Evidence-Based Approach
Recent listening studies showed that listening and inclusive leadership increase psychological safety.
Psychological safety in teams increases creativity, learning, and performance (on various measures).
Even more
Really great stuff on listening, asking questions and psychological safety.
Colleagues and friends - Dr. Guy Itzchakov (Itzik) and Prof. Avi Kluger on the power of listening.
HBR on the surprising power of listening
The five keys to a successful Google team
HBR on psychological safety and high performing teams
Thoughts about preparation of newly joint teams on fast execution - IDC MA program
The Extraordinary Power of Listening
Listening, Inclusive Leadership and Psychological Safety
Research
If you are still suspicious or just curious, you'll find below theoretical and empirical evidence on the power of listening, inclusive leadership, and psychological safety.
A comprehensive and integrative research on listening at work.
Yip, J., & Fisher, C. M. (2022). Listening in organizations: A synthesis and future agenda. Academy of Management Annals, 16(2), 657-679.
Listening is associated with and likely cause of desired organizational outcomes in numerous areas, including job performance, leadership , quality of relationships, job knowledge, job attitudes, and well being.
Kluger, A. N., & Itzchakov, G. (2022). The power of listening at work. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 9.
Talking and emphasizing achievements in work-related conversations makes people look less attentive and supportive. Subsequently, conversation partners are less interested in future interactions.
Martin, S. R., Harrison, S. H., Hoopes, C., Schroeder, J., & Belmi, P. R. (2022). Talking shop: An exploration of how talking about work affects our initial interactions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 168, 104104.
The perceptions of listening quality are inherently dyadic
Kluger, A. N., Malloy, T. E., Pery, S., Itzchakov, G., Castro, D. R., Lipetz, L., Sela, Y., Turjeman-Levi, Y., Lehmann, M., New, M., & Borut, L. (in press). Dyadic Listening in Teams: Social Relations Model. Applied Psychology: An International Review.
Listening increases psychological safety (for most)
Castro, D. R., Kluger, A. N., & Itzchakov, G. (2016). Does avoidance‐attachment style attenuate the benefits of being listened to?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46(6), 762-775.
Listening increases the speaker's creativity via sense of psychological safety
Castro, D. R., Anseel, F., Kluger, A. N., Lloyd, K. J., & Turjeman-Levi, Y. (2018). Mere listening effect on creativity and the mediating role of psychological safety. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Most of the things you should know about psychological safety
Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), 23-43.
You may lose more from not asking sensitive questions than what you gain from being overly sensitive
Hart, Einav and VanEpps, Eric and Schweitzer, Maurice E., I Didn’t Want to Offend You: The Cost of Avoiding Sensitive Questions (June 24, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3437468 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3437468
The power of listening in changing the mind!
Itzchakov, G., Kluger, A. N., & Castro, D. R. (2017). I am aware of my inconsistencies but can tolerate them: The effect of high quality listening on speakers’ attitude ambivalence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(1), 105-120.
Hirak, R., Peng, A. C., Carmeli, A., & Schaubroeck, J. M. (2012). Linking leader inclusiveness to work unit performance: The importance of psychological safety and learning from failures. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(1), 107-117.
Van Quaquebeke, N., & Felps, W. (2018). Respectful inquiry: A motivational account of leading through asking questions and listening. Academy of Management Review, 43(1), 5-27.
The predictors of team performance may surprise you... see it here
Woolley, A. W., Chabris, C. F., Pentland, A., Hashmi, N., & Malone, T. W. (2010). Evidence for a collective intelligence factor in the performance of human groups. science, 330(6004), 686-688.