Communication Problems at Work? 6 Types of Listening to Try

In fact, I’ve had a sneaking suspicion for a while now that being a good listener is a highly underrated superpower. In order to improve professional relationships, foster a work environment of trust, and rid yourself of your unconscious bias, try listening. Really, truly, actively listening. 

Think about the last time that you felt like someone was really listening to you—it felt good, really good, didn’t it?

As author and renowned psychologist, Harriet Lerner, once said, “If only we listened with the same passion that we feel about being heard.”

The Worst Types of Listeners

Here's the thing with the worst types of listeners. They're not even listening. More often than not, they're just waiting for a pause long enough to start talking themselves. Here are a couple types of "listening" that we've probably all been guilty of—or experienced. 

Biased Listening 

This happens when you're not really listening (under the guise of listening) but making space, instead, for your biases and judgments to thrive. In fact, you're probably waiting for the person to slip up, finish talking, or for time to share your prepared monologue. 

Biased listeners are waiting for the speaker to say something that they want to hear. At that point, they perk up and respond. The problem? These listeners have missed so many details by waiting to hear what they wanted to hear. 

Let’s say a graphic designer is taking on a new freelance client to make a logo. The graphic designer is excited to be working on a logo for a tech startup—something they’ve always wanted to do. While the client explains what kind of logo they want, the graphic designer is not fully paying attention. The designer has already conceptualized what kind of logo would work best for a tech startup. As a result, the client is unhappy with the final product, and the graphic designer must take on more revisions than necessary had they just listened intently in the first place.

Passive Listening 

Unfortunately, passive listening is the most common type of listening. It's where you're waiting for someone to get to the main point, you're doodling in your notebook, and you're disengaged. In the workplace, passive listening is common during long (ahem, unnecessary) meetings. 

Many of us (whether intentionally or not) have most likely taken part in passive listening. When one listens passively, they are not engaging with what is being communicated to them. Think of it as a one-way conversation. Passive listening could look like a college student zoning out in class, or someone being distracted on their phone while their friend tells them a story.

A manager is giving their employee instructions on how to implement a new marketing campaign on social media. Instead of asking questions, providing feedback based on their expertise, or giving non-verbal listening cues, the employee focuses on something else on their computer. As a result, the employee makes mistakes when implementing the marketing campaign, and their work performance suffers.

The Benefits of Active Listening 

Becoming a better listener will benefit your personal and professional life in so many different ways, from helping to build trust for more satisfying relationships to opening you up to new perspectives and allowing you to learn new skills faster.

1. You'll Learn More (+ More Than You Thought Possible!) 

Listening is a key part of good interpersonal and communication skills, soft skills which can really set you apart in the workplace. From the job interview setting to the boardroom, listening and watching others is what will inform a more rounded knowledge of what's actually being said—both aloud and between the lines, so to speak.

Even better, we can all learn to be good listeners with a little thoughtfulness and practice.

If you’ve ever tried to get a preschooler to pay attention for more than a minute, you’re probably well aware that listening isn’t something that always comes naturally; rather, it’s a skill that we have to actively work at and improve throughout our lives. 

Research shows that on average people only listen with around 25 percent efficiency—and that while most people agree effective listening is really important, we also have a tendency to overestimate our own listening skills and assume we don’t need to improve. Does this sound familiar? 

2. You Can Use the Knowledge Gained to Advance Your Career

Finally, listening up—especially at work—puts you in a great position. By really listening, you will find yourself equipped with knowledge and context when you're, say, negotiating your next raise. We talk about all things listening, empathy, and negotiation in this episode of The Career Contessa Podcast. 

3. You Can Create Psychological Safety

Yeah, this is how important listening is. Have you ever needed to vent? It's the feeling wherein you just need to unload and you don't need advice, guidance, or solutions. Well, imagine that listening ear was readily available. You can be that person for someone. 

4. You Can Amplify Others' Voices 

It's not all about unloading grievances, either. Sometimes, underrepresented folks in the office are the last to have their ideas heard—and it's not because they aren't creative and innovative ideas. It can be due to a variety of reasons, including biases, lack of tenure, or simply that this person doesn't have the loudest voice.

Lend your listening skills to amplify another voice. That's some powerful listening.

5. You Can Become a World-Class Problem Solver 

When you're paying attention to every word, all nonverbal cues, and every bit of nuanced behavior happening at work, you are the smartest person in the room. Really. 

When you really listen, you know that one person's tone of voice might mean something that everyone else is missing. When you're noticing posture, pauses, rapport, and interactions between leadership, you're always learning. 

The key to great problem-solving is understanding. Nobody has a better understanding of everyone in the room than the attentive listener.

So, if you’re ready to become a better listener, well done for taking the first step by reading this article; you’re already in a special minority group of people who are willing to put in the effort to improve. 

6 Types of Listening (and How You Can Improve Them) 

Did you know that there are several different kinds of listening? Let’s explore what they are so that you can master them all—different types of listening might be more or less appropriate for different situations.

1. Active Listening

Active listening simply means that you’re completely focused on the person who is talking to you, and you’re showing very obviously with your body language that you’re giving whoever is speaking your full attention. When you’re engaged in active listening you’ll be giving off a range of subtle verbal and non-verbal cues to show you’re listening.

For example, active listening might require stopping all other activities and avoiding distractions to show that listening is your priority—while maintaining eye contact, keeping your body turned towards the speaker, nodding, and saying “Mmhmm.”

Mirroring the speaker’s body language and/or facial expressions can send them the message that you’re interested in what they’re saying.

A hiring manager is conducting a job interview with a potential candidate. While the hiring manager speaks about the company, the candidate concentrates, understands, and asks thoughtful questions about the company (without interrupting): “You mentioned that [COMPANY] is pivoting to video content. I’m curious what pushed that shift?”

2. Critical Listening 

Critical listening, which is sometimes also referred to as evaluative listening, involves problem-solving, analysis, and decision-making.

When you’re engaged in this kind of listening, your critical faculties are fully switched on and you’re processing the information that someone is sharing with you in real-time, ready to ask relevant questions and get clarification on any points that are unclear.

When engaged in critical listening, it’s important to take notes so you can follow up on key points, and make sure you’re not making any assumptions about the meaning of what you’re hearing that might make you misinterpret the information. 

Critical listening is collaborative and active rather than passive; another important part of being a good critical listener is the ability to give valuable feedback, which shows you’ve been listening closely and are actively engaged. (If you’re keen to improve your skills in this area, we’ve got a resource for that.) This kind of listening is most common in the workplace.

Critical listening in the workplace often occurs during interactions where one individual asks another individual for help on a problem or specifically requests feedback. Think: a project manager hearing about issues on a project from a client and having a thoughtful meeting to come up with a solution.

Say you’re a senior staffer who a junior staffer approaches. They are struggling to manage their workload and are coming to you for advice. Instead of assuming the junior staffer doesn’t know how to manage their time, as a critical listener, you ask several thoughtful questions and have a back-and-forth before providing a few potential solutions. Then, you listen to and examine what the junior staffer thinks about those potential solutions. Together, you agree about the best pathway moving forward. 

3. Informational Listening

Informational listening is listening to learn, and this type of listening is very important for students or someone going through training or onboarding in a new company.

Informational listening is not necessarily about giving feedback or an opinion in response to what you’ve heard, as is the case with critical listening, but more to understand and absorb a message.

As with critical listening, it’s important to take notes when engaged in informational listening, as this will help you remember and assimilate important pieces of information.

Another great place to use your informational listening? You guessed it—in an informational interview. 

The goal of information listening is to gather information on a subject. Information listening is especially helpful during situations when you are conducting research, taking a class, or being a notetaker for an absent colleague. 

A juror hears testimony from a witness. Their job is to gather information and determine the credibility of the witness. Their job is not to interact, ask questions, or provide feedback. Instead, they are responsible for actively listening and taking notes if needed. Evidence or information is key here.

4. Empathetic Listening

Empathetic listening is any kind of listening that helps you empathize with and understand someone’s emotion—essentially putting yourself in someone’s shoes as they talk, and showing that you are really thinking about what it must be like to be them.

Since empathy is the cornerstone of good communication, this is arguably the most important type of listening. Sometimes, the best way to show real compassion and acceptance is by keeping an open mind and a closed mouth. 

Empathetic listening is crucially important in misunderstandings and moments of upset. An effective communicator won't try to make the speaker feel like their point of view is more or less valuable than their colleagues. Instead, you'll listen, offer understanding, and give your own opinion if and when asked.

While empathetic listening is especially important during conversations where heavy emotions may be involved, they are also important in day-to-day interactions and can prevent potential blow-ups. 

For example, say you are a team leader. One of your team members mentioned how excited they are about landing a new client. As an empathetic leader, you acknowledge their excitement and express gratitude for their hard work.

Try the Mirroring Effect 

When engaged in empathetic listening, you might find it helps to repeat back what they’ve said (putting it in your own words) and asking reflective, open-ended questions.

For example, these types of responses might include: “That sounds really hard,” “Four years is a long time to have been caring for your elderly mother; that shows a lot of strength,” or “How did that make you feel?”

This kind of listening, done well, can really make people feel seen and supported.

5. Appreciative Listening 

Appreciative listening is the kind of listening we all do when we’re listening to music we love or our favorite podcasts, watching something entertaining, or listening to an inspiring speech. (Think of the last time you found yourself nodding along, or raising your hands in an “Amen!”)

It’s a relaxed form of listening that is less about communicating with someone in a collaborative way than simply receiving pleasure or encouragement from them (and reflecting this back at them by showing we appreciate what they’ve shared with us).

Appreciative listening is no less important for being a bit more passive than other forms of listening, though.

We all want to feel appreciated when we perform or share something, and when someone goes the extra mile of giving us words of affirmation and positive feedback that shows they were really appreciating what they heard, it’s really encouraging. 

Of course, you’ll usually be using several different types of listening at the same time (for example, a therapist is often using empathetic and critical listening together so that they can respond by asking their client clarifying questions).

And, pretty much all good listening starts with active listening (ignoring distractions, mirroring body language, etc.). However, being aware of the different styles of listening we engage in every day in different contexts is a great way to start improving your listening skills. 

Appreciative listening means you are comprehending the types of emotions or sentiments the communicator is trying to convey to you. Here are a few examples of appreciative listening: Attending your friend’s comedy show and laughing in the audience, taking a breathing class and immersing yourself in meditation, snapping at a poetry reading, or cheering on a speaker during a protest or rally.

6. Visual Listening

Remember how we told you that a major benefit of listening is the ability to become a great problem-solver? Especially in the workplace, visual listening is what we're talking about. 

It's "listening for" the non-verbal communication that happens in meetings, over Slack messages, or when a certain client comes by the office.  We're not telling you to become a workplace mole, but a little probing and attention never hurt. Here are a few ways to visually listen to what happens at work, without invading privacy. 

The Importance of Shutting Up and Following Up

If you want to learn how to improve your listening skills, there are two things that apply in pretty much every situation: shutting up and following up. 

To listen well, you need to give someone space to talk without interrupting them; we’re often so focused on what we want to say that we jump in a bit too quickly.

Try pausing a beat and nodding rather than jumping straight in as soon as someone trails off, and maybe even ask a question like “Did you notice anything else?” to encourage them to share more. 

Following up after a conversation is another sure-fire way to let someone know you’ve really taken in what they’ve said. This might involve sending someone an email or a text, acknowledging what they shared with you and asking a relevant follow-up question, or just letting them know you’re thinking about them if it’s in a personal context. 

Next time you find yourself in the role of listener, whether it’s at work or at home, try asking yourself which type of listening you’re engaged in, and what the person speaking might need the most from you in that conversation.

And, if you’re interested in taking your listening skills to the next level, check out our five-step guide to becoming a better listener and giving someone your undivided attention.