The First Leadership SkillCol Harry LeBoeuf, USAF (ret)

Listening

Do you consider yourself a good Listener?

A) Yes

B) No

The primary goal of leadership communication

is to reach understanding, not agreement.

A) True

B) False

“The #1 skill of the 21st century leader is listening.”

Peter DruckerAuthor & Management Guru

“99% of the best ideas we ever had came from our people.”

Sam Walton,Founder, Walmart

Listening Self-Assessment

Do others consider you a good listener?

A) Yes

B) Not Sure

C) No

8 Reasons Listening is Critical

to Effective Leadership

1. 5.2. 6.3. 7.4. 8.

Top 5 Leadership Listening Pitfalls

1. Pride2. Know it all3. Don’t have the time4. Think others are idiots5. Don’t care

How can you tell?

1. When others ARE carefully listening to you?

2. When others are NOT listening to you?

95% of communication misunderstanding is the

sender’s fault.A) True

B) False

Three Levels of Transformational Listening

1. Listen with your Ears

2. Listen with your Eyes

3. Listen for the Voice

A) Listen with your Ears

1. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. __ l __ i __ s __ t __ e __ n __

2. Noah was on the ark

3. Match

4. White – it’s a Polar Bear

5. Answer = 2

A) Listen with your Ears

B) Listen with your Eyes

Non-verbal CuesSpace (Proxemics)Time (Chronemics)Touch (Haptics)Body Language (Kinesics)

C) Listen for the Voice

1. Rate – fastness or slowness

2. Pitch – highness or lowness

3. Volume – softness or loudness

4. Tone – overall quality

Ten Things Great Listeners Do

1. Listen for Ideas

2. Focus

3. Minimize Distractions

4. Take Notes & follow-up

5. Ask Clarifying questions

Ten Things Great Listeners Do (con’t)

6. Listen for Core themes

7. Ignore loaded words

8. Think while you listen

9. Keep an Open Mind

10. Interrupt only to clarify

My Action PlanList 2-3 actions to take your

ListeningTo a Higher Level

Envision

Do you consider yourself a visionary?

A) Yes

B) No

“A task without a vision is drudgery.A vision without a task is but a dream.

But a task with a vision is the hope of the world.”

Inscription circa 1770Church in Sussex, England

Two Keys to Envisioning

1. Clarify

2. Connect

What are clarifying questions?

They are questions you can use to help bring out additional information on a topic, clarify how someone feels about a topic, or further explain a complex idea.

What are some examples?

Clarifying Questions

How does this fulfill the needs of those we serve?

How will be measure our progress?

What are our top priorities?

What are the first steps we must take?

What are the alternatives available to us?

Two Keys to Envisioning

1. Clarify

2. Connect

“The role of a leader is to find a thousand different ways to say

the same thing.”

Harry Quadracci, FounderQuad Graphics

“The role of a leader is to find a thousand different ways to say

the same thing.”

Harry Quadracci, FounderQuad Graphics

PREP Connection Model

Point: Where we are going?

Reason(s): Why we are going there?

Example(s): What must happen?

Point: Restate/reinforce the where?

My Action Plan

List 2-3 actions to take your

EnvisioningTo a Higher Level

Ropella Leadership Transformation

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www.Ropella.com850.983.4777