‘The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.’ Proverbs 15:31 NKJV
John Maxwell points out that leaders touch your heart before they ask for your hand. That’s the law of connection. Before a leader can touch a person’s heart, he or she has to know what’s in it. And you learn that by listening. A reluctance to listen is too typical among poor leaders. Over half of all management problems are the consequence of faulty communications. And the vast majority of communication problems stem from poor listening. Many voices are clamouring for our attention. As you think about how to listen, keep in mind that you have two reasons for listening:
(1) to connect with people
(2) to learn about them—that includes your competitors.
The sad truth is that when leaders view another organisation only as competition, they focus attention on building their own case or championing their own objective and forget to learn from the other group’s efforts. Now, you don’t necessarily want to base your actions on what the other person is doing, but you should still listen and learn how to improve yourself.
It’s a costly mistake to get so busy doing your own thing, or trying to make things happen, that you’re not paying attention to what’s going on around you. Every day you live and every experience you have, both negative and positive, can teach you valuable lessons. But you must listen!
SoulFood: Ezek 14:1–16:52, Mk 12:13–27, Ps 129, Prov 14:25–28
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©