A listening leader

Why should leaders listen?

A)You are probrably not the smartest person in your organization. You are just the leader.

Some are leaders

• Because they got the idea first
• Because they were willing to risk something first
• because everyone left.

Which means, leaders should listen to the right people in order to succeed.

B)What and whom you listen to will determine what you do.

C)Your organizational decisions will be judged will be judged by the organization.

• Your private decisions will be judged publicly.
• It would be good to design a system that includes the involvement of as many people in the organization without going into extremes

D) Leaders are attracted to environments where their ideas and opinions are heard

• Create a system where you are listening to the great leaders.
• One of the main frustrations of people is that they have no voice. Eg: getting assignments instead of being involved in the decision making process.
• Very few people have to be number 1 as long as they have input in the decision making process.
• The more people feel like they have a voice, the more great leaders you will attract to your organization.
• The older a leader gets, the more they need to feel like they need to have influence over their own destiny

E) Leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing important to say

• Good leaders will leave an organization where there is no system for their voice to be heard.
• Surround yourself with smart people if you want to make correct and wise decisions

Other tid-bits:

• In church world, we can overestimate spirituality and forget about smartness.
• Although the church places greatest value in spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity does not necesarily make a person a good leader. They should not immediately be elevated to places of authority and decision-making without first testing their competence in other areas.
• If there's an area of expertise missing in our church organization, it's also a good option to seek counsel outside our organization.
• The minute a sharp number 2 person realises 'no one is listening to me', he/she is not going to stay. They will be replaced. Eventually, the people who stay are those who are not bothered that they are not listened to. They have nothing valuable to say.
• Andy said,"The day the organization is just about WWAD [What would Andy Do], it is set up for failure."
• Make good decisions, and also present them in ways that people will be ready to embrace them

Just reflecting back on the leaders and also the decision-making processes I have encountered in the past and present. This is all true.