3 active listening strategies for a successful career in human resources (HR)

What drew you to a career in human resources?

Like other HR professionals, you probably like working in a job where you can support people, improve the workplace experience, and solve problems.

Whether you're just getting started in HR or developing as an experienced professional, improving your active listening skills will help you support employees with what they truly need.

Use the following strategies to develop your active listening skills and make a positive difference in your HR role.

Active listening happens when you're fully paying attention and engaging to understand the person's message.

Dr. Adijat Ogunyemi, the Millennial Social Worker, explains more in this clip:

Whether you’re an HR generalist or HR specialist, active listening skills will improve your:

• Communication: Successful HR professionals are excellent listeners. Using active listening skills prevents misunderstandings and makes it easier to collaborate.

• Professional relationships: Use active listening to connect with people, including HR team members and the people you support. Get to know someone and acknowledge their feelings to build a trusting relationship.

• Leadership: Good leaders listen because they care and want to show respect. When people feel heard and appreciated, they can thrive in the workplace.

• Business outcomes: Understand each person's point of view to make informed decisions that meet goals such as hiring and retaining top talent, resolving conflicts, improving processes, or creating effective learning experiences.

For effective active listening, you need to be fully present. As an HR professional, this means you need time available to focus on the employee and listen without rushing them.

Make sure you have time.

• Be ready to focus and listen.

• Keep distractions away.

• If you're busy when they first approach you, set up a time when you're available to listen.

Don't interrupt.

• Let them finish sharing any info they believe is important.

• Make sure you're letting them do most of the talking.

• Allow them to pause without jumping in immediately with a response.

Use emotional & non-verbal cues.

• Observe their expressions, tone, and body language.

• Show you're listening by looking at them, having open body language such as uncrossed arms, and showing signs of understanding like nodding.

• Be careful with your facial expressions. You don't want them to feel judged.

Example

An employee wants to talk to you about a conflict they're having with their coworker.

You're tempted to check your email but you turn away from the laptop on the table and face the employee. As they talk, you keep open body language and nod when appropriate. When you feel the urge to interrupt, you hold back and focus on what they have to say.

This shows that patient active listeners have self-awareness and make thoughtful choices.

HR professionals often handle emotional conversations. Empathy improves active listening because people feel heard when you show you really understand their point of view and respect their feelings.

It's easier to empathize when you keep an open mind. As you listen, consider:

• Curiosity over judgment: Stay curious about what they feel and why instead of making assumptions and judgments. This helps someone feel safe and supported.

• Practicing perspective-taking: Ask yourself how you'd feel if your circumstances were the same as theirs. This helps you better understand what matters to them.

• Accepting differences: Understand that everyone experiences and expresses emotions differently. So even if you wouldn't feel the same way, you can appreciate someone for who they are and show you care.

Show empathy by accepting and validating their emotions.

Example

An employee tells you that they're falling behind on their work because they've been stressed and tired from taking care of their sick parent.

To respond with empathy, you could say something like:

"That sounds really hard. I understand why it would be tiring and challenging to stay on top of your work. What can I do to support you?"

You can offer options that provide relief, such as help from the employee assistance program, or explain leave of absence options if necessary.

Practice Responding with Empathy

An employee tells you that they're angry about getting unfair performance feedback from their manager.

How could you respond with empathy? Select all that apply:

A. "I can see why you're upset about this. Thank you for bringing up your concerns."

B. "It can be difficult to handle poor feedback. I hope you can stay open-minded."

C. "I understand that receiving this feedback was frustrating. Please tell me more about it."

D. "I'm sorry, the manager may not have known how to communicate the feedback properly."

To have productive conversations and make informed decisions, you should dive deeper by asking thoughtful questions.

Questions also help you clarify what they mean if they say something that you don't understand right away.

Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions to be engaged as a listener and make sure you have a deep understanding of what they're communicating.

If you only ask closed-ended questions, it can cut the conversation short, since they don't encourage detail (they lead to yes/no or short answers). Open-ended questions invite longer responses and show interest in learning more.

In this clip, skills trainer Laurie Wang explains more about how to use open-ended questions:

Example

An employee says, "All these meetings are a waste of time."

Instead of assuming anything or ignoring the comment, you ask them something like:

• "I'm interested in your perspective. What isn't working for you about these meetings?"

• "How do you feel during these meetings?"

• "What would help make these meetings more valuable for you?"

This openness to feedback through everyday active listening builds trust and provides data to support updates to company policy, procedures, and a chance to improve the employee experience.

You meet with Lucia. She's been working for your company for 6 years as a Marketing Coordinator. She just found out that a newer employee was hired for the Marketing Manager position.

She says: "I've been working here for longer than him! I was the one who trained him when he started as an intern two years ago. I don't know why I wasn't considered for this promotion."

Photo by airfocus on Unsplash

Using your active listening skills, what would be the best response?

A. "I'm sorry you feel that way. Your work definitely matters. You're great at marketing, so don't give up. One day you'll get the promotion that you deserve. Do you believe you can succeed?"

B. "That sounds frustrating. I don't understand why the hiring manager didn't consider you, since you have more experience. Why do you think that happened?"

C. "I feel bad for you. You're amazing at your job and highly valued here. You were actually considered for this promotion. What made you think you were overlooked?"

D. "I can see why you're bringing up concerns with this hiring decision. Can you tell me more about how you're feeling?"

Start to apply these active listening strategies right away and you'll have better results as an HR professional.