Mike 
How well do you listen to others? In asking this question, I want to focus on a specific kind of listening. It’s the kind that helps you grow as a leader and shapes your organization’s most important decisions. It is openly and actively listening to feedback and input from others on your leadership team.
One of my favorite images from Jim Collins’ Good to Great is his description that less-than-effective leaders operated like “a genius with a thousand helpers.” People that practice this model don’t need to listen; they just need “helpers” who will listen to them and do their bidding. But as Collins points out, this isn’t what great leaders do. Great leaders know that they have blind spots and that they’re not the only ones with game-changing ideas, and they invite others into the conversation. This helps them learn and grow professionally, and enables their organizations to be more successful.
So how well do you listen to others? Here are four deeper questions that will help frame the original question:
- When is the last time that you were challenged or were given constructive feedback or one of the key leaders in your organization? If you can’t remember the last time, it may be because they think that it won’t do any good.
- How often do you genuinely ask others for their input?
- If you have received constructive or difficult feedback within the last few weeks, how did you react? Did you thank the person and take it to heart? Or were you defensive?
- When is the last time that a colleague gave you a great suggestion that you used instead of your own plans?
