Communicating for workplace connection: A longitudinal study of the outcomes of listening training on teachers' autonomy, psychological safety, and relational climate
Abstract
Training teachers to listen may enable them to experience increasingly attentive and open peer relationships at work. In the present research, we examined the outcomes of a year-long listening training on school teachers' listening abilities and its downstream consequences on their relational climate, autonomy, and psychological safety. Teachers in two elementary schools engaged in a similar listening training program throughout the entire school year. The measures included indicators of a supportive relational climate that are known to be important to teacher well-being, namely, autonomy, psychological safety, and relational energy. Results of growth curve modeling showed linear increases in all three outcomes, such that more listening training corresponded to a more positive relational climate. Specifically, the teachers reported increasingly higher quality listening from their group member teachers, felt more autonomy satisfied, psychologically safe, and relationally energetic. Furthermore, latent growth curve modeling indicated that the teachers' listening perception was positively and significantly associated with all three outcomes. We concluded that listening training is associated with teachers perceiving higher quality listening from their peers and, therefore, feeling more autonomy-satisfied, psychologically safe, and relationally energetic and discussing theoretical and practical implications.
How do people perceive listeners?
Guy Itzchakov, Geoffrey Haddock and Sarah Smith
Listening
Listening is essential in shaping social interactions,
relationships and communication. While listening research
has generated significant insights on how speakers benefit
from good listening, one fundamental question has been
largely overlooked: how do people perceive listeners?
This gap is crucial for understanding how perceptions of
listeners impact relational dynamics. In three studies (two
preregistered; total N = 1509), we assessed the attributes
and behaviours associated with good and bad listeners, and
whether the favourability of these attributes and behaviours
impact downstream consequences. In Study 1, participants
identified an acquaintance they judged as a good or bad
listener. Good listeners were rated higher in positive listening
attributes and behaviours, which mediated their perceived
warmth, competence and values. Study 2 replicated this using
a reverse correlation technique: one sample generated faces
of a good or bad listener, which were then evaluated by a
second, naïve sample. Consistent with Study 1, good listener
faces were rated higher in positive listening attributes and
behaviours, mediating perceptions of warmth, competence,
humility and values. Study 3 extended Study 2 by showing
that the effects were not due to a general positivity bias,
demonstrating the significant interpersonal consequences of
being perceived as a good or bad listener.
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The effects of listening on speaker and listener while talking about character strengths: an open science school-wide collaboration
Tia Moin, Netta Weinstein, Guy Itzchakov, Amanda Branson, Beth Law, Lydia Yee, Emma Pape, Rebecca Y. M. Cheung, Anthony Haffey, Bhismadev Chakrabarti and Philip Beaman
Listening
Listening is understood to be a foundational element in
practices that rely on effective conversations, but there is
a gap in our understanding of what the effects of highquality
listening are on both the speaker and listener.
This registered report addressed this gap by training one
group of participants to listen well as speakers discuss
their character strengths, allowing us to isolate the role
relational listening plays in strengths-based conversations.
Participants were paired and randomly assigned to a highquality
listening (experimental) or moderate-quality listening
(comparison) condition manipulated through a validated
video-based training. High-quality listening predicted a
more constructive relational experience; specifically, positivity
resonance. Intrapersonal experiences (perceived authenticity
and state anxiety) were not affected. Those who engaged
in high-quality listening expressed a behavioural intention
to continue listening, but condition did not predict a
behavioural intention for speakers to continue applying
character strengths. This is the first evidence of positivity
resonance as a shared outcome between both a speaker and listener when the listener conveys high-quality (as opposed to ‘everyday’) listening. These early
findings merit further study with stronger listening manipulations to explore the potential role
of listening within interpersonal communication, and inform the applied psychological sciences
(counselling, psychotherapy, coaching, organizational, education).
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