Listen Up Leaders!

 

The success of a leader relies on the ability to unlock employee potential, find solutions, and meet organizational objectives.

Yet when individuals are always looking to you for answers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of providing an immediate solution to every challenge without first taking the time to listen and understand the full scope of the situation.

Here are some practical tips to improve and leverage listening skills that will enhance your leadership capabilities. If you’re interested in a more hand’s on approach, consider hiring an executive coach to help you effectively improve your leadership style fast.

It Pays to Slow Down

In today’s fast-paced digital era, you don’t have to scroll far on social media to find troves of industry leaders and managers competing to offer the “best” solutions to every problem they come across, all vying to prove that they are the smartest, the wisest, and the one with all the right answers.

But there is a much-overlooked response to every question that can help you. That response is simply to listen.

The top leadership consulting companies provide the necessary coaching and training programs to its managers and leaders. If you hold a leadership or managerial role, you may feel that you already spend a lot of time listening to others. You may even consider yourself to be a good listener. But how often do you find yourself lost in your note-taking, or considering your own response before your employees have finished speaking?

In fact, studies show that we’re able to remember much less information from listening than we think. Research carried out at the University of Minnesota shows that we only retain about 50% of what we’ve just been told. Listening is a skill that everyone needs to practice.

A Powerful Tool

Once mastered, listening can be one of the most powerful tools for anyone to possess. As a leader, you have a key opportunity to take the time needed to understand everyone in the workplace. When we are faced with challenges or situations that feel familiar, it is hard not to jump to conclusions. We like to think that we’ve been here before and we already know the answers.

But there is no one-size-fits-all solution to any problem. Only by fully listening can you ensure you’re asking the right questions and ultimately gain a better understanding of what’s going on.

Without fully understanding your subject, how can you begin to lead them to gain self-awareness, clarify goals and unlock their full potential? In short, sometimes the solution is not to provide an answer but to simply understand the problem.

The Value of Listening

The value of listening is often underestimated. Learning to truly listen is a skill that adds immeasurable value to your executive toolset.

Below are just a few things that can be achieved through the power of listening:

·         A deeper understanding of a problem or issue

·         Stronger relationships with your employees, peers, and clients

·         Showing others that you care

And that’s not all. By demonstrating your excellent listening skills, you can lead by example. By showing the power of listening in action, you can help others in your organization understand the value that listening can add to their own departments or roles. Show your employees the importance of creating a reflective space and let them experience the power of listening for themselves.

How can we improve our listening skills?

So how do you do it? The best way to improve listening skills is through active listening techniques. Making a conscious effort to use some of these techniques will help you engage with your employees and get the most out of every interaction. Some of these skills and techniques may sound obvious when considered on their own. Combined, however, they will produce powerful results.

Below are just a few active listening techniques you can employ straight away:

Make eye contact

Shut that laptop and other devices!

Simply making eye contact with the individual you’re speaking to can help you to listen more effectively. When you’re truly present, you can process the information that is being given to you much more easily.

Demonstrate concern

Actively show that you have empathy for your employees and others within your organization, and that you truly care about what they are saying. This will help to build a relationship of trust and encourage them to really open up to you about the underlying issues or concerns they may have.

Paraphrase what you hear

Paraphrasing key information to the individual you’re communicating with will demonstrate that you have listened and understood what they have told you. This will give the person you are communicating with the confidence that their leader cares and is paying attention.

Ask open-ended questions

Open-ended questions require more than a simple yes or no answer. They require the respondent to give more thought and consideration to their reply. An example of an open-ended question might be, ‘What’s holding you back from reaching your goals right now?’. This technique will help you uncover a deeper understanding of what is going on for your employee or peers.

Take it slow

A conversation isn’t a competition!

Make sure there is space within the conversation for your counterpart to express themselves without time pressure. You can dictate the pace. If you’re a quick thinker and the individual you’re communicating with takes time to think, then it is your responsibility to give them the room they need to breathe and think. Giving them this space will help to create a relaxed environment where you can both get the best results.

Power of pause

Everyone hates an awkward silence, but sometimes our desire to keep a conversation flowing can stop us from taking precious moments to reflect. Hold back from filling every pause with words and give the opposing communicator adequate time to stop and consider what they are saying. You’ll get a more honest and considered response this way.

Don’t interrupt

You might think you have the perfect solution to a problem yet resist the urge to jump right in there! Interrupting can send a variety of negative messages to your client and can stop them from opening up to you.

Ask!

Don’t assume you know what’s going on. Respond to questions with questions and make sure you really understand the situation. Drill down and find out what your employees or colleagues really think and feel. However, wait for the speaker to finish what they’re saying before you break their train of thought.

Don’t just listen to what they’re saying

Don’t just pay attention to what others are saying; listen to how they’re saying it. And listen to what they’re not saying as well. Sometimes a simple change in someone’s tone of voice can speak volumes about how they really feel. As a leader, it is your job to detect these changes and adjust and adapt accordingly. Situational awareness and emotional intelligence are key.

Reflect

Make time to reflect on the information you’ve been given by others. How can this information shape your actions as a leader? Give yourself moments throughout the day to step back and consider the things you’ve learned. Are there more questions you need to ask? Reflection is a huge part of turning the knowledge you’ve gained into positive action.

Closing Thoughts

While a growing number of leaders these days seem intent on sharing their own knowledge and offering solutions at rapid-fire pace, there is a lot to be gained from making space to absorb and process information. Listening is a fundamental skill for an effective leader, and one that will earn you more than just valuable information.

Listening to your employees and direct reports will help you to build the relationship of trust that you need in order to make a positive impact on their personal and professional development. By employing these listening techniques, you will be able to take your leadership to the next level benefiting yourself, others, and your business.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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How to Level Up Your Leadership Skills in 2019

 

As we gear up for a new year, now is the time to strengthen your leadership skills for 2019 and ensure that you are effectively leading your organization toward achieving its goals. Here are three things you can do now to prepare for the future.

1. Hire an Executive Coach

An executive coach’s goal is to help you become the best version of yourself. Executive coaches become trusted thought partners and are just as invested in you reaching your goals as you are.

Many executive coaches serve as accountability partners for their clients by encouraging them to work toward their professional goals and holding them accountable for any actions that don’t help them move toward those goals. Additionally, an executive coach can help you unlock hidden talents and realize your potential, ensuring that you are aware of your capabilities as a leader and are consciously working toward developing those talents.

An executive coach serves as a non-biased resource to develop new ways to implement the information you’ve learned. Executive coaches can also help you build more productive relationships with your colleagues and staff and learn how to improve your interaction with people from different cultures and backgrounds.  In addition, an executive coach can also help you identify talent within and outside of your organization. As companies continue to make strides toward added diversity within their organizations, it is important that leaders are able to adapt to those changes.

One way to do adapt to those changes in a positive way is by enhancing your communication skills. Why? Because learning to listen to your colleagues and staff is just as important as the instructions you give them. Executive coaches can also help you strengthen your active listening skills and teach you ways to respond to challenging situations for the best possible outcome.

Anything you share with your coach is kept confidential; usually, executive coaching is conducted face to face, on the phone or via Skype and other video communication applications.

2. Take professional development classes

Professional development is a must for all business leaders. Business leaders who consistently seek ways to improve themselves can positively affect the internal climate of an organization.

Professional development classes can benefit you by helping you learn new methods of leadership and refine some of the traits you already have. Additionally, professional development can also serve as a way for you to teach others within your organization and field.

When it comes to professional development, you don’t always have to be the one taking the class. You can also be the person leading a class on leadership and other industry related trends that you’ve mastered as a professional.

3. Engage via social media

As we advance further into the digital age, more business leaders are stepping out from behind the scenes and making their presence known on social media. Taking some time to engage with your organization’s digital audience via social media helps establish you as an expert; it also adds a personal component to your organization’s online interactions.

Engaging with your organization’s customers and potential customers is a great way to add a human element to your company’s brand identity.  It helps you to appear personable and gives customers the idea that they know you and what you value.

Engaging with customers or clients can be as simple as commenting on trending topics on social media. Though these topics may not necessarily relate to your company’s brand, they may be important to your organization’s online audience. Personally delivering news to your organization’s online followers about new products, services, and or initiatives is another way for the public to put a face with the brand they love. Also, if you enjoy writing, publishing a blog on industry related topics and sharing those blog posts on social media is another way to connect with customers.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, being a leader requires continuous focus and intentionality, so be sure that you use all the tools at your disposal to become the best leader for your organization. Your reputation as a professional relies on your ability to relate to those around you and gain respect from your supervisors, peers, and direct reports.

Leadership consists of many different traits, but one of the most important characteristics is the ability to be led.  Gathering insight from your customers by engaging on social media, learning through professional development, and hiring an executive coach are all ways to be influenced and aid you in your efforts to become more effective.

As Q4 comes to a close, assess where you were last year at this time and ensure that you are continuing to work toward your year end-goals. Ask yourself questions such as:  Have I taken the necessary steps to be the leader I aimed to be this year?  Am I on target to meet my year end professional and organizational goals? What part of this year was challenging for me?  What changes am I planning to make in order for it to be less challenging in the future? Then,  take that information from your assessment and use it as a plan to close out Q4 on a positive note and bring in a strong 2019.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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Unhappy At Work? 5 Ways To Coach Yourself Out Of It

 

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Jack said hostilely.

That was the fourth time I’d heard that reply while reviewing his 360. A 360 is a process where feedback is gathered from an employee’s subordinates, colleagues, and supervisor(s), and also includes a self-evaluation.

No matter what I said, he had an angry reply, always reminding me that it didn’t matter to him what his staff thought of him.

The Problem Child

I gave up on the 360 and shifted the conversation. “What does matter to you?” I asked. “Why are you here?”

Jack’s response astounded me. He started to explain, still in an angry tone, why he did the line of work he did—leading a team of international relief workers—then stopped himself abruptly. He hesitated to elaborate—but his emotions got the best of him. As he started to speak, he went from angry to tears in the blink of an eye. “I do this for the children who are ripped apart from their families and left without love or access to education,” he explained in a highly emotional state.

Blaming the Boss

Okay, so it does matter to him, I thought. But the conversation quickly shifted. Jack started berating his boss, blaming him for making his life miserable. This same shift in topic happened multiple times. Jack would blame his boss for his lack of engagement, I’d bring him back to focusing on why he does what he does, and then he’d go back to speaking angrily about his boss. He even told me he hated his work.

Trying to Care

After a lot of back and forth, I asked Jack what his key takeaway was from our conversation. He replied that he’d try to look at what mattered to his colleagues. Ok, I thought—I’ll take that as a win!

While Jack is an extreme example of someone unhappy in their workplace and unable to take responsibility for their actions, this scenario is quite common. In fact, many of us have found ourselves in the same situation: We hate our jobs. Our bosses make us crazy. We behave poorly as a result of that hate and craziness. But we can’t see through our anger to understand that we can improve our situations with a little effort. Organizations often provide workplace coaching training from time to time to its employees.

Five Action Steps to Take When You Find Yourself Angry and Stuck in Your Work

So what can a person do when they find themselves in this uncomfortable predicament? I recommend you hire a coach. But if that’s not possible, start with these five action steps:

1. Self Coach

If you are not working with a coach, you can be your own coach. How do you do this? You ask yourself questions and journal your answers. I recommend the following questions:

·         What is in my control?

·         What is out of my control?

·         What is my role in this situation?

·         What does success look like? 

2. List 10-15 ways to get to your idea of success, no matter how silly they may be.

For example, let’s use Jack’s goal to see what mattered to his colleagues.

He could:

·         Ask his colleagues why they do the work they do

·         Share why he does this work

·         Host a lunch where people share why their work matters to them

·         Ask his boss to talk about why his work matters to him

·         Gather information on the impact they’re having on families

·         Make a video of the team’s most impactful work

3. Commit to an action step no matter how small. And define it clearly.

For example, in the case of Jack, he might ask himself: What does “looking at what matters to his colleagues” look like? Does it look like engaging employees by initiating check-in meetings/conversations? Does it look like showing up on time? Does it look like attending work functions?

These behaviors must be specific—and things that you can measure daily or weekly. Jack may see that he had zero check-in meetings with team members one week, and two the next. He can then identify that he’s making progress.

4. Find an accountability partner for your commitment.

Accountability (link) is a key element to following through with commitments. Let someone know what you are working on. Then set meetings weekly or every other week to check in. Ask your partner to hold you accountable for what you said you were going to do.

5. Celebrate every small win, no matter how small.

Celebrating small wins really does matter. And the findings of a multi-year research project, conducted by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, prove it. They asked 238 people to send a confidential electronic “diary” at the end of each day. In the diary, they ranked their inner work life—their stream of perceptions, motivations, and emotions throughout the day. Also, they were to describe one event that stood out for the day, related to work. The analysis of 12,000 daily diaries showed that the best days included a simple event: making progress on meaningful work. They called this The Progress Principle.

They write:

This pattern became increasingly obvious as the diaries came in from all the teams in our study. People’s inner work lives seemed to lift or drag depending on whether or not their projects moved forward, even by small increments. Small wins often had a surprisingly strong positive effect, and small losses a surprisingly strong negative one.

Those small wins are important and you should celebrate them—even if they are tiny! What does celebrating wins look like? Here are some ideas:

·         Bring yourself a special lunch

·         Take a walk in your favorite nearby park during a work break

·         Meet a friend for a quick coffee and catch up (be sure to share your progress!)

If you care about your job but find yourself in a negativity loop that is impeding your performance and/or relationships, don’t give up. There are actionable steps you can take to improve your situation. If you can hire a coach (link), you’ll be giving yourself the best chance for success. In the meantime, try using the steps above to self-coach. And good luck!

Have you been in Jack’s situation before? Were you able to come out of it? I’d love to hear about it.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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