It’s amazing what you hear if you exert a little self-control, clamp your jaw shut and focus on trying to understand what your employees and team members are trying to tell you.
You learn about what’s working, what’s not, where you need to step up and offer help, where you need to step in and deliver feedback and so much more.
For some, the elevation to the lofty role of boss, team leader, supervisor or manager of some sort, seems to carry with it an implied obligation to talk more than anyone else in the room. One person expressed it to me as follows: “It’s my job to make sure things get done, so meetings are my opportunity to tell people what to do.” Yeesh.
Being the boss does not carry with it the requirement that you occupy all available airtime during group and one-on-one meetings. To the contrary, success in this role is more a function of how well you listen and then act on or apply what you heard.
For those still in their formative stage of learning to lead or in a need of a tune-up of your boss skills, know that your willingness to pay attention…to actively listen and engage with someone or some group is one of your best ways to show respect to employees and team members.
Your active listening is best broken by the artful use of asking questions to ensure that you understand the messages of your team members.
And yes, you’ve got an implicit responsibility to teach others, however, as the old saying goes, “telling ain’t teaching.”
You teach by the example you set, by the respect you show to everyone and by your willingness to support people in their effort to figure out how to do their jobs the best way possible. Oddly for some, you have to let go of your own prior technical competence and let people flail, fail and learn. Of course, some thoughtful and timely feedback along the way is always appropriate.
The Weekly Leadership Message:
Vow this week to listen more, talk less, and use the time you do spend talking to teach and encourage.
Resist sharing your opinions and encourage others to offer theirs. Even if you know the answer you are better off having others find and form the answer on their own. And don’t be surprised when the answers they start coming up with are better than yours. That’s a sign that you are on the right track.
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About Art Petty:
Art Petty is a Leadership & Career Coach helping motivated professionals of all levels achieve their potential. In addition to working with highly motivated professionals, Art frequently works with project teams in pursuit of high performance.
Art’s second book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development, will be announced during the last week of September, 2011. Initial copies are now available on Amazon.com and via the author for team/group orders.
Contact Art via e-mail to discuss a coaching, workshop or speaking engagement.
Art,
nice post. It’s actually very similar to something McKinsey just put out about executives needing feedback and how to go about getting it. (http://bit.ly/pzqsbw)
If you’re interested, I’ve also been working on my quarterly review structure. As part of that, I’ve included a review that reports do on their manager. Your post today, along with the McKinsey piece have helped flush some elements of that out. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to send it to you.
Andy
Andy, we are kindred feedback spirits! Would love to see what you are up to. I was impressed with your original go-round. Reach out via e-mail. Thanks! -Art
Concur Art! One of the most important things a leader needs to learn how to do is shut up. You don’t have to be the oracle, the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Better to be a resource.