In a world saturated with noise, where voices are often drowned out by hierarchy, biases, or simply the chaos of daily life, listening has become a rare and undervalued skill. Yet, it is one of the most profound tools for fostering connection, trust, and meaningful change. Particularly in the context of addressing gender bias and equity in the workplace, listening plays a transformative role. This blog unpacks five essential themes related to listening and its potential to shape a more inclusive and equitable society.
1. The Power of Listening as a Core Competency
Listening is often misconstrued as a passive act, but in truth, it is one of the most active skills we can cultivate. Effective listening requires presence, effort, and the ability to quiet our own assumptions to truly hear what someone else is saying. Listening involves believing the other has a perspective that can enrich my current understanding. I wrote a blog in the past about listening as the best gift to give during the holiday season. The need to listen is more important than ever as we launch into 2025.
The impact from intentional listening has been markedly visible to me over this last year as I and a colleague have walked alongside a senior level team that has been discerning their next priority choices.
When we listen actively, we create a sense of belonging for the speaker. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reminds us that after securing our basic needs and safety, humans next need love and belonging. In professional and personal spaces alike, active listening fosters this sense of connection. It shows that we value the perspectives of others, laying the foundation for trust and collaboration.
Unfortunately, modern distractions—be it the constant deluge of information or the pressures of busy schedules—often prevent us from truly engaging. Overcoming these challenges is critical. Organizations that prioritize listening as a core competency set the stage for environments where all voices can thrive and consequently these organizations thrive.
When working with one particular organization, we as process consultants first needed to learn how these senior leaders envisioned the workflow in their unique setting. We may have imagined involving a wider swath of input to begin the process but after hearing what worked best for them - facilitated a process for these few leaders to do the demanding work themselves over the first few months. As we leaned into listening actively and comprehensively, we learned more of their context, we measured the weight of the board’s voice, and discerned in what ways individual senior team members were influential. Building architecturally through listening made sure we as process consultants tested with these senior team members what it would look like to bring the next level of leaders into the conversation. In testing ideas we teed up some best practices but did so adaptively wanting to understand more of what could build traction in a helpful way through listening respective to their culture. Additional meetings were added and wisdom gleaned from the second tier leaders as the senior leaders made plans to invite their feedback over the year. Importantly, these senior leaders closed the loop by demonstrating how they were using the input offered in their strategic possibilities work.
2. Barriers to Effective Listening
Why is listening so difficult? The answer lies in both individual and systemic barriers.
• Time and Effort: Active listening takes time—time to process, respond thoughtfully, and remain engaged. In fast-paced workplaces, leaders often sacrifice listening for efficiency, leaving employees feeling unheard.
• Information Overload: The modern brain is bombarded with information daily, making it harder to focus on the person in front of us.
• Command-and-Control Leadership: Hierarchical leadership structures remain and can stifle listening. Leaders may feel the need to project authority by “knowing it all,” avoiding moments of vulnerability that listening might require.
• Implicit Biases also Play a Significant Role: Listening is not always equitable. Women, for example, are interrupted more frequently than men in professional settings, and their ideas are often dismissed or later co-opted by others. These patterns result in disengagement and lost opportunities for innovation.
Addressing these barriers begins with self-awareness. Leaders and team members must consciously prioritize listening and ask for help in recognizing and disputing biases when they arise, even when it challenges their routines or preconceptions.
3. The Connection Between Listening and Gender Bias
The link between listening and gender bias is stark yet often overlooked. Women’s voices, both metaphorically and literally, are marginalized in many professional contexts. This silencing has far-reaching implications, from limiting leadership opportunities to perpetuating pay gaps.
Consider these striking statistics:
• Women with equivalent or higher qualifications than men often earn significantly less. In the U.S., women CEO's running organizations over $50M make only 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same position, and this gap widens for women of color at all levels. Nonprofit Compensation Report 2023
• While more tertiary degrees are earned by women than men, women occupy only 29% of executive leadership positions. McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace 2024
The failure to listen to women in the workplace is not always overt. Implicit biases, such as associating authority with men, can lead to unintentional but harmful exclusion. Research shows that in meetings, women’s ideas are less likely to be acknowledged or credited, even when they are central to a discussion.
To be listened to women's voices need to be in the room.
"Voice is the freedom to believe, speak, and live, showing up as we each intend, rather than how others intend." - Elaine Lin Hering, Unlearning Silence
To combat women's voices too often being silenced, organizations must cultivate intentional listening practices. This means creating spaces where women feel comfortable speaking up and ensuring their contributions are recognized. Leaders must also challenge biases within their teams, addressing behaviors that silence women or diminish their voices.
4. The Role of Process Consulting in Driving Change
Process consulting provides a framework for addressing systemic issues like poor listening and gender bias. By focusing on learning, adaptation, and collaboration, process consulting helps organizations identify barriers to effective communication and create actionable solutions.
A key principle of process consulting is active listening—engaging with clients, team members, or stakeholders to fully understand their needs and perspectives. This approach requires curiosity and adaptability, two traits that are central to building trust.
For example, process consultants often work with teams to unearth unspoken tensions or biases. They facilitate conversations that may otherwise feel uncomfortable but are necessary for growth. By modeling effective listening, consultants help organizations learn how to better connect with their employees and clients.
This approach is particularly powerful in addressing gender inequities. When organizations commit to listening comprehensively, they begin to uncover the subtle biases and structural barriers that hinder women’s advancement. The result is not only greater equity but also stronger, more cohesive teams.
5. Bridging Listening with Social Equity
Listening is not just a skill—it is a tool for social change. In the context of gender bias, intentional listening can dismantle harmful stereotypes and create opportunities for underrepresented voices to lead.
One of the most striking examples of the need for listening lies in the persistent pay gap between men and women. Despite years of progress, women are still paid less for the same work, even when controlling for experience and education. Listening to women about their experiences can shed light on the systemic issues that perpetuate this inequality.
Another area where listening is critical is in leadership development. Women often face unique challenges in climbing the corporate ladder, from lack of mentorship to cultural biases about their capabilities. By listening to their needs and experiences, organizations can develop programs that provide meaningful support. Asking for help is critical in evaluating current hiring and advancement practices through the lens of gender bias.
Listening also plays a crucial role in addressing intersectionality. Women of color, for example, face compounded biases that require specific attention. Creating pathways for diverse voices to be heard ensures that organizations do not overlook the unique challenges of marginalized groups.
Call to Action: Building a Culture of Listening
The good news is that listening is a skill that can be learned and cultivated. Here are some actionable steps organizations and individuals can take:
1. Prioritize Active Listening: Make listening a core part of your leadership development programs. Train employees to engage with curiosity and empathy. Check out and sponsor your team with one of the courses that the Society for Process Consulting offers including deep dives into the art of listening.
2. Create Safe Spaces: Foster environments where employees, particularly women and marginalized groups, feel empowered to speak up without fear of dismissal or retribution. Do you offer women only support groups? Those of us working especially in supporting women leaders are equipped to facilitate your targeted leadership groups.
3. Address Biases Head-On: Use tools like the Harvard Implicit Bias Test to uncover unconscious biases in your workplace. Facilitate open discussions about how these biases impact listening. Invite a speaker like me to equip your women and men on the realities of gender bias today and what to look for and behaviors to interrupt.
4. Measure Progress: Track metrics related to gender equity, such as pay gaps and leadership representation, to ensure that your efforts are making a tangible difference. Especially here watch for the broken rung assessing for the biased nature of advancement policies and practices present.
5. Celebrate Diverse Voices: Highlight the contributions of women and underrepresented groups in your organization. Amplify their voices and recognize their achievements.
Conclusion
Listening is a gateway to understanding, equity, and progress. Listening's power unlocks potential through connection and opportunity. It is not merely a soft skill—it is a transformative force that can reshape how organizations function and how society views gender roles.
By addressing the barriers to listening and embracing process consulting as a tool for change, we can create environments where everyone’s voice is valued. And as we listen more deeply and inclusively, we move closer to a world where opportunity is not defined by gender but by potential.
Let us commit to listening—not just as a means of hearing, but as a means of transforming. Minimizing 50% of our population based on baked in cultural biases is a loss for all of us. Instead let’s flourish together. For when we truly listen, we empower not only individuals but entire systems to grow, innovate, and thrive.
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