1.0 Listening Overview

Listening is a critical leadership skill in coaching and developing others performance—particularly in relationship to helping others achieve their goals.

As you think about developing your skills as a leaders and helping your people develop their competence, motivation, and confidence, you need to effectively listen to be able to determine what type of help they need. Do they need you to listen as a coach? Do they need to bounce ideas off of you? Do they want you to listen and help them process their feelings or emotions about the goal or task they are working on? Do they need specific recommendations from you?

If you learn to listen effectively, you’ll more likely meet their needs and help them advance their goals and tasks.

While listening is more of a supportive behavior, it is needed through out the various stages of an individual’s or team’s goal cycle, offering a just the right amount of directive or supportive listening behaviors that meet the needs of the goal throughout the process.

Effective listening involves focusing on what the other person is saying and then responding to ensure the individual was heard, valued, and that you are better equipped to help them solve his or her own problems. Excercising the fundamentals of listening helps you to create an environment of trust and optimal motivation so that the person you are listening to can explore what really matters most as they progress and eventually achieve their goals.

The LeadershipGenius Listening course encourages leaders and individuals to understand, value, and apply effective listening strategies as a critical skill in the coaching and development of others toward the desired results of individuals, teams, and the organization. When you develop your ability to listen, you will find it easier to build trust and maximize the performance of the people you lead and live with.