Last week, when I was working with a group of managers , we got down to the nitty gritty of the difference between good and bad managers. Split into 2 groups the participants wrote down a list of good and bad.

The underlying theme was that good managers communicate well and bad managers don’t.

Obvious isn’t it?

But for something so obvious it is still difficult to get right.

When time is of the essence it is tempting to jump in with solutions at best – instructions at worst. But by taking a wee bit of time to listen to what everybody involved has to say there might be another, better way. And because it has been “co-created” you should be able to expect a better level of buy-in.

Ultimately though my thought for this Friday is….

to listen effectively you must first disengage your mouth.