Leaders Listen Passionately

Often we hear leaders chatter on endlessly about their "intent,"
"visions" and how the teams should flower under their tutelage. They
never tire of torturing an audience till the organisation tires out of
the "how" that the leader explains with such disdain each time he gets
an opportunity. This is accentuated if the employees only get to
listen to the leader and are seldom allowed the latitude to articulate
their own aspirations and visions about either the task at hand, the
organisation or the team.When they listen, they "hear" with a view to
out-talk the led. Such leaders start the cycle of cynicism in an
organisation, especially when the leaders are not able to Walk their
Talks. Teams hang on to every word, motion or activity of the leader.
While a blabbering leader may forget what he said yesterday - the team
remembers - and thus starts the Chinese whisper in an organisation,
dis-empowering the teams across verticals.Good leaders listen and
listen actively to absorb the aspirations and callings of each member
of the team. This helps them find each team member's true calling.
There is nothing more motivating in an environment where a team member
feels confident to explain his point of view succinctly and without
parental oversights by the leader. This simple habit of the leader
energises the team members and motivates them with an optimism that
their views would be heard passionately towards the larger good of the
organisation. They then push the envelope as active participants in
the growth of the organisation.It is true that leadership and
mentoring are not a one-size-fits-all propositions. "Different strokes
for different folks" is more like it. Some people need a lot of
direction or hand-holding; others need autonomy and freedom to
experiment and grow. Some team members may need different things at
different times, depending on challenges that arise, the level of
difficulty in job assignments, and the ebb and flow of motivation.
Amongst all these variations, leaders can rarely afford to stop
listening passionately - it helps keeping their ears to the ground and
invert the pyramid in an environment of trust and mutual respect.
This
passion is contagious across all levels of leaders and the led, where
leaders automatically produce leaders and not mere followers. This
creates an enabling environment where the "why" overrides the "how"
and unleashes the true potential of each team member.Active listening
accentuates an organisation's trajectory in geometric progression and
provides the leader with the most vital component of organisational
success - feedback.As they say in the military, "passionate leaders
lead by actions not words."