Listening—An Important Tool for Leaders
Real Hero Report | June 2019 |
Stephen R. Covey said, Most people do not listen with
the intent to understand they listen with the intent to
reply. have found myself guilty of this mistake on many
occasions.
As a leader, your day is lled with interacons with your
supervisor, peers, employees and those you serve. These
conversaons are opportunies to truly listen to what the other
person has to say to gain insight into their problem, concern,
challenge or opportunity. Are you prepared to listen?
Most of us would answer yes to that queson. et, many of
us fail to really listen when someone is talking to us. nstead,
we immediately begin formulang our response, argument,
explanaon or denial.
vividly remember speaking to one of my bosses in the past.
The look on his face, and the fact that he would usually interrupt
me before nished, told me he was not listening to what had
to say. He was only concerned about his response. ventually,
quit talking to him about important issues.
Given how important listening is to eectual communicaon,
believe there are three important benets to eecve listening
for leaders.
When you take me to restate and clarify what someone has
said, you send the message that you care enough to try and
understand what they are saying.
As you show people over me that you are willing to listen,
you will develop a stronger relaonship with them. n turn, they
will trust you even more.
Once someone sees that you care and your relaonship is
strengthened, it is only natural that they will be more willing to
discuss important maers with you in the future.
ou might be surprised by what you hear if you only listen.
/www.darleenprem.com