James O’Brien asked: Which is the better manager, the one who stops and listens to you, or the one that gets results?
• RoseMarie Loft: The one that does both, depending on the priorities of the situation.
• Mara Thorne: Agreed, they’re not mutually exclusive. If your boss is approachable and listens to you and values you, you are more likely to go the extra mile for them, which means that the results are likely to follow.
• Dean Bennett: You can’t get results if you don’t stop, if you don’t listen and if you aren’t focused on getting results. It takes all three. I find it very interesting how we tend towards the dualistic thinking of either/or, (what American business consultant, author and lecturer Jim Collins refers to as “the tyranny of the Or”), rather than looking at how we can combine things in ways to get new results – in behaviours as well as other areas.
• Lorraine Hall: The one who stops and listens will empower you to achieve results.
• Wendy Cox: Both. A good manager should recognise when there is a “fire-fighting” situation and so it’s necessary to command and control. If this is regular practice, though, the manager effectively works solo, discounts anyone else’s opinions and ideas, avoids change and having to explain actions and becomes an isolated expert with no team to support their work. When that happens, the organisation should be worried.
• Andrew Greaves: By listening to others a manager benefits from the skills of others, is less likely to make mistakes and is more in touch with their workforce. However, I’ve known some great managers who probably spread themselves a little too thinly to listen to others as much as they would like. In those cases, entrusting some soft skill tasks to others – such as making time to listen – can work really well. If there’s a skilled “people person” in the senior management team, I’d suggest there’s a case for giving them a role as listening post on behalf of the organisation’s leaders.
• For more on this discussion, go to linkd.in/listenresults
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