eTip#664 Good Leaders Lead with Listening

Good Leaders Lead with Listening

September 17, 2017

By Bob Dickson

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A Harvard Business Review study identifies a good listener as one who goes with the flow of the conversation, periodically asks questions, offers feedback and remains positive. This same study breaks down the difference between an average listener and a good one. There are definite correlations between strong listening skills and strong leadership. As a leader, you must know how to keep the lines of communication open between everyone on your team through good listening.

The Dale Carnegie Leadership Course offers training that addresses exactly what’s needed to effectively lead a team in the workplace and beyond. The training can help you learn to better process information and assess how well you’re listening to others. The focus of the course is to strengthen your leadership skills with a proven 8-step delegation process. You can learn more about how this is done in the course itself. Here are some qualities good leaders practice that you can start to apply today.

Value the Views of the Entire Team

A team is constructed of multiple participants who fulfill different roles. This is why it’s so important for team leaders to be tapped into each team members experience. Staying abreast of what issues your team may be facing and creating an open dialogue, closes gaps in how your team operates and streamlines workflow. Not only does it help from an operational standpoint, it also strengthens trust between you and your team. When employees feel like they’re able to talk to you about their experiences and needs, you’ll see a boost in overall productivity and team morale.

Ask the Right Questions and Engages

Before beginning any conversation, good leaders are clear in their minds about what they want to gain from each correspondence. They also enter the situation with a willingness to understand all perspectives. This mindset prepares them to ask productive questions. Cathy Welling from Business 2 Community wrote that “Successful listening skills are driven by a genuine desire to listen, to understand and to respond.” People become poor listeners when they hear what another person is saying, but fail to comprehend beyond their own view. This happens often when the listener is distracted by self-interests. By giving a person your undivided attention, engaging and asking the right questions you can learn much more about your team and your business.

Address the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When you are in a position of power, it becomes important to know when things are going awry or customers are unhappy. Oftentimes, employees fear the potential consequences when reporting to their supervisor. For that reason, they may be reluctant to relay bad news. This can be changed by implementing a true open-door policy.  A good leader works to find solutions to problems but if they are in the dark about what’s going on, they can’t fix things. A great leader encourages transparency through listening themselves.

Our Dale Carnegie Leadership Training Course can help you communicate change and become an effective listener in a leadership capacity. Through this program you’ll have hands-on training to help you close the gap between team members and upper management!
www.westernct.dalecarnegie.com