The commotion of a busy hotel-whether at the front desk, in the dining room, or by the pool - makes listening difficult for service staff. A survey conducted by Cornell professor Judi Brownell makes clear that hospitality managers believe effective listening is critical to service excellence and to a hotel’s success.

Brownell outlines the critical connection between effective listening and service excellence in a new report.

‘Managers in the survey did not think that members of their organization listen all that well,’ said Brownell. ‘While listening training would improve employees’ skills, our survey identified two challenges. First, most people overestimate their ability to listen effectively and, second, the managers in this survey were unsure exactly how to go about developing the listening skills of their service staff.

Fortunately, listening competence can be significantly improved by implementing the strategies in this report. Brownell is able to offer specific guidelines for improving skills at each point in the listening process due to her analysis and creation of a framework for effective listening.

What are you doing to help your staff listen more effectively?