The best leaders share a common secret. They lead successfully because they listen attentively. As leadership responsibility grows, the importance of listening increases dramatically. Recent research revealed that many leaders do not listen and the more powerful the leaders are, the less likely they are to take advice and more likely to be highly confident in their answers. Besides, the study has also shown that power can affect negatively an individual’s approach to seeking help or accepting performance feedback.

The study, entitled “The Detrimental Effects of Power on Confidence, Advice Taking, and Accuracy”, carried out by academics at Stern School of Business, Duke Business School and Lehigh University, was conducted with 1,500 participants over two-and-a-half years. Simon Hayward, a managing partner at leadership development and employee engagement specialist Cirrus, in his article “A listening boss shows strength, not weakness” claimed: “Often the powerful leader believes that possessing the confidence to make independent decisions is a great strength. They fear that seeking advice from others may make them appear vulnerable. Less powerful employees, however, believe that bosses who involve others in the decision-making process are in fact stronger and more effective.”

Hayward advised that this high confidence in decision-making in the workplace could actually be a dangerous thing for leaders if this unshakeable belief in their decision-making ability hinders them from taking into consideration the views of others. In doing so, the study found, leaders risk making flawed decisions especially when unaided decisions are made in areas where the leader clearly lacks the expertise. Also, this can lead to reduced commitments from others when it comes to putting those decisions down into action.

On the other hand, successful leaders view advice as critical to achieving goals and fostering change. They believe that shared decisions contribute to better results. They are aware of the value of teamwork and know that listening is an important skill. When senior leaders in an organisation are prepared to connect with others, to listen and to engage in real dialogue, they tend to find that this sparks innovation and creativity in others – which usually leads to new and better decisions and improved results. They also tend to find that others look on them as influential role models, and that their behaviour is replicated across the organisation. Hayward added that successful leaders are not afraid to surround themselves with challenging, capable and talented people. They are also quite happy to admit that they are not always right. They see their role as being about getting the very best from the people they lead – which means connecting, listening, and valuing the input of others. As Karl von Knebel, a German poet and translator once suggested: “He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it.”

Indeed, actively working to engage employees in decision-making is something leaders and organisations must strive to achieve and one way that leaders can do this is to walk the floor and talk and listen attentively to employees concerns, opinions and ideas, emphasised Jill Miller and Robert Conlon, two highly reputed international speakers who carried out workshops and gave talks at this month’s FHRD’s national annual conference.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that many of today’s leaders know and understand the value of listening and valuing the input of others around them, many still find it hard to change the way they operate especially because many a time they would have been rewarded for their independent decision-making with promotion to increasingly powerful roles. Hence, the challenge is to help these leaders see what impact they’re having and to then understand that there is a benefit from an alternative approach to the one they are used to showing and which has got them to the senior position they are in today. The researchers in this study recommended the following in order to address the inflated confidence levels of powerful individuals so that these can take (and/or) seek advice when it is valuable to do so. The first recommendation is that businesses formally include advice gathering at the earliest stages of the decision-making process, before powerful individuals have a chance to form their own opinions. The other recommendation is to encourage leaders to refrain from commenting on decisions publicly which could also keep them from feeling wedded to a particular point of view.

Hence it is clear that one of the marks of true leadership is a willingness to be able to listen and be guided by other people without feeling personally threatened. When this open-minded situation exists, a good leader can focus his organisation’s direction by hinting or suggesting the best course of action rather than ordering or dictating. Moreover, having a strong advice network offers immeasurable benefits when managing complex issues and unexpected situations. As Carl Rogers was quoted as saying in Dan Campa’s book Taking advice: How leaders get good council and use it wisely: “If you can’t take advice and put it into good use, you have no business calling yourself a leader.”

Ms Camilleri is a researcher with the Foundation for Human Resources Development