Listening FAQs
What is Strategic Listening? How is it different from other types of listening?
Below are some definitions of various types of listening and what they can help you achieve.
Conversational Listening is the type of listening we do every day to communicate the needs of ourselves and others - from ordering a cup of coffee to learning about someone’s day.
Social Listening is the practice of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitor brands, and related keywords.
Active Listening is a practice of being fully present in the conversation in order to better ‘hear’ and interpret who you are talking to by using some of the following strategies;
Noticing (and using) non-verbal cues
Asking open-ended questions to encourage further responses
Paraphrasing and reflecting back what has been said
Listening to understand rather than to respond
Withholding judgment and advice
Strategic Listening is a process where one defines the goals of what they want to learn from a segment of people, uses Active Listening in conversations with them, and interprets this feedback, applying it to the strategic goals. Strategic listening also applies methods of human-centered design, turning insights into tools that can be used for understanding people and their experiences with an organization.
Why is Strategic Listening important to my organization?
When you make big decisions for your organization, you must have the full picture. Quantitative data can give you information on your community’s past behavior, but you also need thorough qualitative listening to understand how they may react to your decisions and how you can best build buy-in for the change.
Strategic listening allows you to;
Address the challenges that hold up your impact and lean into those that give you leverage to be bold
Be confident in the values of your organization
Know your community, how you fit into it, and where there is room to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’
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