The 10 Commandments of Effective Leadership #9—Don’t Lead Without Listening
The 10 Commandments of Effective Leadership #9 —Don’t lead without listening
Thou shalt not lead without listening; this is the ninth of the ten commandments of effective leadership.
You cannot lead without listening and you cannot listen when you are too busy. You can be so busy doing what you are called to do that you can’t hear who called you.
If want to respect this commandment of effective leadership, you cannot take every engagement, and you cannot respond to everybody who wants you.
Mind Your Busyness
Just because you are busy does not mean you are effective. Your busyness can be the enemy of your greatness. If you’ve been busy for the last three years and you don’t see any progress, you busyness is your enemy. You can go farther if you do less.
Leaders, listen to your leaders
Don’t put people in position if you don’t respect their gifting. If you don’t respect your leaders enough to at least listen to what they have to say, then you have the wrong people in leadership position.
Respect has to have reciprocity. You cannot ask people to respect you if you don’t respect them.
If you stop appointing flunkies and start appointing professionals, half of your meetings should be spent listening to the people who are doing the work, allowing them to inform you on what is going on in the trenches. Just because you sit in the office doesn’t mean you know what is going on in the basement. You cannot lead without listening.
Listening does not make you weak
Just because you listen to your people doesn’t mean you have to obey them. It does mean, as a leader, you are going to consider their perspective in your decision.
Listening does not make you weak, it makes you wise. — T.D. Jakes
People don’t like to follow people if they can’t be heard. As a leader, even if you don’t like what somebody says, give them the chance to say it anyway. Then weigh what they said according to your belief, and you don’t have to do it just because they say.
You can kill your relationships if you are leading but not listening
One of the greatest marriage killers is Not Listening. As a husband, your wife doesn’t really want to fix everything or advise her on everything, she just want to be heard.
It’s hard to get a driver’s license if you are deaf, this is because it not just your visual senses, but your auditory senses that warns you of oncoming danger. Sometimes you can’t see the enemy but you can hear them coming.
You might not see the train but you can hear the train if you listen.
The post The 10 Commandments of Effective Leadership #9—Don’t Lead Without Listening appeared first on SajiGroup International.
