Leadership Principles: Listening
There’s something to be said for a person that has the ability to listen to others. Not just hear but to truly listen. This is something I’ve had to really work at and I wouldn’t call this necessarily a strong point for me. It is something I’ve been intentional to grow in and I suspect I’ll need to be intentional in this for the rest of my life. What does it look like when organizational leaders really choose to listen to those around them? I will confess now that there will be some similarities between this post and the the Leadership Principles: Accountability post but I also hope to establish some differences as well.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that there is a significant difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is, by definition, the faculty of perceiving sounds while listening requires a little more intentionality and focus. Listening requires one more thing to separate it from hearing; doing. Before a leader gets to any “doing,” let’s talk through who and how we listen to those around us.
The who part isn’t complicated but I’d argue that it is complex. It’s simple in the fact that leaders need to listen to those around them. Those above them, their bosses or managers, those next to them, their peers, and those they lead, their subordinates. This is the similarities to the accountability post I mentioned earlier. Leaders need to have people in all of these areas that we have enough of a working relationship with that they feel comfortable enough to speak things to us we need to hear and trusted enough that we want to listen when they speak. This is why it’s complex. Who do you have in these places of your organization, life, or leadership that you trust to speak into you? If the answer to that question is “no one” or “I’m not sure,” I would encourage you to start having conversations with those around you to begin opening up the dialogue needed to grow in trust and listening. That brings us to the doing.
The question to ask isn’t just what do we do but it has to start with what do we simply hear and what do we actually listen to. Obviously there are times where you don’t have much say. As in when a supervisor or boss tells you to get something done, you get it done. Beyond that though, when you have some decision, how do you know what to listen to and what to do with that information? I think it starts with understanding mission. This could be corporate or organizational mission or it could be more of a personal mission. When we know the people that are speaking to us understand our goals and mission we can typically trust that they are speaking with that in mind. If you know me or have followed my journey much, then you know that one of my favorite quotes is by Walt’s brother, Roy Disney. He said,
“when your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.”
When our goals, vision, values, and mission are clear our decisions become easier to how much weight we give to the things being spoken to us. The best leaders will listen to the things being spoken to them, no matter who it is speaking it to them. Then they weigh it out based on the trust they have with the person speaking and then like I said, compared to the vision and mission established. We then can decide what we give weight to when it comes to the doing.
I believe when leaders are able to do this, they establish trust with those the lead and those that lead them. Again, this isn’t something I’ve always done well and even at times still struggle but this is something I want to continue to grow in and I hope the same is true of you.
Put people around you that understand your mission and you can trust to speak things to you. Stay the course! You have what it takes!