How Good Leaders Listen

Good leaders are effective listeners and to be an effective listener you need to give your full attention to the person talking. This means that you need to shut your office door, if you have a secretary let him or her know that you aren’t available, send your phone to voice mail and most important shut off your computer monitor. By doing these things you are able to give the person you are listening to your full attention and won’t be distracted by outside interference. It will make the person feel like they matter and aren’t just someone collecting a paycheck but someone who is a vital part of a team.

By shutting your office door you are stopping people from dropping in on you for a moment. Many people do not understand that when someone is in your office it might not be the best time to find out if you are available for lunch or for a quick question. The person in your office deserves your attention and shouldn’t have your attention divided between them and the person who just stops in for a moment.

If you let you secretary know that you aren’t available, he or she will be able to stop anyone from interrupting you. A good secretary will intercept people who want to stop in for a second. They will be able to redirect people to someone else who may be able to help them.

When you forward your phone to voice mail, they won’t even ring in your office so you won’t have to wonder who is calling. If you have a secretary you can forward the phones to her so that she can interrupt you if it is an emergency.

The most important part of eliminating distractions is to shut off your monitor, that way you won’t be distracted by incoming messages. If you leave your monitor on it is very easy to take a quick peek to see if it is important and this is distracting to the person who is trying to talk to you. You are in a meeting with them not your computer and email.

When you do sit down and listen to the person you are having a meeting with then you also need to make sure you maintain eye contact, be an active participant in the conversation so that the person knows you are listening, take notes if you need to and most of all actually listen to the person. One of the most important aspects of being a good leader is the ability to listen. If you don’t listen then you aren’t able to find out what is going on with different projects or problems that have arisen which will make you an ineffective manager and won’t even be classified as a leader.