Today’s post concerns the fourth of
John Maxwell’s Ten Leadership Keys:
listening skills. Developing listening skills is a worthwhile goal – especially if you are intent on becoming an effective leader. I pose the question, “Can being a good listener help build loyalty?”
John Maxwell would agree that it can.
Being a good listener means being an active listener (really focusing in), paraphrasing what the speaker has said (thus ensuring clarity), and providing feedback. In truth, improving listening skills is not a waste of time. There are different types of listening skills. There is
active listening
and inactive listening. There is reflective listening, which involves active listening, interpreting what is being said and observing the way it is being said. There is an attempt to clarify what is being said. There is selective listening – this is hearing what you want to hear or what you expect to hear, rather than what the speaker is trying to convey.
In my experience (working as a caregiver), it can be important to be an empathic listener (i.e., putting yourself in the other guy’s shoes) as well as paraphrasing – many times, if I had not gone to the effort to re-state what I “heard” my co-worker saying to me, errors could’ve been made that would have affected the life of the patient (resident).
Listening Skills Assessment: John Maxwell site For a fun listening skills quiz (& to see what sort of communicator you are): Go Here To see a listening skills activity site: http://bit.ly/cNbfDe