Leadership Skill: Listening
To be a good leader, you need to learn to listen both to God and to people.
Listening to God is a means of:
- acquiring wisdom and understanding
- discerning His heart
- lining up with Him and His will
- letting God know you care
Listening to people is a means of:
- discerning needs
- learning if something isn't working
- acquiring new ideas
- letting people know you care
Tips for listening to God:
- Be still and cease striving so you can hear His voice in the midst of the clutter and noise around you. (Ps. 46:10; Matt. 11:28-30)
- Wait for Him and His timing. (Ps. 5:3; 37:7; 38:15)
- Study His Word with the goal of arriving at His intent. (Ps. 19:7-11; 119:105)
- Keep pace with the Spirit who will guide and teach you what you need to know as you need to know it. (Gal. 5:25; Jn. 14:26; 15:26)
- Listen with both your heart and head, in spirit and in truth. (Matt. 22:37; Jn. 4:24)
Tips for listening to people:
- Listen before formulating what you will say. (Prov. 18:13)
- Listen to truly understand where the person is coming from. (Prov. 18:15)
- Listen to more than their words but also their body language, tone, facial expressions. (1 Cor. 12:25-26)
- Listen without bias or prejudging a person. (James 1:19)
Go To: Other Leader Skills - Leader Basics - Leader Qualities - Practicum