Leadership
How Active Listening Leads to Great Leadership
As we enter a new era of business, leadership is becoming less about doing and more about listening. Not that it never had a listening component, but people now need the ears of others more than ever.
During the pandemic, people got used to the voices of themselves and their families. For many of us, the pandemic allowed us to think about our lives and rethink who we were.
Many people left their current jobs and had career changes. With all of these unique demands coming from the workforce, leaders must have a good ear to listen to all the noise.
We spend a lot of time training people to be more confident by teaching them how to speak. A lot of our confidence training of others is focused on their ability to speak.
Although it makes sense to do so, raising our voices is not the only way we can show confidence. In my opinion, active listening is another way people show confidence every day.
Being able to listen to others is a skill that is not often developed, especially listening well. We are often quick to want to jump in, and we tend to struggle to listen to ideas that oppose our own.
Above all things, leaders need to be able to listen to their team well. Without listening to others, the vision and environment of the team will collapse. However, listening is harder than it sounds.
In this article, I will highlight the reasons listening is difficult and propose how leaders can improve in this area.
The Difficulty of Listening to Others
Unfortunately, we are rarely taught how to listen to those around us. For most of our childhood, we are taught to communicate effectively and say what we want and when we want it. Although this leads to good one-way communication, it hinders our listening skills.
Active listening is not just about hearing what the other person is saying, but it is understanding it. For the most part, we are good at hearing others. We can somewhat understand their point and are willing to listen to an extent.
However, we tend to struggle to actively listen to others. We do not act upon what was said to us, and we tend to be poor at identifying the needs of others without them saying it word for word.
Active listening requires more than just being silent and letting the other person talk. It requires three essential steps:
- Clearing your thoughts to listen to others
- Fully understanding the person’s desires and points
- Acting upon those desires and points
Although I have had some good leaders in my life, I can say that many do fail in one of these three areas. Firstly, it is hard to completely clear our minds to allow the thoughts of others to fill them.
As soon as the other person starts speaking, we tend to already start forming our reply. This leads to rushed communication, and it is easier to misunderstand someone when we have spent half of the time forming our response.
Secondly, how many of us repeat the point or desire back to the person to ensure we fully understood? Many of us fail to do this, and it leads to assumptions about what was heard.
Finally, many of us fail to act upon the points and desires of others. We tend to be willing to leave it to the next day or not act upon it fully. Not only does this affect our repetition, but we also send a signal that we failed to listen effectively.
When we break listening down into three steps like this, we soon realise it is not as easy as it sounds. And to be an influential leader, one must be able to actively listen.
The Power of Active Listening
Leaders today have a range of voices to listen to. On a micro level, the individuals on their teams are all unique and possess different desires. Many of them want different things out of work and are all wired differently.
At this level, active listening is vital to ensuring that each individual is happy with the ways of working. By active listening, leaders can ensure a balance between all of the voices and sum them to a common goal.
Of course, compromises will have to be made along the way. But showing your immediate team that you have considered their voices is essential. It improves team morale and increases the chances of your team member being open and speaking up.
On a macro level, leaders have many voices to consider. They must think about society, the market place and the economy. All of these voices are pulling in different directions, and it can often be hard to navigate through them all.
However, active listening allows you to identify the voices that matter to you the most. You can pick out the voices that play a part in your overall strategy and find the patterns that will drive better business decisions.
Becoming a Better Listener
Like most things in life, we become better when we devote time to improving. Listening is a skill that comes with practice. If you are to become a better listener, you must take your time to improve.
It can be easy to get caught up in the rush of the day and speed through many of the interactions you have. However, listening requires our undivided attention and time. So, the best way to become a better listener is to slow down.
When you are about to have a conversation, get comfortable and face the person you are talking to. Try your best to really listen and not think of a response until they are done.
By slowing down, you increase your chances of hearing clearly and actively listening. In doing so, you can make the right decisions and become both an influential and impactful leader.
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