How good of a listener are you as a leader? - SmartBrief

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How good of a listener are you as a leader?

2 min read

Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 170,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.

Last week, we asked: How good of a listener are you as a leader?

  • I’m great — I hear the spoken and the unspoken: 16.02%
  • I’m good — I pick up on the majority of issues discussed: 43.05%
  • I’m OK — I could do better, and I sometimes miss things: 36.39%
  • I’m weak — I tend to talk more than listen: 3.67%
  • I’m terrible — I make folks feel like I’m a brick wall: 0.87%

Two ears, one mouth. We learn more by listening than talking. About 40% of us admittedly can do a much better job of listening to our people. Take the time to pause and listen. The members of your team will appreciate your attention and you’ll be able to make better decisions and take better care of the members of your team when you do. Even those of you who are good listeners can always learn a thing or two by spending those extra moments listening to what’s really going on.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”