Being an expert listener is one of the most powerful things you can do as a manager.
When you listen carefully to your employees, you'll gain their respect and you'll learn more about what's going on within your organization.
Listening involves much more than what you hear. When you listen carefully, you are maintaining eye contact with the person speaking. You are watching for non-verbal clues, body language, gestures and facial expressions.
Being an effective listener also means repeating back to the employee what you heard her say to ensure that you understood her correctly. This is a crucial step that many managers forget to do.
Being an expert listener is not easy, but it's vital to making a manager successful.
