When We Listen
Listening is the one thing we do most in life (other than breathing). What do you do with the information you receive?
Listening is deciding that the other person is important and what that person is saying is important. When you demonstrate the discipline of listening, other people feel valued, respected, honored, important, accepted, and/or wanted. As a servant leader, we want to cultivate listening. The process of listening starts with hearing.
How do you evaluate the information that you are receiving?
How one listens depends on how one reasons with their mind. When we fail to understand what we are hearing (when we fail to listen well), we fail to respond well. Listening should be accompanied by a period of reflection. Taking time to reflect allows a leader to make informed decisions.
Listen with empathy.
If a leader wants to win the heart of their followers, they must listen and listen empathetically. We listen to the needs of others so we can understand what they are going through. Listening first allows us to be able to evaluate and empathize with others; then we can take action.
As servant leaders, we get to listen to people with our hearts. You cannot know how to serve a person, you cannot know how to help a person until you take time to listen to them so you can understand them. This is fundamental. If you want to help somebody, sit down with that person to understand them so you can help them. We hear with our ears, we listen with our mind, and we respond with our heart.
Listening proceeds action.
When we listen, we receive information that helps make informed decisions. It is an action. There is no action without listening. We have to listen first and then we can take action.
Recently, I was sharing an issue with a friend of mine. When I was sharing with him, I started noticing his tone was changing. And I realized that the person was empathizing with what I was sharing with him. After we finished our discussion, he said, “Peter, thank you for sharing this issue with me. I am going to take action.” He consciously listened, received the information, evaluated what he heard, and then made an informed decision to take action.
“If a leader is not willing to listen, he is on the verge of losing the privilege to lead.”
Poor listening is a silent killer.
When we shut our ears, we close our thinking ability to understand what other people are saying. When we fail to listen, especially in leadership, we end up facing disaster. Poor listening is a silent killer of productivity and profits. Many leaders have lost good employees because they never took time to listen to these people. Others have lost opportunities because they never listened. Listening is key in communication, in relationships, in everything that we do. If a leader is not willing to listen, he is on the verge of losing the privilege to lead.
At the end of the day, listening is very critical in leadership. We listen so that we can inform others. We listen so we can understand what people are going through. We listen so we can help others. We listen so we can show care and compassion to other people. We listen so that we can bring people together, build relationships.
When we listen, we strengthen our leadership and others’.
Peter Mulinge, Ph.D.
PETER MULINGE is passionate about servant leadership development. His vision is to train and develop men and women, motivated by love they will serve their community in humility and integrity. He is the founder and president of Africa Servant Leadership Development Initiative (ASLEAD). Peter holds M.A. in Biblical studies from Westminster Theological Seminary in California and received a Doctor of Ministries (DMin) degree in organic leadership development from Bethel University in the USA. After pioneering Africa Servant Leadership Development Initiative (ASLEAD) in USA and ASLEAD Institute in Kenya, Peter went back to college to further studies in Organizational leadership. He recently received a Ph.D. at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. Peter travels back and forth to Kenya to train and develop servant leaders.