Listening
Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash
When we think about communicating effectively, we tend to focus on what we are saying and how we are saying it. But perhaps an even more important facet of communication is happening when we’re not talking at all; it’s when we are listening. This might be especially true when we are trying to communicate our science.
Listening can take on many different forms. You can be listening to what someone is saying. You can tune into their nonverbal body language. You can also be listening to what they are not saying; what someone chooses to highlight or to omit can also speak volumes. All of these forms of communication reveal a lot about what someone else is thinking, and about how your own communications are being received.
Mindfully listening to what someone else is saying can tell you if they are understanding your words correctly. This is important for science communication because you want your audience to know the things that you know! If your communication partner either repeats your words back to you or paraphrases what you say, that can be an indication that they are understanding what you are trying to tell them. Even better is when your communication partner asks you a question that is the next logical step from the information that you have conveyed, or a deeply thoughtful question that is right on target with the themes you have been talking about. We’ve all seen this in action at conference presentations. When a talk is confusing, or the speaker has not sufficiently conveyed why the audience should care about the topic, the speaker may get no questions, or simply get a question that asks the speaker to repeat some details about the methodology that have already been covered. But, when the speaker has conveyed their information in a comprehensive and engaging manner, then the audience starts to ask the hard questions. That doesn’t mean they didn’t like the talk! Actually, quite the opposite. They understood the talk well enough and they are invested enough in the topic to leap forward in their thinking and ask the speaker about more complicated hypotheticals, or how the findings may connect with more disparate literatures, etc.
Nonverbal body language can also give you a lot of information about whether your communication partner or your audience understands what you are saying and even agrees with you. Sticking with the example of conference presentations, it can be critical to tune into the nonverbal body language to ensure that you don’t inadvertently lose your audience along the way. Are people in the audience nodding their head? That means they are with you and understand your explanations, whether that’s of theory, hypotheses, or the pattern of results that you are showing, and they’re ready to see what’s next. Are they making eye contact with you, or even smiling? That also means you’re on the right track. But, if, suddenly, people’s brows become furrowed as they are looking at your slides, or they look quizzically back and forth between you and your presentation, that means that there is something on your slide or something you have said that is either inconsistent or doesn’t make sense. This can be an opportune moment to backtrack, rephrase what you have previously said, and even ask the audience if this makes sense. If you get some head nods, then you’re good to proceed. Sometimes you may get quizzical looks because you have said something surprising! In this case, you may consider taking a moment to linger on this surprising point.
These strategies work for one-to-one conversations just as well as for conference presentations. If your communication partner is leaning towards you, nodding or tilting their head quizzically, furrowing their brow, or looking beyond you to other people nearby, these are all signs that can help you understand whether to continue, to pivot, or even to end the conversation. These signs are also powerful in small group settings. By further watching who others watch, or who people look at when they are speaking, you can discern the social hierarchy within the group and whose thoughts or opinions may matter more than others. As one example, I remember being in a meeting with fellow academics, fundraising leaders, a donor, and their family. The meeting wasn’t going badly, but it wasn’t going particularly well either. As I observed the conversational dynamics play out, it became clear to me that the problem was that most of the people in that meeting were highly focused on what they thought the donor might want. But, in watching how the donor interacted with the group, and who they looked at, it became clear that the thoughts of one of their family members (who was being overlooked in this conversation) were the most important thing to this donor. I took an opportunity to pivot the conversation to engage that family member and see what was on their mind, and the meeting took a considerably better turn after that.
Finally, a helpful technique in managing communication in science is to listen to what your communication partner is not saying. Is the donor or the journalist asking you questions about one area of your research, but not the area you’re most excited about and actually talked about more? That’s a sign they may not understand or may just not be interested in your favourite area, and you can then focus on something that everyone can get excited about. Or, maybe you’re presenting an idea for a group project or grant in a meeting, but you’re getting pushback from one or two people that doesn’t make sense. If the conversation starts to feel obstructive or disingenuous, step back and think about what they may be thinking but not saying. Does the project create a power shift away from them and towards you? Will they lose resources or does it create unreasonable work for them? There may be something that they are uncomfortable talking about. You can then decide if (and how) you want to try address it more directly with them one-on-one.
In academia, we might receive some training on how to communicate, but it’s often focused on what we say, not how we listen. Practicing the skill of listening can help elevate your science communication by showing you what your audience understands and cares about. This, in turn, allows you to keep the conversation going in a way that is more engaging and more beneficial for everyone. If you’re working on your communication skills and want some support, book a call with me here. I’d be happy to help.
Next week: Meeting people where they are
