New Role? New Job? New Leader?

What is the key skill you need in a new leadership role?  It’s hard to choose since there are so many essentials, from Strategic Vision, Decision-making and Drive to the many People Skills it is important to master.  Leaving aside the others, let’s focus on Soft Skills – hard to get them wrong, you might think, since we’re born with the ability to communicate. But we humans are tricky, and best intentions often lead to discord and demotivation.

So, which which of these will be most important in starting your new leadership role?

Listening
Public speaking
Networking skills

Full marks for choosing Listening! It’s the key to building relationships and trust, plus it’s essential if you want to understand  the people you work with and lead.

Furthermore, it is central to each of the 3 principal Leadership Communication activities:

• 1:1 meetings
• Speaking to groups and large audiences
• Networking.

If you don’t listen well, you end up out of touch, relying on research by others. Worse, you appear remote or uncaring.

How to listen well

DO

• Slow down
• Give the time needed
• Give 100% attention to listening
• Listen to what is said and what isn’t said
• Show your interest by facial expression and prompting

DONT

• Interrupt
• Create solutions in your head as you listen
• Judge the speaker
• Give your opinion before you have listened to the end
• Be complacent (half-listening doesn’t count!)

In conclusion, excellent listening skills are vital for good leadership, whether you’re managing a huge budget or a huge number of staff, whether you are a CEO, a teacher, a project manager. These soft skills are hard to develop for most of us without diligent practice.

If you’re starting in a new job, new role or as a new leader we hope these reminders help bring you success.

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