A couple of weeks ago I was at a client’s site, watching the ordinary rhythm of their workday. A team leader walked past a coworker’s desk. The coworker had just hung up the phone, and the leader’s attention sharpened—the way our black lab’s ears lift when she is on the hunt.
She stopped. She sensed something was off.
She was on a beeline to a high-profile meeting, but she paused and looked at her colleague.
“Everything okay?” she asked, picking up that the call had not been about work.
“Yup.”
“Do you need anything?” Her tone was calm, unhurried, supportive.
“Nope, all good.”
Seeing her coworker’s face relax, she smiled and picked up her pace again.
Yes, it was a small moment. And yes, the coworker had been handling personal business at work. We are people, though, and those minor life hiccups can stall momentum. That twenty-second pause—listening and showing concern—did more than another check on key deliverables would have done.
Specific deliverables still matter. Leaders also need to listen, whether in a scheduled review or while walking through the office. Learning to hold both worlds at once—making a profit and caring about your people—will serve you well. Listening is how you do that.
Successful leadership requires purposeful listening.
Three ways to listen better, and lead more brilliantly:
- Treat conversation as a partnership. It is collaboration, not competition. Most of the time, both people need to talk and listen in roughly equal measure. Waiting for a pause so you can reload your point and “win” the exchange is not listening.
- Listen past the facts to the feeling. Emotion is what connects you to the other person. We often think we are good listeners because we track the details and ask smart questions. Facts alone do not create a personal connection. Pause to hear the feeling behind the words. That is where you find the why and the how.
- Listen with all your senses. Physicians are trained to do this. In an exam they watch posture, manner, and tone as closely as they hear the complaint. That takes presence: not replaying the last conversation, not jumping ahead to the next meeting. Using all your senses gives you a clearer picture of what your people need.
When you move from hearing words to catching context and meaning, you build trust. That trust takes you—and your organization—toward brilliance.