Good Leaders Are Good Listeners: Four Ways to Improve

Good leaders are good listeners.

If you want to be effective in ministry, you’ll need to be a good listener first.

Probably the greatest reason people fail in ministry is not immorality, a lack of intelligence, or poor planning. It’s insensitivity.

Most of us simply talk too much. James 1:19 (NIV) says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”

You may think you’re already a good listener. But there’s a big difference between hearing and listening.

• Hearing is simply the vibrations that take place in your ear.
• Listening is how you decode those vibrations in your brain.

Many times I’ve heard my wife, my kids, or someone at the church say something – but I didn’t listen. Listening is a skill. And if you’re going to be in ministry, you better develop it. It’s developed through practice, desire, attention and by simply wanting to become a good listener.

Here are four tips to becoming a better listener.... Read more

Graphic: Jeff Boriss