“The best listeners share a common goal: to be impressed and interested, rather than impressive and interesting” Mark Cole.
Most leaders are generally busy, operating in fast paced complex environments, with enormous information that needs to be processed and filtered for quality decision making for the success of their organizations. Most research work on communication has focused on effective speaking skills, but not so much on how active listening skills can drive workplace productivity.
The fact is, leaders succeed through the commitment and work of their followers. The 80/20 rule for effective listening requires that leaders only focus on talking for 20% of the time and actively listen for 80% of the time in conversations such as feedback sessions, performance reviews, problem solving and project design meetings, etc. Great leaders are great active and empathetic listeners.