Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions

Fostering a culture of companionate love in the workplace offers numerous benefits for employees, yet the methods for achieving this remain unclear. We propose that high-quality listening, characterized by undivided attention, understanding, and a positive and nonjudgmental intention toward the speaker, could be a key facilitator. We hypothesized that such listening could enhance employees' perceptions of companionate love. Additionally, we hypothesized that an enhanced perception of companionate love would increase employees' subjective well-being, resilience, affective commitment, and willingness to cooperate at work. To examine these hypotheses, we conducted four studies. Study 1 was a preregistered and highly-powered field study (N = 752) involving employees from various organizations. Study 2 (N = 37), was a longitudinal research that included a listening training of 16 hours for teachers in a single school. Study 3 was a quasi-field experiment within a risk-management company, with employees receiving 12 hours of listening education while a waitlist served as a control group (N = 67). Study 4 was a quasi-experiment that served as a conceptual replication and extension of Studies 2 and 3. The study involved listening training for employees in a global communications company, providing 14 hours of online listening training. An active control group (N = 60) was included. Across all studies, we found that feeling listened to by colleagues led to increased perceptions of companionate love in the organization, which, in turn, increased employees' subjective well-being, resilience, affective organizational commitment, and willingness to collaborate. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

What does it mean to listen, and what enables people to do it well? This study examines the cultural foundations, conditions, expressions, and outcomes of listening through a qualitative analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews with Israeli participants. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified five interrelated themes showing how listening is shaped by relational closeness, emotional safety, internal motivation, behavioral expression, and emotional impact. Participants described listening as an intentional and emotionally effortful process, grounded in trust, cultural norms, and personal willingness to remain present. It was experienced not only through visible behaviors but through authentic emotional presence and attunement. Crucially, listening was described as the most vulnerable and most revealing in contexts of conflict, emotional strain, or power asymmetries, where relational and ethical demands intensify. These findings highlight listening as a culturally situated, interpretive practice shaped by collective norms, emotional intensity, and social hierarchy. This study contributes to context-sensitive models of listening with implications for interpersonal relationships, organizational leadership, and intercultural communication, particularly in high-conflict or culturally diverse environments where listening serves as a key relational and managerial resource.