Who do you believe is the one, in a typical dialog, receiver or sender, which controls the

conversation? This question was posed to me many years ago by a professor while attending an
undergrad communication course. The answer surprised me. If you guessed it is the one listening
then you are correct. The sender of a message in a conversation, is observing non-verbal
communication, usually unconsciously, which often dictates the flow of information. Through
body language and verbal cues, the receiver tells the sender when they are bored, when they are
interested, when they are done, when they have something to add, and when emotions are
aroused. Of course there are those that will speak no matter the feedback information they
receive but this constitutes poor communication skills and a lack of self-awareness, which
shouldnt be the case for well-developed information professionals. This isnt the only reason
why good listening skills are important however.
Its most probable that listening is the single most important aspect of communication. Evans
and Alire (2013) tell us, when speaking of communication in terms of oral written and
listening, that in many ways, it is the last one that separates the great manager from the good
manager (p. 180). Let us then consider for a moment, a few different modalities of listening and
what an effective manager might gain from using them appropriately.
Empathetic listening can help us determine what emotions an employee or user of library
services might be experiencing, so that we may better serve them and build relationship.
Consider for a moment that you are manager of an academic library and an employee has come
to you in a fit of frustration, requiring help with an aspect of their job. Many managers might
only consider that the employee is requiring help and thus only provide them with the necessary
information to operate. However, there are multiple things that may be going on in this scenario.
The employee may not only require certain information for the job at hand, but may be looking
for support. Im in no way suggesting that managers need to be psychologists, delving into the
emotional makeup of an employee, however listening with empathy, helps us to understand
where the other is coming from. We can empthize with their frustration, make them feel heard
and once they are calmed down, we can then actively listen for what the trouble is with regards
to the job. In such ways, relationships between manager and staff can be strengthened, which
could result in better productivity. To this affect, Jarrard (2006), of the Carnegie Institute of
Technology, who conducted a study of previous research on this topic, quoted Bell and Hall as
noting if our tests of leadership and empathy were perfectly reliable, we might expect to
account for about 20% of the variance in leadership scores, on the basis of empathic ability to
understand the phenomenological fields of others, and consequently their needs (p. 162).
Although there are many other types of listening, such as appreciative listening and critical
listening, Ill address one more type that might directly apply to a workplace setting such as a
library- informative listening. Informative listening is what most of us generally do when we are
communicating with one another. It is basically about listening to understand. When a manager
is listening to an employee, they are generally listening to understand the message, or so one
would generally hope. The problem, as restated by Evans and Alire (2013), which has also been
a know barrer to communication for a long while now, is that we can process what we hear
about four times faster than most people speak. This leaves about three-quarters of our listening

time free for our minds to wander, and they will unless we work at not letting that happen (p.
197). As for myself, the goal, as I begin a career in Academic Librarianship, especially insofar as
I lead others, is to listen actively with intention.
Whatever type of listening we are utilizing as leaders, it requires much practise, much focus and
the discernment to understand when to use one type as opposed to another.

References
Jarrard, L. E. (1956). Empathy: the concept and industrial applications.Personnel
Psychology, 9(2), 157-167.
Evans, G.E., & Alire, C.A. (2013). Management basics for information
professionals (3rd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman