{"id":118,"date":"2015-11-05T21:27:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/?p=118"},"modified":"2015-11-05T21:27:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T21:27:00","slug":"effective-leading-starts-with-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/effective-leading-starts-with-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Effective Leading Starts with Listening!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photodune-9447856-discussion-xs\"<\/a>Remember when sales people used to push themselves on you? You\u2019d go into a store and someone jumps right on top of you and starts telling you about the merchandise. It kind of makes you go wonky, doesn\u2019t it? It\u2019s very disconcerting and not very friendly. The first time I bought my own car it nearly rattled me. The sales person was mostly interested in getting a car off his lot than listening to me.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the better sales people have refined their trade. Instead of hanging all over you, they wait. They ask open ended questions. And they Listen.<\/p>\n

The same holds true for leaders. Leaders who are interested in getting the work done understand that the key to success is enhancing the capacity and skills of those they work with.<\/strong> Leaders, in fact, coach. And in order to coach an employee to reach his\/her highest potential, nothing is more important than how leaders listen, absorb what is said and give feedback.<\/p>\n

Listening is a skill. It takes thought. We have to remind ourselves often to stop talking and just listen. Here are five rules to follow which will help develop the skill of listening effectively.<\/p>\n

Listen with Interest.<\/strong> We\u2019ve all had that occasion when we\u2019re talking and yet clearly seeing that the person we\u2019re talking to is not really listening to us. Instead, listen with the curiosity of someone who really is interested in what your employee is saying. Instead of thinking about what our feedback is going to be, stay focused on the topic. Keep interruptions to a minimum and move the conversation forward by keeping it on target.<\/p>\n

Absorb what you hear. <\/strong>We can fake it sometimes. We can look like we\u2019re interested but our minds are going elsewhere. Instead, take in what is being said. Register the emotion of the person who is talking to you. And be prepared to restate to the employee the discussion you\u2019ve just had. If you do, you\u2019ll stay in the conversation and not drift.<\/p>\n

Restate the conversation accurately. <\/strong>Now, you\u2019re showing the person that you really are listening. You not only demonstrate your commitment, but the person you\u2019re talking to gets to \u201chear\u201d how they sound. Is the message that was conveyed the message he\/she really meant to convey?<\/p>\n

Ask Questions. <\/strong>Asking questions promotes a fruitful dialogue. You\u2019ve extended the conversation. And by asking open-ended questions, the person you are talking to might voice the answer you want to hear. In fact, you are empowering your employee to think it through. And you\u2019re building their confidence.<\/p>\n

Provide Feedback. <\/strong>Avoid preaching and bringing up past experiences. Instead, get clever. You want to be clear in your feedback, but you can also make it relevant and non-threatening. Make your feedback helpful and positive.<\/p>\n

Are you a C1, C2, C3 or C4 communicator? LMJA can help your team self-identify their style and strengthen communication\u2026 and have fun! LMJA also help organizations with many common challenges \u2013 time management, project management, conflict management, strategic planning, to name a few. If you need help or would like to discuss your options, give us a call at 301-670-0051, or email me at Leadership@lmja.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember when sales people used to push themselves on you? You\u2019d go into a store and someone jumps right on top of you and starts telling you about the merchandise. It kind of makes you go wonky, doesn\u2019t it? It\u2019s very disconcerting and not very friendly. The first time I bought my own car it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,2,6,3,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lmja.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}