Listening Before Leading: A Reflection from Today

(Blog #8)

This morning, a staff member came to speak with me about a situation they were finding difficult. My instinct, as a leader, was to help, to offer advice, to suggest solutions, but something made me pause. Instead of moving quickly to “fix” the issue, I asked one simple question: “Can you tell me more?” Then I listened. Really listened.

What followed was not a request for solutions, it was a need to be heard, to process, to feel that someone in leadership truly understood their perspective. By the end of the conversation, they had begun to find their own way forward. What they needed most was space, not answers.

This is a lesson I have to keep learning:

Listening is not a prelude to leading, it is part of leading.

It builds trust. It deepens understanding. It honours the other person’s experience. And often, it reveals paths we would never have seen had we rushed in too soon. So today’s reflection is this:

Where, in your leadership, could you pause, listen more deeply, and lead from a place of greater understanding?

Sometimes the most powerful leadership starts with silence.

Mark Pollitt, Founder of Seeds of Knowledge