The First Leadership Skill Col Harry LeBoeuf, USAF (ret)
Listening
Do you consider yourself a good Listener? A) Yes B) No
The primary goal of leadership communication is to reach understanding, not agreement. A) True B) False
“The #1 skill of the 21 st century leader is listening.” Peter Drucker Author & Management Guru
“99% of the best ideas we ever had came from our people.” Sam Walton, Founder, Walmart
Listening Self-Assessment
Do others consider you a good listener? A) Yes B) Not Sure C) No
8 Reasons Listening is Critical to Effective Leadership
Top 5 Leadership Listening Pitfalls 1.Pride 2.Know it all 3.Don’t have the time 4.Think others are idiots 5.Don’t care
How can you tell? 1.When others ARE carefully listening to you? 2.When others are NOT listening to you?
95% of communication misunderstanding is the sender’s fault. A) True B) False
Three Levels of Transformational Listening 1.Listen with your Ears 2.Listen with your Eyes 3.Listen for the Voice
A) Listen with your Ears 1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
1. __ l __ i __ s __ t __ e __ n __ 2. Noah was on the ark 3. Match 4. White – it’s a Polar Bear 5. Answer = 2 A) Listen with your Ears
B) Listen with your Eyes Non-verbal Cues Space(Proxemics) Time(Chronemics) Touch(Haptics) Body Language(Kinesics)
C) Listen for the Voice 1. Rate – fastness or slowness 2. Pitch – highness or lowness 3. Volume – softness or loudness 4. Tone – overall quality
Ten Things Great Listeners Do 1.Listen for Ideas 2.Focus 3.Minimize Distractions 4.Take Notes & follow-up 5.Ask Clarifying questions
Ten Things Great Listeners Do (con’t) 6. Listen for Core themes 7. Ignore loaded words 8. Think while you listen 9. Keep an Open Mind 10. Interrupt only to clarify
My Action Plan List 2-3 actions to take your Listening To a Higher Level
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