When My Team Members Speak, Do I Listen?

Roger Kent specializes in helping teams improve Project Management processes and communications. He has taught over 200 two- and three-day seminars to corporate, military and government clients throughout the world. Roger is a principle of the MARPOL Training Institute, authoring three computer-based training programs currently used on over 1,000 ships at sea. He has also developed Movies Teach Project Management, entertaining and informative programs for PMPs to earn continuing education units. He holds a B.A. (magna cum laude) in English from Cornell University and an M.A. in Communication Theory from Norwich University.

  Communications Management   Talent Management  

Of course I listen. Well, okay…maybe not all the time. This is a confessional. Here’s how I’m trying to listen better--at least when people are directly in front of me or in a face-to-face meeting…

1. My Attitude
I’m a project manager because I know how to direct, manage and “git er done”. I am a talker. Listening isn’t explicitly in the job description. As a borderline control freak, I steer the conversation as the talker. My team knows this. I send the message, “I’m too busy to talk.” Which can translate into: “You are not important to me.” Not a good way to relate, or to lead.

Note to self:  Reflect on how I erect psychological, physical or organizational barriers that inhibit others from telling me what I need to hear. (Wait a minute…do I really want to dismantle these barriers?)

2. Power/Dominance Relationships
Some team members “listen up” the way my subordinates did in the military. They were trained that way. They don’t do this in civilian life. In a big way. Some people are intimidated by my leadership style. Others sullenly resist. Have you ever had someone working for you who goes out of his or her way to do precisely the opposite of what you requested? As much as I try to practice situational leadership, servant leadership and a layback …

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