Why Executives Don’t Listen Well
Have you ever wondered why executives don’t listen well, or perhaps much at all, despite all the research, articles and advice about the importance of listening?
Leadership experts, and top level leaders themselves, acknowledge the importance of listening. Even so, too many senior executives I know don’t listen well enough, often enough and long enough. The question is, why?
The answer can be found in the criteria we use to identify, reward, promote and value leaders versus what we say is most important.
In theory we love curiosity and questions, but we routinely elevate people who have (or at least appear to have) the answers.
I recently conducted a tiny study, research subjects = 1 leader.
“On average, do you speak more than listen or listen more than speak?”
“I listen more.”
“By what percent?”
“50/50”
“That’s not more. It’s equal parts listening and speaking.”
“OK then, 49/51. I’m the CEO. People want to hear what I have to say.”
“Have you ever asked people about that and listened to their answers?”
“No. Any more questions?”
“I guess not.”
How We Identify Future Executives
Corporate executives rise up through a system that begins with individual contributors. From this gigantic pool, we select first time managers. Let’s look at who gets selected and why.
People who:
- Are highly knowledgeable and perform well in their area of expertise
- Have good ideas
- Speak assertively and confidently
- Get the most stuff done
We don’t typically look for people who:
- Express curiosity
- Ask great questions
- Are excellent active listeners
- Listen more than they speak
- Seek different perspectives and ideas
How We Reward and Promote Future Executives
We continue to reward and promote leaders for these same qualities. We also tack on a few more criteria, such as business savvy, meeting revenue and budget goals, being excellent communicators. The latter is focused on communicating out versus taking in. At the executive level we value executive presence, big picture thinking, the ability to synthesize and present complex ideas in simple terms. In theory we value listening, being curious and asking great questions, but we don’t reward or promote for these attributes. So it’s no surprise our most senior executives don’t listen very much and likely don’t listen well, even when they’re not talking.
As long as we value the assertive aspects of leadership and pay lip service to the more receptive qualities, most leaders will spend more time talking than listening.
What will it take to strike a better balance between these complementary opposites? A leader who listens and changes the criteria his company employs to identify, promote, reward and value upcoming leaders. Are you that leader? Are you really listening?
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