Coaching and Feedback: Importance of Listening

Providing feedback and coaching isn't just telling, it's also listening to understand. Listening has been described as the single most important leadership skills.

One of the best ways to listen is to be curious and ask good questions. Unless you do this well, you may miss out on important information you need to know in order to manage effectively and help employees improve.

When you give feedback about performance gaps and offer coaching guidance, people may feel stressed and tell you what they think you want to hear, or they may offer up excuses, become defensive or hostile, or shut down completely. Your best listening skills are needed to get past these reactions to the real reasons people may be reluctant to share initially.

You can listen not only to the words people say, but also to non-verbal signals such as body language and tone of voice. This can provide clues about what people are thinking or feeling, but not saying.

Pointing out the non-verbals you are noticing and asking probing questions can help you gain a deeper understanding and a more complete picture about what is going on with someone.

People will share with you openly once they come to trust you and believe you are concerned about their success. If you want the chance to really listen to others, demonstrate that you can be trusted with what they tell you. Be a good listener to be a good leader.