Did you know we have a podcast featuring solid biblical teaching? It’s called In the Word with Malcolm Webber, and we release it weekly, along with doctrinal teaching that goes beyond information into transformation. Check it out!
Hello friends,
One of the most essential skills a healthy leader can gain is the ability to listen well.
We know that clarity and discernment are necessary to function in today’s information age, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Leaders needs to listen carefully to those who lead them, to their peers and, most importantly, to their followers.
We’ve discussed recently here at Healthy Leaders what it takes to build healthy organizations, characterized by responsibility and initiative at every level. Listening well to those we serve is one of the primary ways we can nurture a healthy culture in our churches and communities, let alone in our daily lives with family and friends.
And applying the accountability and encouragement we receive as leaders requires good listening. We must know what is being said before we can use it effectively.
Over the next few months, we are digging into listening — what it is, why we need to get better at it, the barriers to listening well, and ways to improve both our own listening and the listening of others around us.1
Along the way, we want to hear about your own experiences with listening — good and bad! — and how you are trying to grow in this area yourself.
Let’s start with why listening actually matters.
“Be Quick to Hear…”
When talking about listening, we often quote the Apostle James’ exhortation to believers in James 1:19 to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
Let’s look closely at this passage:
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:19-21)
Here we see the context of James’ directive — among beloved brothers, in light of the righteousness of God. In contrast to “filthiness and rampant wickedness,” we are to “receive with meekness the implanted word.”
In this passage, listening is not just effectively gathering information. It involves taking what we hear into our hearts as well as our ears and minds. We must open ourselves, first of all, to God Himself. We receive His Word. And how do we receive it? With meekness, with humility, with a posture that says we are open and ready to learn. And we are ready, therefore, to change as a result of what we hear.
And, as we will get into with more depth during this series, true listening always leads to action:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)
God Listens to Us
As healthy Christian leaders, we approach God with a listening ear, mind, and heart. And as we are transformed by what God says to us in His Word and by His Spirit, we begin to reflect Him more clearly to those around us.
Christian leaders live and move through the world in a different way than leaders who do not know God or serve Him. In receiving Christ, we have been and are being transformed into His image. And one aspect of Christ’s character — the character we desire to reflect to the world — is listening.
God Himself is One who listens! The Bible is full of examples:
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.” (Exodus 3:7)
“In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.” (2 Samuel 22:7)
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles… The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry… The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:6, 15, 17)
You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, (Psalm 10:17)
If we are to be like God, we need to learn to listen attentively, actively, humbly. And fortunately, our everyday lives as leaders can give us lots of practice at this.
We spend 70% of our waking hours in verbal communication, the majority of this time is spent in listening. For the average person, this lands around at around 40% of that communication team. Essentially, a quarter of our time awake is spent listening.
And listening is, of course, the primary channel used for learning, far more often than reading.
This is probably one reason the Bible says that listening is a mark of true wisdom.
“For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food. Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.” (Job 34:3-4)
The unwise leader, on the other hand, will fulfill the proverb:
He who answers before listening — that is his folly and his shame. (Prov. 18:13)
Relational conflict and unnecessary error will follow the leader who is not a good listener.
Too Often, Leaders Neglect Listening
So why, then, are we so bad at listening?
On average, people are only about 35% effective as listeners. This means they overlook, do not understand, or change the intended purpose of what they hear most of the time!
This lack of effective listening by leaders causes misunderstandings, hurt feelings, damaged relationships, confused instructions, loss of important information, poor decision-making, embarrassment, frustration, loss of initiative and innovation, and ineffectiveness.
Add to this that many leaders make little effort to learn or develop their listening skills. Whatever the reason — excessive busyness, the expectation that leaders should have all the answers, plain old pride — leaders too often neglect this vital part of communication.
The Positive Results of Listening
On the other hand, when leaders listen well, the results are powerful!
Cooperation increases. True listening assumes the other person has value, dignity and something to offer. People who know they are valued will be more positive toward working with their leaders.
Everyone makes better decisions. Listening to others gives leaders the information they need to make appropriate decisions, while listening to themselves gives leaders the ability to choose their responses rather than reacting automatically.
Wise counsel is possible. Only when the situation has truly been understood can a leader offer effective instruction and advice (Prov. 15:23).
We avoid conflict. By responding to reality, rather than to emotions or misconceptions, the listening leader will prevent unnecessary relational troubles. When people know they are genuinely being listened to, their frustration or anger will be calmed (Prov. 15:1).
We reduce stress. Both the leader and the people will experience less stress in their relationships and their work when they listen effectively. Listeners are influential people. How many times have you been affected by how a person listened to you? How do you feel when listeners are not paying attention to you? Listeners have a lot more influence on the speaker than many people realize.
We prevent costly errors. Leaders who do not listen properly are prone to making wrong decisions. Many crises occur simply because problems weren’t identified in time; sadly, leaders often have been informed of these problems but did not listen. How often have you heard someone say, in frustration, “I told him that, but he did not listen”?
People are more open to new ideas. When they know their leaders genuinely listen to them, people will be considerably more open to change.
We improve our learning. Listening is one of the principal ways we learn; as our listening ability improves, we learn more.
We enhance responsibility and creativity throughout the organization. Followers who know they are talking to a listener, rather than a boss who sits in judgment, will openly suggest ideas and share feelings. When this happens, we can work as a team to creatively solve problems instead of blame-shifting.
In short, everyone’s effectiveness increases.
In our work in the nations, we’ve seen these benefits time and again when leaders choose to listen. One sister in India flipped the usual script, choosing to spend time with her community listening instead of teaching.
“I have started spending quality time with my church members, not only to share God’s Word and offer prayer, but to listen to them, show kindness in my actions, and pray with them. It is really fruitful to know them better!” (Sister O, India)
And a brother in Cameroon testified to the heart of listening: humility.
“I am able to humble myself and listen to the people I lead thanks to what I learned during the training from Jesus’ leadership. My pride has been broken and my team members are now free to share their opinions on issues. We are all moving toward achieving our goals together.” (Brother N, Cameroon)
Listening doesn’t come naturally, and it’s not the same as hearing. It involves sophisticated mental processing, energy, discipline.
We cannot treat it as optional. We have to take steps to get better at listening, because effective leaders are effective listeners!
How Can We Apply This?
To increase your listening effectiveness, list all the sounds you hear in the next five minutes. Do this several times in different environments to sharpen your listening awareness. This will help you realize how sharp your listening can become when you take the time to listen actively to the sounds around you, rather than just passively hearing.
Also, take some time to reflect on these questions:
What examples of ineffective listening have you observed in your organization and what were the results?
Think of someone you know who is a good listener. How do you feel when you talk to this person?
List the ways in which more effective listening could benefit your organization.
We’d love to hear your insights in the comments!
Recommended Resources
Book: Listening
Video Course: Transformational Thinking
For more resources, visit our website.
Much of what we’ll discuss in this series is rooted in Malcolm’s book, SpiritBuilt Leadership 12 — Listening.
Good stuff as always. Check out the book Side by Side by Welch. Jim W