We’ve spent a lot of time the past two weeks writing about the right way to give employees feedback so it is positive and productive. If you didn’t catch those emails, go back through your inbox. There was some great advice.
But we didn’t emphasize enough one of the most important things – listening.
The late Steve Jobs may have said it best: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
We’re better managers when we listen. I mean really listening to our employees. If you listen enough, they’ll tell you everything you really know to have a successful company.
But I’m afraid we don’t do it very well.