Essential Tips for Listening and Leading Effectively

We’ve all experienced the impact of someone not listening at some point. Whether it’s a husband who won’t listen to his wife, a supervisor that won’t listen to his team, or even a coach that won’t listen to a player. We have all experienced the frustration of a time where our perspective on a situation wasn’t asked for, or included in the decision making process. 

Listening doesn’t mean that we are taking a vote, or delegating the responsibility to make a decision on others. But what it does mean is that you value the perspective of the people around you and in turn, that allows people to opportunity to share their thoughts and buy-in to the decision that is made.

As leaders, we all know how important it is to listen. But if I’m really honest with myself, listening can be one of the most challenging things for me to do. Especially when I find myself in problem solving mode and want to rely on my perspective and experience to make a decision. As leader, not listening could prove dangerous, and could threaten your ability to influence others. Especially when you need other people to buy-in to the decision that was made.  

Today, I want to focus on decision-making, and making sure that we aren’t frustrating the people we should be leading by not listening to their thoughts and perspective. Asking your family or team for their thoughts will not only allow you to gain their perspective on the situation, but you will also gain their respect for you as a leader. This process empowers that people around you to be proactive and support the decisions that are made. 

Here is a story of a vision casting process that I recently experienced and the process of getting the team to help not only share their thoughts, but also come up with solutions to the problems we were discussing. Remember, the person who comes up with the solution is also the person that has to see it through.  I hope this story helps you.

Read the story by clicking “Read More”