Listening

“As a leader, some people may be impressed with how well you speak, but the right people will be impressed with how well you listen.”

Effective leadership communication requires strong listening skills.

Have an open-door policy. If you do need to close your door to focus for a few hours, take a call, or have a meeting, either update your public work calendar (so people know not to interrupt and when they can see you afterwards) or put a post-it on the closed door, e.g., “On deadline until 3pm. Please only knock if there is an emergency.”

Don’t multitask when listening. Close that laptop and put down that phone.

Turn your chair and your body to face the person speaking.

If needed, write down the details using paper and pen (or tablet equivalent). It’s less distracting than typing on a keyboard.

Ask follow-up questions to get the details you need.

Confirm your understanding by stating a summary in your own words, e.g., “So, given this issue, you’re confident that we can solve the problem by doing X and Y. Is that right?”

If you are a good listener, your people feel respected. You get better information about your team’s projects. You hear about problems before they become crises. And it gives people more confidence in your leadership—they will trust you more.

(image source: https://www.instagram.com/leadershipfirst/)