Great Leaders Are Great Listeners

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."- Woodrow Wilson"

Mike Myatt on his blog for N2growth stated that the best leaders are proactive, strategic, and intuitive listeners. They recognize knowledge and wisdom are not gained by talking, but by listening.

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them." - Ralph Nichols"

Below are some tips for becoming a better listener:

SIFT FOR THE IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Let the other person you are discussing with know that what they are saying is important to you. Be emotionally intelligent and available during every conversation. You should train yourself to "sift the important message in a conversation. Then let the other person know that they were understood by probing, clarifying, or further shaping those thoughts.

"There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation."- James Nathan Miller"Be

ACTIVE IN YOUR LISTENING: Do not be busy doing something else while having a discussion with someone else or with a group. According Ram Charan in his blog on Harvard Business review, he stated that active listening and probing (with humility, not aggression) energizes groups, encourages them to reach consensus, and helps them arrive at new and better solutions.

"Effective questioning brings insight, which fuels curiosity, which cultivates wisdom." - Chip Bell "

"CULTIVATE EMPATHETIC LISTENING: Lawrence J. Bookbinder, Ph.D., stated that the use of empathic listening-sometimes leads to good relationships, emotional intimacy, and happy marriages. Their use may also lead to a conversation partner feeling like she or he is receiving a hug-a "psychological hug." Ram Charan encourages us to make a habit of asking ourselves after interactions whether we understood the essence of what was said to us, the person's point of view, their context, and their emotion.

"Can" a mother sit and hear

An infant groan, an infant fear?

No, no! Never can it be!

Never, never can it be! " - William Blake"

"Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn." - Alice Miller:"

Do you want to become a Great leader? Stop talking and start listening.



Source: dominant-male.blogspot.com