trouble is and show support and empathy. As a result, a project manager gains the chance to better understand team members, realizes their strengths and weaknesses, and stays informed about their problems and concerns.

Reduced conflicts and misunderstandings

Active listening allows project managers to identify and clarify any misunderstandings and address disagreements before they turn into serious conflicts. By listening to everyone involved in a problem, it is easier to find mutually acceptable solutions.

In fact, the more context you have about the situation that has happened, the better your decision will be. Without comprehensive information, your decision might be wrong. When it comes to people, it is really important to take into account the needs of all parties so as not to offend anyone.

Using active listening in project management

Avoid interrupting

Sometimes, during the flow of an engaging conversation, it is hard to resist the temptation to suddenly interrupt the speaker and share the new idea that sprang to your mind two seconds ago. Yet, interrupting the other person rarely shows your interest in the conversation. You cannot be 100% sure that you know what a person wants to tell you.?

Plus, it makes people feel confused and frustrated, so they can’t finish their thoughts, which is counterproductive. Only letting the speakers finish their speech at a comfortable pace will allow you to see the full picture.

Paraphrase and summarize

Summarizing and reflecting on what the person has told you is one of the most trivial yet effective active listening techniques. On the one hand, it helps the listener to ensure that they captured the message correctly, keeping the chance of miscommunication low. On the other hand, it gives the speaker the feeling that they are valued, heard, and understood.?

Ask specific, open-ended questions

Asking relevant, clarifying questions helps to keep the conversation flowing naturally. It shows the other person that you were actively listening to them instead of just pretending to pay attention. In addition, it allows you to clarify the topic, ensures that you understand the speaker’s point of view properly, and that no important details are overlooked.

Leave the judgment at bay

There are hardly two people in the world who have identical views on all topics. A world where all people agree with each other would be definitely boring. Yet, if you want to be an effective communicator, you cannot allow your emotions to take part in the conversation.?

A lot of us take part in the internal monologue held by our brains which gives positive and negative judgments to what’s been said. But these judgments compromise our ability to listen with an open mind and understand the other person’s ideas. Instead of criticizing people in your mind, it is better to focus on listening. It will allow you to provide neutral, nonjudgmental responses and create a comfort zone for the speaker where they can feel safe to share their thoughts.

Pay attention to non-verbal cues

Many researchers believe that almost 65% of communication is conveyed through non-verbal means. Taking into consideration the mimics, gestures, and tone of voice, you can easily detect someone’s boredom, enthusiasm, or irritation. This is particularly useful when non-verbal communication contradicts the words someone says and provides valuable insights into what another person is thinking or feeling.?

Wrapping up

Acquiring the habit of active listening can open many doors in different areas of your life, from building better personal relationships to increasing workspace productivity. By using active listening in your professional setting, you will be able to create an atmosphere of presence, attention, understanding, and respect among everyone involved in the project. And who wouldn’t like to be a part of it?

Written by Uliana Khmel