As we all probably painfully aware, empathetic listening is a critical skill of success in any business 
environment. Over the years, we all have been presented with hundreds of different frameworks and methodologies that teach business professionals to listen effectively and intently absorb the words others are saying. By absorbing what others are really saying, we can be more collaborative and effective. Some effective listening methodologies suggest repeating and rephrasing, some suggest “parroting” the words back to the other individual, and others suggest using 5-7 seconds of silence to make sure the other person knows you are listening effectively. All these methods have their positives and negatives in my opinion.
One of the biggest opportunities for improving listening skills is to have better focus on what is really important to your business. In other words, just listening intently about miscellaneous, unconnected things isn’t going to be good enough in an intense business environment.
Listening through the ear of Business Acumen, however, will raise your ability to focus on the things important to the business so you can better understand the impacts to the business. Focusing on the important business issues and impacts will help bring your impact to a new level of effectiveness.
Effective Business Acumen Listening
If you are with me so far and agree that focusing more on the critical business issues, then you should be wondering what are the specifics of effective Business Acumen Listening? Based on years of working with leaders, immersing myself in academic research, and my own observations, here are four things that I suggest you remember and focus on from a Business Acumen perspective when engaged in business dialogues:
How relevant is this conversation to the Business Strategy? – The business strategy should be the primary driver of everything you do in your organization. Effectively listening and engaging in dialogues are best when you are listening and understanding how the dialogue relates back to the strategy. For example, if your business strategy is one of innovation and becoming the product leader of your market, then you should be listening for weak and strong signals in every conversation on how to become the innovator and market leader.
How does this help our customers to achieve their objectives? – Ultimately, your company’s value proposition is helping your customers to achieve their objectives. Customer dialogues must also be heard through the Business Acumen lens. Are you listening for, and engaging in, dialogues that focus on the needs of your customers and how your value proposition is helping them achieve their objectives?
How is this helping our Business Goals and Objectives – Every meeting, every conversation, and every dialogue in your company should be focused on driving and achieving your goals and objectives. If they aren’t, then the meeting is a complete waste of time and money. What’s important to understand is that the listening skills must focus on hearing the things that define and support goal and objective completion.
How does this help us to Execute our strategy? – The best business strategies will fail without great execution (which is the hardest part of business). Effective listening through the lens of Business Acumen must also be hyper-aware of elements related to driving and supporting effective strategy execution including but not limited to having the right plans for Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing, Operations, and Finance. The worst mistake a company can make is to innovate great new products, market and sell them so that customers can’t wait to purchase them, and then not produce enough because of poor forecasting! In examples like this, you must look for learning lessons in conversations and wonder if effective Business Acumen listening was not a primary focus.
