Walking the Talk: Why Leaders Need to Log More Miles with Employees

Leaders and management teams need to interact with their people face-to-face. Accessible leaders develop their people by coaching and mentoring them, and truly hearing them when they interact. They hear the stuff that is hard to hear and they serve as a facilitator for idea generation. 

CEO’s and other leaders who make themselves accessible invite dialog around what people are typically afraid to tell them. With this communication, leaders gain valuable insight into their organization. Absent this kind of feedback loop, leaders become isolated from the “bad news” they need to hear in order to face and solve problems which must be addressed for optimal profitability.

Leaders Should Lead with Listening First

CEOs must listen well so that their employees feel heard. An attentive CEO gains trust and the employee truth telling flows openly. Too often CEO’s and other organization leaders are so focused on telling people what to do that they don’t do the important, valuable work of listening well. People know when they are invited into a conversation where their ideas and opinions are valued even if both participants don’t agree on all that is being discussed. Leaders who listen well are completely open to what people may say, and can handle negative feedback about themselves or their organization.

Listening well and helping employees feel heard does not mean a leader will give people everything they ask for, but they will hear what they need to hear to improve the customer experience, company operations, employee engagement, and all the other metrics which point to maximum ROI and profitability.