You’ll never escape the turnover cycle if you don’t learn this important skill

Attracting and retaining employees stays one of the best challenges facing entrepreneurs today. SCORE’s recent Megaphone of Main Street report on worker engagement revealed that 60.7% of small business owners occupy such spaces hiring the right talent as the predominant challenge, with 45.8% finding it difficult to retain current staff. Another 33% of small business owners say retaining and motivating employees is a “concern.”

Of course, there are important reasons to retain staff. Long-term employees have a lot of institutional memory about customer likes and dislikes, which helps create higher customer support. Employee retention also helps cement staff loyalty, improves morale and increases productivity.

Replacing an worker normally involves high costs. Estimates the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). replacing a staff member it costs almost $4,700. Others estimate that the cost of alternative can be three to 4 times the salary of the position, so retaining your current team will likely save you money.

The power of lively listening

According to Boris Groysberg, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and Robin Abrahams, a research fellow at Harvard Business School, one technique to combat “crazy job switching” is to “be a good listener.” An article published in the Harvard Business Review wrote: “Employers who don’t listen and respond thoughtfully to their employees’ concerns, they will experience higher turnover. Given that the highest turnover rates are among high-performing employees who can take clients and projects with them, as well as front-line employees responsible for customer service, the risk is clear.”

What exactly is lively listening? Typical listening involves understanding what the other person is saying. Active listening is about conveying “interest, commitment and concern” to the person/people you are talking to.

Groysberg and Abrahams say that lively listening has three points:

1. Cognitive: Paying attention and understanding every part that is said.
2. Emotional: During the conversation, you must remain calm and compassionate, and manage any emotional reactions, corresponding to irritation or boredom, that you may feel.
3. Behavioral: Verbally and non-verbally showing interest in what is being said.

Active listening is especially important in hybrid and virtual workplaces, where most conversations do not happen face-to-face but over the phone or video conference. At the starting of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we needed to send home our rapidly growing workforce, I spotted it was harder to speak expectations, share our updated mission and purpose, and obtain honest feedback from our employees. Sometimes it felt like we were talking next to each other.

How I learned to be an lively listener

I’ve at all times prided myself on being a good listener – that comes with being a mother of 4 children. But my listening skills didn’t appear to be working. Then I remembered that I had learned about lively listening in law school.

• Participating in class discussions, litigation exercises, and legal clinics has taught me the importance of focusing on what people are saying, understanding their message, and responding appropriately.
• Effective listening helps us think critically and analyze complex problems from multiple perspectives.
• Law school taught me the importance of listening with empathy and acknowledging the emotions and concerns of others. Empathetic listening helps build trust and relationships, which will be the key to retaining good employees.

Going to law school was a worthwhile training ground for me. It made me a higher listener and laid the foundation for building several successful businesses. I understand that almost all business owners don’t have a legal background, but that does not imply you cannot apply these basic lessons.

How you can turn into an lively listener

Being an lively listener requires conscious effort and consistent practice. Groysberg and Abrahams say that one of the most important things you can do as an lively listener is “repeat back to them the last few words of others.” They say it “makes the other person feel heard, keeps you on track during the conversation, and gives both of you a break to collect your thoughts or recover from an emotional reaction.”

They also say that one way people get off target is by offering nonverbal auditory cues when you feel uncomfortable with them. If you’re so focused on looking people in the eye, you’re probably not listening. However, it is important to concentrate to non-verbal cues corresponding to tone of voice, facial features and body language given by the person you are talking to.

Another key to being an lively listener is to borrow a trick from journalists and ask more questions than you think you have to. Groysberg and Abrahams say this makes the person/people you’re talking to “feel heard, you fully understand their message, and you don’t miss details.”

Finally, don’t formulate a response while the other person is still talking. This will distract you from listening to what they are saying to you.

Increasing worker engagement

A recent Gallup study on worker engagement shows that, in comparison with 2020, today’s employees feel more disconnected from their work, have less clear expectations, experience lower levels of satisfaction, and are disconnected from their company’s purpose. Most of them also don’t feel that anyone at work cares about them as people.

This is reflected in the SCORE survey results, which show that 62% of business owners say it is difficult to maintain employees engaged and productive.

One of the advantages of lively listening is that by boosting morale, it will probably directly contribute to creating a more cohesive team in your small business. When your team feels heard and understood, they turn into more loyal, engaged, motivated and productive, helping your small business achieve long-term success.