These were the words of one senior leader using The Intentional Leader learning platform. For this series, I’ve asked leaders to focus on their listening.
In my judgment, nothing is more fundamental in your leadership, and in a healthy organization, than listening. In The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni says, “The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free and available to anyone who wants it.” Listening most certainly fits into the categories of “simple, free and available to anyone who wants it.”
By and large, you and my other clients know HOW to listen, but you DON’T. The embarrassed leader I referenced earlier observed that he failed to fully listen in 4 out of 5 interactions. And he also observed that he failed to listen 100% of the time when he attempted to listen while doing something else.
Imagine for a moment what could be possible for your organization if every team member fully listened while others were speaking and felt heard when it was their turn to speak. My experience tells me you’d have fewer mistakes, ecstatic customers, and happier employees. Teams would work more collaboratively, have less conflict, and time would be saved.
The task I have for our Intentional Leader clients and the challenge I invite you to take is to simply pay attention to your listening for the next seven days.
Simply put your attention on your listening and notice how it goes.
Notice when it’s easy to listen and when it’s more difficult.
Notice when you stop listening before the other person is done talking and notice when you can’t wait for them to stop talking so that you can say what you want to say and move on.
And notice who in your team or organization is a great listener and who isn’t.
My guess is that simply putting your attention on your listening in this way will go a long way in improving your listening. It certainly did for my client. By the end of the challenge, he was dedicating time to listen, rejecting the idea that he could multi-task and was more present in conversations.
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The challenge I mentioned above was part of a simple, weekly assignment our clients get as part of The Intentional Leader. The Intentional Leader is a professional leadership development platform designed for busy businesses and team leaders. These leaders deeply care about investing in their people, but they find it challenging to fit development within the fast-paced work environment and current demands on their team. That’s where The Intentional Leader can help. Our platform delivers world-class teaching and resources to help leaders through whatever challenges the day may bring — without slowing down the team or breaking the budget.
This platform includes:
- A bite-sized weekly lesson with specific, actionable guidance that can be consumed in 10 minutes or less.
- Access to on-demand coaching and Q&A sessions to support leaders on their most pressing issues.
- Checklists to keep leaders focused on implementing what they’ve learned.
- A conversation guide to help leaders bring these new concepts into their regular meetings or discussions.
If you’d like to sharpen your leaders to take on the work in front of them, learn more about The Intentional Leader here or schedule a call to explore if it’s right for you.