Published December 19, 2011 | 
To be truly effective in your business and to grow a great company you need to learn to listen! Instead of talking all the time and leading the conversations, you would be wise to stop, listen and think … long before you act or react. I would recommend four considerations when it comes to listening.
Listen to your heart!
What is it that your heart is saying to you about the situation? What seems right to you and what seems totally off base? Which decision makes sense to you and which strategy falls in line with integrity, honesty, and fair play? What is your heart telling you? What seems right in the middle of your stomach? Does it fall in line with the healthy principles of life you endeavor to live by? Are you listening to your inmost feelings and concerns?
A couple of years ago, I was part of a conversation where one person was playing more the role of a bully to the others in the group. It had to be “his way” over anyone else’s desires. One person in the group asked him if “he had heart?” “Of course, I have heart,” he responded, “it’s beating deep in my chest.” The sad thing was that he was absolutely serious … and missed the point entirely.
After hearing that comment, I felt very sad, because I knew that he really did not have heart, after all. There was very little compassion, very little sense of doing the right thing versus his thing.
When you learn to listen, you learn to listen to what your heart is saying. When you do, you will have sensitivity to others and have an inmost sense of what they are thinking or planning or doing.
Listen to your management team!
A major mistake of some leaders is that they do not surround themselves with people who will speak up, speak out, and attempt to make things better. Too many people want “yes” people around them and as leaders they do not listen to the management team they have put in place. You need to trust your management team, or you need to get someone you can trust.
Years ago, I was part of a management team of 4-6 executives. One day the leader said to all of us at one time, “I can do all of your jobs better than you can.” Interestingly enough, each of us had highly specific job responsibilities and to do all of our jobs would have been impossible for him. Please note, that in less than six months, all of his managerial staff had left their positions.
A leader should place around him people that can do their job better than he/she can. Then, the leader should listen to them. He/she may not like what they say, but the leader needs to hear it anyway. It might just change the way things would have turned out, had the leader listened.
Your management team should be able to be counted on to give relevant information, be a sounding board, give constructive alternatives and have insights that you might not.
Listen to your customers!
Whether they talk or not, be sure to listen to your customers. If one complains, you can bet there are 11 who have not complained but may never use you again. If one praises you, accept the praise, but don’t let it go to your head. There may not be 11 people who would cheer over the same type of praise. Survey your customers, reward them for suggestions that you implement. Listen to them when they are silent and when they are vociferous. Whatever you do, do not ignore your customer and/or their desires or complaints. We have adopted the theme “Serve. Deliver. Serve Some More!” If you are going to serve your clientele, you will need to listen to them.
Do Not Listen To Your Competition!
Now, this one may be controversial and you may say that you need to know what your competition is saying. What I really mean is that they should be the bottom of the barrel of whom you listen to. If you want to copy them, listen to them. If you want to get ahead, do not pay them any attention, but spend the time changing what you do and how you do it, so that you will be far ahead of them. You will want to lead the way in your niche market, and listening to your competitors will be counter-productive. If you do what they do, what will set you apart? To be sure, listening to them will not set you apart.
