How Listening Can Transform Your Leadership

Good listening skills are a crucial! Individuals and Leaders who are able to actively listen to their team members and stakeholders demonstrate respect and empathy, which can foster a positive and collaborative work environment. When leaders listen attentively to their employees, they gain valuable insights into the needs, concerns, and ideas of their team members. This, in turn, enables leaders to make more informed decisions and take actions that are in the best interest of their organization. Furthermore, when leaders take the time to listen to their team members, it helps to build trust and loyalty among their employees, which can lead to greater engagement, job satisfaction, and retention.

But don’t take our word for it, take it from Author of “How to Listen Out Loud:Ridiculously Powerful Skills for Leading, Relating, & Happifying”, Lauren Powers.

“There are predictable ways that we humans do not listen well to each other. They stem from our Level 1 focus; the world is based on how I see it and my certainty that I see it accurately. Internally, in ignorant bliss, I know what’s appropriate and I know the way things ought to be done. If someone’s not doing them that way, they’re doing it wrong.

I should back up a bit: our brains are just trying to keep us alive. Admittedly, an important and necessary foundation for listening, is to be a breathing, living creature. Yet the quality of said life is a nuance the older parts of the brain do not care about. The priority is just, not dead. There’s a scene in The Last of the Mohicans where Hawkeye is holding tight to his lady love, while a waterfall crashes and booms around them. Just before he jumps off the cliff, Hawkeye shouts to Cora, “Stay alive, no matter what occurs!” That’s what our brains are saying to us, without any of that romance or excitement.” (Chapter 2, How to Listen Out Loud:Ridiculously Powerful Skills for Leading, Relating, & Happifying)

“Right now, people are dealing with a lot. Yet, what makes us feel better, live longer, and feel life has meaning?  Relationships.  And the quality of those relationships, with friends, family, colleagues are of much higher quality when listening is included.  So my hope is that outside of the news, politics, social media, all that external noise, that each of us can choose to connect with our chosen people.”

“[Chapter 2] is an overview of some automatic habits we humans have.  We think they're listening but not so much... The first step toward change is admitting we have a problem!  This list is a way of identifying some not-so-helpful habits.”

We asked Lauren, “What was your inspiration to write the book?”

“I've been a terrible listener in my life!  I would try to look smart or be funny or change the subject, most of which do not count as listening.  Which was a big surprise to me.  When I embarked on becoming a coach, I had to face up to my habits. Only then did I see how much my own mindset about listening mattered.  Instead of proving myself, listening was all about the other person and "getting" what they were saying. “

Pick up your own copy of “How to Listen Out Loud:Ridiculously Powerful Skills for Leading, Relating, & Happifying”, by Lauren Powers today!