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May 30 - A Transparent Leader Must Listen
A Transparent Leader Must Listen
May 30, 2006
"Sometimes it's hard to be a good listener. We're human after all, and we're not like dogs or cats that have senses so heightened that they can hear even the lowest-frequency sounds without effort. Some animals run in erratic circles when an earthquake is about to hit because they can hear the P waves, the very first pressure waves at the rupturing fault of an earthquake; but a lot of times we humans don't know a disaster is coming until it's too late. Wouldn't it be nice if you could sense every disaster at the rupturing fault, before it hit your life or business? But we're human, and it's not that easy. We have to work on developing our listening skills, and we have to think of listening as an important component of leading.
Listening is especially important for leaders at high levels. If you want the truth, you have to get into the trenches and listen; otherwise the information you receive will be filtered up through employees and managers until it reaches you clean, clear, and…distorted. You won't hear about the issues that negatively impact your business units, you won't hear about he employee who made your customer angry, and you won't hear about the demeaning manager who affects employee productivity (negatively). If you make it a point to listen at every level and keep an open-door policy that encourages employees to communicate with you, you'll be able to hear the good and the bad, and detect disasters before they strike. Be a good listener. You'll be surprised how much you'll learn (Baum, 2004, p. 33-34)."
Reference: Baum, H. (2004). The transparent leader: how to build a great company through straight talk, openness, and accountability. New York: Harper Business.
The Transparent Leader is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center. To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page http://164.107.48.88/winnebago/index.asp?lib=???
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Created: 2008-04-01, Updated: 2009-04-10
