How to be a better listener in the workplace

If we accept that poor listening is not a personal failing but a human one, then becoming a better listener in the workplace is less about learning a new technique and more about changing how we approach everyday conversations.

Workplaces are not designed for listening. They reward speed, certainty and confidence. We move quickly from meeting to meeting, juggling multiple priorities often under pressure to appear knowledgeable or decisive. In that environment, listening can feel inefficient – something to get through rather than something to invest in.

And yet, many of the problems organisations struggle with – misalignment, conflict, disengagement, poor decision-making – can be traced back to a lack of genuine listening.

The negative impact of poor listening skills in the workplace

Poor listening does not just create awkward moments, it has measurable consequences for organisations. When people do not feel heard, trust erodes. Decisions are made on incomplete information. Misunderstandings multiply. And the people most likely to disengage are often those with the most to contribute.

Research from Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost the global economy between $7.8 and $8.8 trillion annually in lost productivity. Disengagement is frequently linked to employees feeling unheard, lacking meaningful feedback or experiencing unclear communication.

Broader research into workplace miscommunication suggests organisations can lose thousands of dollars per employee each year due to misunderstandings and ineffective communication. When people do not feel heard or understood by their leaders, studies consistently show declines in productivity and morale, alongside increased stress, burnout and employee turnover.

How to be a better listener in the workplace

The good news is that listening is a skill, and like any skill, it can be developed with intention and practice. It does not require a complete personality overhaul. It requires awareness of the habits that get in the way, and a willingness to replace them with something more deliberate. The following principles offer a practical starting point.

1. Practise active listening

Developing active listening is one of the most impactful steps you can take to improve how you communicate and connect at work.

What is active listening?

Active listening goes well beyond staying quiet while someone else speaks. It means giving your full attention, suspending judgement and genuinely trying to understand the other person’s perspective before forming a response. It involves noticing not just the words being used, but the tone, pace and emotion behind them. And it often means asking questions, not to probe or challenge, but to deepen your understanding of what is really being communicated.

Why is active listening important in the workplace?

Active listening and the practice of fully attending to what someone is saying, both verbally and non-verbally, is one of the most effective tools available to leaders and teams. It reduces misunderstanding, builds trust and creates the conditions for more honest, productive conversations. Yet, in workplaces under constant pressure to move fast, it is frequently neglected.

Benefits of active listening

The benefits of better active listening in the workplace are significant:

• Clearer communication
• Stronger relationships
• Fewer misunderstandings
• Better decisions
• People who feel respected rather than ignored
• And ultimately, a working environment where conversations feel more human.

Listening may not be the fastest way to get through the day, but it is often the most effective way to move work forward.

2. Make time

One of the biggest obstacles to good listening in the workplace is pace. Conversations are often rushed, framed by agendas and time limits. While someone is speaking, we are already preparing our response, formulating a counterpoint or thinking about what comes next. This means we are rarely listening to understand. We are listening to reply.

In the late 1990s, technology researcher Linda Stone coined the term “continuous partial attention” to describe the fractured attention she observed as internet use became more widespread. This was the era of dial-up connections, long before smartphones and social media, yet even then, she noticed how difficult sustained focus had become. Nearly three decades later, in a world of constant notifications and digital interruption, it is unlikely that our capacity for deep, undivided attention has improved.

Becoming a better listener at work starts by noticing this habit and intentionally slowing it down. It means permitting yourself to pause, even briefly, before responding. That pause creates space. Space to absorb what has been said, to consider the context, and to reflect on what the other person might actually need from the conversation.

Slowing down does not mean being indecisive. It means recognising that understanding precedes action, and that decisions made without proper listening are often the ones that need revisiting later.

3. Be present

Listening in the workplace is closely tied to presence. Not just physical presence but mental and emotional availability.

We all recognise the signs of partial listening: eyes drifting to a laptop, notifications lighting up a phone, attention splitting between the conversation and whatever is happening on a screen. These behaviours are common, often unconscious and usually unintentional, but they send a clear message.

They say: “This conversation is competing with something else.”

In professional settings, presence is a form of respect. When someone feels fully listened to, they are more likely to be open, honest, and engaged. Nancy Kline said “The quality of your attention determines the quality of other people’s thinking.” So when they feel ignored or half-heard, they are more likely to withdraw or become defensive.

Being present doesn’t require grand gestures. It often means doing less, fewer distractions, fewer interruptions, fewer assumptions. Closing a laptop during a one-to-one. Turning a phone face down in a meeting. Making eye contact and giving someone your attention for the few minutes they are speaking. These small changes can significantly improve communication at work.

4. Listen to understand, not to fix

Many workplace conversations are shaped by a strong desire to be helpful. Leaders and colleagues alike often feel pressure to offer solutions quickly. As a result, listening becomes a search for the problem so it can be solved as efficiently as possible. But not every conversation at work is a problem-solving exercise.

Sometimes people need space to think out loud, to process uncertainty or to articulate something they haven’t fully worked through yet. When we jump in too quickly with advice or answers, we can unintentionally shut that process down.

Active listening in the workplace often means resisting the urge to fix. It means staying with the conversation a little longer, asking clarifying questions and reflecting back what you have heard. Simple responses like “Can you say more about that?” or “What I’m hearing is…” can make a significant difference.

These moments of reflection help prevent misunderstandings and allow people to feel genuinely heard, something that is often missing in busy organisational environments.

When we listen in this way, we are not stepping back from responsibility; we are engaging differently. Instead of positioning ourselves as the problem-solver, we become a sounding board that helps the other person hear and refine their own thinking. By asking thoughtful, open questions and allowing space for reflection, we support them to reach their own conclusions. Building confidence, ownership and stronger independent decision-making over time.

5. Be curious (even when it’s uncomfortable)

Listening becomes particularly difficult when conversations feel uncomfortable. Feedback, disagreement or challenge can quickly trigger defensiveness. When that happens, our focus shifts from understanding to protecting our own position. Once we become defensive, listening stops.

Becoming a better listener at work requires cultivating curiosity, especially in moments of tension. Curiosity keeps the conversation open. It allows us to explore what sits beneath someone’s words rather than reacting to them at face value.

Instead of immediately disagreeing or justifying, curiosity asks different questions. What matters to this person? What concern are they trying to express? What experience might be shaping their perspective?

This doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations or pretending to agree. It means approaching difference with openness rather than resistance, a skill that is increasingly important in complex, collaborative workplaces.

6. Pay attention to what isn’t said

Listening in the workplace is not just about hearing words. Tone, pauses, body language and hesitation all carry meaning.

People do not always say exactly what they think or feel at work. Power dynamics, fear of judgment and past experiences all influence how openly someone speaks. A comment framed as a practical concern may be masking frustration. Silence in a meeting may signal uncertainty rather than agreement.

Good listeners pay attention to these subtleties. They notice when energy shifts, when something is left unsaid or when a response feels guarded. They respond with empathy rather than assumption.

This kind of listening helps create psychological safety, a key ingredient for effective teamwork, learning and innovation.

One powerful way to develop this skill is to build a genuine understanding of what motivates the people around you. The iEQ9 (an advanced Enneagram psychometric used by CoCreate) helps individuals and teams understand their core motivations, fears, and habitual ways of responding. When you understand why someone behaves as they do, you are far better placed to hear not just their words, but the underlying needs and concerns they may struggle to articulate. This is active listening at its most powerful: informed, empathetic and transformative.

7. Treat listening as a shared responsibility

Listening is often discussed as an individual skill, but in the workplace, it is also a collective one. The quality of listening in an organisation shapes its culture.

In environments where people routinely talk over one another, interrupt or dismiss alternative viewpoints, poor listening becomes normalised. In contrast, when leaders model attentive listening, curiosity, and openness, those behaviours spread, and they can spread quickly.

Improving listening at work therefore, isn’t just about personal development. It’s about creating conditions where listening is valued, expected and supported. This might mean allowing more time for discussion, designing meetings that encourage contribution or explicitly acknowledging when someone has been heard.

What next?

Perhaps the most important thing to acknowledge is that listening well takes effort. It is not passive, and it does not come naturally when we are tired, stressed or overloaded.

In many workplaces, listening is treated as something we do automatically. In reality, it requires intention and practice. Like any skill that matters, it improves when we pay attention to it.

Work with CoCreate to build a listening culture

At CoCreate, we support organisations and their people to become more self-aware, more connected and more effective communicators. Whether through our leadership development programmes, team workshops or the iEQ9 Enneagram assessment, we help people understand the deeper motivations that shape how they listen and how they are heard.

If you’re ready to build a workplace where people genuinely listen to each other, to what isn’t being said, and to themselves, we’d love to talk. Get in touch today to explore how we can support your organisation.