One of the most challenging actions to defeat and remove, as leaders or even in our personal lives, is the inclination to interrupt others, rather than attentively, patiently, and efficiently listening to what’s on their minds.
We have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Listening to something twice before speaking one is the game humanity is failing to master.
When it comes to being a leader, doing this is even more crucial because how can you hope to serve others if you don’t give them every excuse to voice their opinions and vent.
Here are five reasons this behavior and philosophy are so important in being a quality leader
- Mean: First of all, it is either obscene or seen as being so if you interrupt anyone. It yells out that you don’t want to hear what others want to say, that you don’t wish to listen to their needs, ideas, and preferences effectively, and is usually perceived as meaning that you think you always know best and have all the solutions. Constantly behaving this way also prevents others from even trying to have a proper conversation with you, because most people don’t like being interrupted!
- Don’t Care: Whether this is the truth or not, much of the nature of quality leadership is based on opinions. True leaders cannot afford to behave in a way that negatively affects their ability to talk and empathize with their stakeholders’ priorities and needs.
- Hinders effective listening: When you don’t pause for others to finish before talking, it often means you aren’t paying sufficient attention but rather picturing more about what you want to speak. It could easily open up a Pandora’s Box because you anticipate what you believe the others want to say, rather than pausing to get the entire picture of the story.
- Hurts exchange of ideas and smooth flow: Remember that the meaning of a conversation is having a give-and-take and some multi-party (two or more parties) exchange. If you keep interrupting everyone around you, there will be a limited exchange of ideas resulting in a system’s complete failure.
- Harms the potential of a dear human bond: When a leader is perceived as being opposed to listening, he is often viewed as uncaring, inconsiderate, or at least, someone not worth caring about, paying attention to, or listening to.
I know it might be hard but push yourself to pay attention and listen efficiently, rather than merely controlling conversations. Successful leaders understand that most people enjoy their favorite two sounds and hear their own names and voices.
