Five barriers to good listening habits

Summary

This piece from HRZone (Dani Bacon, Distinction Business Consulting) argues that poor listening — not poor speaking — is often the root of workplace communication problems. Genuine listening is framed as a leadership practice that builds trust, psychological safety and better decision-making. The article outlines five common barriers that stop people listening effectively and offers five straightforward ways to improve listening in everyday interactions.

It draws on research and practitioner books (Kathryn Mannix, Stephen R. Covey, Adam Kahane, Julie Starr) and highlights practical outcomes: when leaders listen well people feel less anxious, become more self-aware and are likelier to share useful insights. The piece finishes with two simple next steps: reflect on your habits and ask the team for feedback.

Key Points

Listening with the intent to reply prevents true understanding and reduces capacity to absorb the speaker’s meaning.
Assuming you already know what someone will say leads to cursory listening and missed nuance.
Avoiding uncomfortable information (defensiveness) limits personal growth and harms relationships.
Body language — including eye contact on video — often betrays claimed attention and undermines perceived listening.
Digital distractions and multitasking degrade the quality of interactions and the feeling of being heard.

Content summary

The article first explains why listening matters for leadership and team performance, citing evidence that empathic listening links to better job performance and psychological safety. It then lists five barriers to effective listening (replying, assumptions, avoidance, body language, digital distractions) and gives five practical fixes: listen closely (notice words, tone and non-verbal cues), accept silence and avoid interrupting, actively show you are listening (summaries, mirroring, questions), stop multi-tasking during conversations, and act on what you hear to demonstrate you were listening.

Final suggestions are pragmatic: reflect on one listening habit to work on and ask your team how heard they feel — small changes with visible impact.

Why should I read this?

Short version — if you manage people or work in teams and think meetings keep missing the point, this is one of those useful, no-nonsense reads. It calls out five sneaky ways we wreck listening and lays out five simple fixes you can try tomorrow. Informal, practical and quick — we’ve saved you the time of sifting through fluff.