Listening as a leadership tool to engage and innovate

A leaders listening offers us the chance to really understand where others are coming from and open up the possibility of co-creating a future all can buy into.  People may look to you as “the leader” for direction. My advice is, be wary of being seduced into the one who has all the ideas and solutions. Those you need on board could resist what you come up with and this can cost you in time and energy. The alternative perspectives you gain through listening makes your stakeholders contributors to the solution, not victims of it, encouraging innovation and engagement.

The quality of listening you give to another when leading communicates whether or not you consider that they matter. But there are different ways to listen which are affected by how much you are being driven by your own ego needs as opposed to consciously engaging and coming from a place of openness and curiosity.

 Level 1: Listening while waiting to speak

We may appear to be listening. We may be giving our attention to the other person and even be demonstrating non-verbal signals of listening, but inside our head, we are actually paying attention to our own inner dialogue, making decisions and judgements about what the other person is saying, or trying to think of and remember a really good question to ask. When we listen at this level, our listening is superficial.

 Level 2: Listening with laser-like attention

When listening at this level, we keep our attention focused on the other person, concentrating on what they are saying and listening to the words and way they say them to understand how they may be feeling. We may even paraphrase and summarise what we have heard.

Level 3: Listening while being fully present

Being fully present means being in the moment with the other person, listening with deep connection.

This creates the space to let go of any past experiences or judgements and come from a place of possibility, enabling access to alternative views and insights that the other levels of listening could limit. Our judgement disappears as we appreciate fully where the other person is coming from.

Level three takes much more intention and practice than the other two levels. You may move around all three levels; the key is to be conscious of how we are listening and the way our judgements can impact this. Noticing when we slip into judgements gives us a chance to do something about it and focus on listening at a deeper level.