Listen when people talk.
Encourage them to bring you into the loop.
In many professional situations, this can become a trouble-shooting or brainstorming session, and your insights and suggestions will be appreciated.
But you need to read the room.
Sometimes, people just need to vent. Let them. Acknowledge how you see they feel. Don’t say something like, “You know what you could do…” in these situations.
Let them vent. They will feel heard. They will feel respected. This increases their loyalty to you as someone who takes the time to care. It’s worth it to give them those few minutes of attention, even if you have to shove down the intruding thought that “I could be working on something right now.”
Listen.
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