7 Reasons Employees Don’t Listen – and 7 Tips to Be Heard

Ever feel like employees don’t listen to you? Ignore you? Or just don’t get what you’re saying.

Well, you aren’t alone.

Many leaders in and outside of Finance feel the same way you do.

And it comes at a big cost: A Grammarly study estimates that ineffective communication costs businesses in the U.S. about $1.2 trillion per year in wasted labor hours. When people don’t listen to what’s being said, they waste time doing the wrong things, clarifying after mistakes were made or just not doing anything.

Not Always Employees’ Fault They Don’t Listen

While many employees actually don’t listen, you can’t just blame employees when they don’t get what you say.

Here’s the bitter pill to swallow: Sometimes finance leaders don’t communicate well, causing employees to tune out.

Here are the seven biggest reasons employees miss the message and how you can avoid these poor communication habits.

1. Didn’t Grab Their Attention

People have a shrinking attention span: It’s down to about 8.25 seconds if the person, topic or situation doesn’t interest them.

So you need to say something interesting within those first eight seconds.

The best approach: Immediately explain how the information you want to share directly affects employees.

2. Avoid the Data Dump

Employees are overwhelmed with information all day, every day. Giving them anything that’s less than relevant to the task at hand dilutes – and potentially pollutes – your message.

Keep directions simple and to the point. Keep your message short. If they need more information, they’ll ask for it.

3. The Focus is on the Wrong Person

Great leaders tend to be interesting and respected by their employees. But even then, employees are still primarily interested in themselves.

So, if your message focuses too much on you, the company or group, it will be mostly ignored. Instead, focus on why the information you share is important to the people who get it.

If you hear yourself saying, “I” and “we” more than “you,” it’s time to change the message.

4. The Timing Was Bad

Some messages aren’t heard and heeded because they come at a bad time.

When are those bad times? Just before a meal or coffee break and about an hour after those breaks, when their blood sugar begins to drop. They don’t sink in particularly well at the end of a day, week or busy period, too.

Important messages are best delivered right after they’ve fueled up. That’s when they’re most alert.

5. You’re Sitting in the Wrong Spot

Researchers have found that people listen better to those who are in the “right” position.

And that doesn’t mean having the right job title.

For example, in a meeting, the “right” position tends to be the head of the table – which is a “high status” seat. The foot of the table also gets attention, but often it’s for opposition to what happens at the head.

People sitting on the middle sides tend to get heard the least from their “low status” seats.

So, when the message is important, position yourself in one of the “high-status” end seats.

6. Lack of Clarity

Sometimes leaders don’t speak clearly. Three keys to clear speech:

1. Speak up. If they literally can’t hear you, nothing will sink in.
2. Stop short of yelling. If you’re full of emotion, they’ll ignore the content.
3. Slow down. If you talk too fast or say too much, employees won’t keep up.

7. Lack of or Limited Feedback

People also don’t listen when they don’t feel their opinions, concerns or feedback don’t matter anyway. They figure: Why listen when we aren’t listened to?

So the key to being heard is hearing. You want to give employees the opportunity to give feedback on what you say and what affects them.