The Most Important Leadership Skill

I had an employee who kept making mistakes and was reaching to work late everyday. He was put on PIP but no improvement. His supervisor said she had tried everything.

Instead of firing him, I sat down with him to TALK. It was obvious he was at a very low point. He had to move out his home and was going through a divorce, custody battle plus facing financial problems. He felt he was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Asking for help wasn't one of his strong points.

I recommended him for counseling, and sent him on leave so he could get it together. When he returned, he went from being one of the most difficult employees to one of the most POSITIVE influences in the workplace.

Managers please use the HUMAN-to-HUMAN approach when dealing with employees. Take time to get to know your people, meet them where they are, and be flexible. It's a person you are dealing with and not just a statistic on a graph. A little empathy goes a long way.

Listening is the most powerful skill a leader can master. Good listening skills in this digital era due to information overload and shortened attention span is fast becoming an endangered species.

Science has demonstrated that hearing impacts how we walk and that even our balance is influenced by how well we hear. So what we hear is crucial to how we live. The act of listening marks the first step in communication. In Hebrew thought, the seat of wisdom or of intelligence is located not in the brain but in the ears.

The Ear is divided into Three Parts Identical with 3 Levels of Listening:

Level 1. The External ear: Listening with the head - Passive Listening. The listener is concerned with processing of information.

Level 2. The Middle ear: Listening with the head and body - Active Listening. It involves paying and making nonverbal cues, appropriate to what is being said. It’s listening both mentally and physically.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.” ~Peter Drucker

Level 3. The Inner ear: Listening with the heart, head and body - Intuitive Listening. It calls for wisdom. This is crucial to gaining a complete understanding of situations. Without this full understanding, one can easily waste everyone’s time by solving the wrong problem or merely addressing a symptom, not the root cause. 

Paul Bennett, the Chief Creative Officer at IDEO said the one piece of advice he wished he had known in his early twenties, was to focus on listening. Effective leaders learn that it is important to put aside distractions, to stop multi-tasking, and be truly “present” with people when speaking with them.

Employees want to be heard and they want to be respected. Listening transmits that kind of respect and builds trust. This leads to more motivated and committed team members. 

Intuitive Listening and Self - Homing pigeons long have been known to fly hundreds of miles a day and arrive at their destination with amazing accuracy. In order to navigate, they use infra-sound, low-level background noise in the atmosphere to fly by “images” they hear, practically creating acoustic maps of the environment. Yet even the best homing pigeons at times have become disoriented, never returning to their starting point. The worst incident happened in England, when twenty thousand birds (valued at more than six hundred thousand dollars) never came back to their lofts.

That’s why it is important to never leave home without your moral compass. When faced with ethical dilemma, it serves as a navigator to steer you in the right direction. The temptations to take shortcuts can be overwhelming. Even the smartest of leaders have become disoriented and lost their way, never being able to get back on track. Listening includes listening to that "still inner small voice". If something is wrong, just don’t try to justify it. Even if you get away with it for a time, eventually the piper must be paid.

To achieve balance it is also recommended that you ingest The 3 Pills every Leader should take: Stillness, Silence and Solitude. Your ability to absorb crucial information decreases due to increased pressure, noise and demands. Distancing oneself from the distractions and taking the time to pause and reflect is essential to clear the mind of clutter.

It is only through silence and stillness that we can come to our thoughts in any meaningful way and from that spring take action we think best. Sadly we have banished solitude. There is no time to think, alone, intimately with who we are at our core." ~Brian Tolle Partner –The re-wired group

The brain acts as a computer, analyzing constant signals being sent its way. Based upon the data received from the inner ear, the brain then sends messages to the muscles of the body to maintain balance. Any disturbance in inner ear results in balance difficulties.

Organizations can succeed or fail according to the quality of their interactions. Poor communication comes with a high price tag. It accounts for businesses losing millions of dollars each year. That’s why it’s important for leaders to master the skill of “Lead with Listening.”

I would like to challenge you for the next week to make a concerted effort to listen more than you speak, practise intuitive listening and just see the benefits.

Here’s my other latest Leadership Post you may also be interested in:

•  How to Be an Effective Change Leader

Stay in touch with Brigette:

Follow me on Twitter: @MbaCaribbeanOrg

Website: MBA Caribbean Organisation

Google+ Brigette Hyacinth

 If you liked this post, I'd love it if you'd hit the "follow" button at the top of the page   so I can continue to write and share with you on leadership topics.