Leadership: The responsibility to hear!

Leadership is a two-way street. It imposes responsibilities on the two parties in the leader-follower relationship. Success is guaranteed when both parties embrace their respective responsibilities. By implication, therefore, knowing the responsibilities of each party is an important prerequisite for meaningful interaction between the leader and the follower.

Leadership Insights this week focuses on one crucial responsibility of the follower - the responsibility to hear what the leader says.

The speaking leader

Nothing is more important in the conduct of leadership than the words of the leader. This may sound far-fetched or trivial. It is, however, the simple truth about leadership. Leaders who do not pay attention to what they say are not deliberate in the pursuit of their mandate. Their outcome is predictable.

Any leader who would rather 'demonstrate,' instead of speaking out loud and deliberately cannot hope to be effective. In the leader's words is the power to transform her followers. A quiet leader is one who lacks the power to turn followers into leaders. The sheep wait to hear the voice of the shepherd in order to follow. They are prevented from going astray by their ability to distinguish the voice of their leader from that of a stranger.

A quiet leader is one who lacks the power to turn followers into leaders. The sheep wait to hear the voice of the shepherd in order to follow.

Effective leaders are 'speaking' leaders.

Are you a leader whose voice is heard continually? Are you deliberate in the use of words, and also in your choice of words? Is your voice distinct enough for your followers to distinguish from other voices speaking to and around them? Are you wondering why you are not getting through to your followers or eliciting the response your desire from them? Could it be that you aren't speaking loudly, distinctly, or regularly enough? Think about it.

Leaders are the product of words

And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” - Mark 4:9 NKJV

I have often wondered why Jesus, the Master Leader, would make the statement above, He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

This statement is made repeatedly, the focus being on His followers. It was an essential part of His leadership example. It was a charge to His followers to pay more than casual attention to what He was saying. It was equally a call to note a vital secret in whatever He had said, that could make the difference in their journey to becoming leaders and succeeding in life.

If making leaders out of followers is the ultimate goal of every leadership mandate, then it means that leaders are the product of the words they hear. We can go further to say that leaders are made out of the words that they give their ears to. It would be true to also submit that a leader can only be as good as the quality of words that she truly hears.

If making leaders out of followers is the ultimate goal of every leadership mandate, then it means that leaders are the product of the words they hear.

Another way to look at the statement above is that the leader fulfills the responsibility to speak whenever she does and calls the follower to do the same by hearing what has been said. To be sure, the word 'hear' is also translated in some versions of the Bible as 'listen.' To 'listen' means that you don't hear but also understand what you heard.

This all-important charge to the follower is a call to responsibility. The follower has a responsibility to hear or listen.

The follower's responsibility to hear

Every leader has a responsibility to speak. In addition, the leader has a responsibility to call the attention of the follower to hear or listen. That's a two-in-one responsibility right there! We must note from this that at some critical times in the leader-follower relationship it is not enough for the leader to speak. She must go further to draw the follower's attention to what is said. Failure to do so could undermine the transforming power of what she has said to the follower.

Little wonder Solomon repeatedly charge 'his son' to take heed to his instructions. He understood both his responsibility as a leader to charge his followers to pay attention to his words and the responsibility of the followers to hear in order to benefit from them.

However, our emphasis in this piece is on the responsibility of the follower to hear. This is apparently a huge responsibility. Every follower must embrace this charge and respond appropriately in order to make the most of what the leader has to offer. Followers must understand that much of what any leader has to offer is in their words. The ability of any follower to experience a change or transformation under a leader is determined by how seriously they take the responsibility to hear what they are told.

The words spoken by the leader can affect the follower positively in at least four ways, namely:

1. Teach principles - Followers can learn the key principles to help them to carry out their responsibilities with understanding and effectively.
2. Identify wrongdoing - Followers can discover what they are doing wrong in their efforts and why they aren't getting the results that they desired or such as the leader requires.
3. Correction - Followers can receive corrections so that they experience a 'reset' to go in the right direction and do the right things.
4. Instruction - Through the words of the leader, followers will also receive instruction on what the leader wants to be done and how to do the right things.

These are the channels through which the word of the leader works to bring about a change or transform the follower into leaders like them. When a follower fails to pay attention to the words of the leader, they exclude themselves from being transformed through the power of these words. They close the channels of influence identified above and the leader has no way of truly bringing about the desired change in their lives.

The 'wise' follower opens up

We must not fail to note that hearing or listening to the words of the leader is only half of the story for the follower. A wise follower will not just hear but also respond as expected to what she has heard. The effect of the words is experienced in 'doing.'

'Doing' simply means responding appropriately to what the follower has heard. It is 'actioning' the understanding gained from what the leader has said. When the follower understands principles taught by the leader, she must put them into practice to make the most of them. When wrongdoing is identified from the leader's words, the follower needs to take steps to change. Where corrections are demanded in the follower's approach to work or behaviour, a change should be made to show that a benefit has been received from the leader's words. When instructions are given by the leader, they should be carried out by the follower.

A thoughtful and committed follower will add action to the attention that she gives to the leader's words. A follower will only live in a world of deceit when she continues to ignore the leader's words. While her colleagues are being transformed by the leader's words, she will show no signs of changing.

We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. - Hebrews 4:2 MSG

It is important to note that the words of the leader provide the impetus for the follower to purposefully embrace the responsibility to hear, and then to act, on what was heard. Actually, the words of the leader help to build conviction in the heart of the follower and convinces the follower that she possesses the ability to undertake the action required to make the most of what was heard.

Two situations when the responsibility to hear is critical

• When principles are taught

The most profound way by which Jesus, the Master leader, used words was through parables. We understand that without the use of parables, He did not teach. It was typically at the end of a parable that He charged the followers to 'hear' what He said.

Parables are stories used to teach core principles of life. They make it easy for the hearer to relate to because they use contemporary experiences and situations. Parables aren't mere stories. When a principle is left out of the story, it no longer qualifies as a parable.

The point here is that the leader should follow the same example of Jesus, ensuring that the charge is given to the followers to 'hear' whenever a principle is taught. If this is not done, it may very well amount to self-sabotage. By not adding this charge, the leader will fail to underscore the importance of the principle being taught. The leader will equally fail to call the follower to take responsibility to embrace and act upon them.

• When appraisals are done

We find that the call to hear what the leader says also featured repeatedly after Jesus' appraisal of the performance of seven different categories of churches in Revelation 2-3. At the end of His appraisal of the performance of each Church, He closed with this statement as quoted below.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’ - Revelation 3:6 NKJV

It was a call to each Church to take vital note of all that He had said about their particular situation. We can look at each Church as a type of follower. The follower's appraisal ended with a call to take responsibility - the responsibility to hear everything that was said about her current status.

It is easy to see from this also that leaders must charge every follower to hear all that is said at the close of every appraisal session.

This is particularly important when we note that the intention of the leader is to ensure that every follower turns out right - that is, as a leader also. Going by all that we said about the channels through which the words of the leader works, making such a charge represents the impetus that the follower needs to pay attention to the relevant principles, note identified wrongdoings, effect the recommended corrections, and get back on the right path to becoming a true leader.

If a leader is to be effective in her quest to mobilize and encourage the follower to embrace the responsibility to hear, she must make the 'charge' whenever a principle is taught and also after every appraisal exercise.

Time to take responsibility

Dear leader, it's time to take responsibility for charging your followers to hear what you are saying. Make sure that at the very least you do that when you teach a vital principle and after you conduct a performance appraisal.

Dear follower, it's time to take responsibility to hear and act on the leader's words. It's one that cannot be carried on your behalf. Becoming a leader is fundamentally dependent on how much you hear what the leader says.

Rise and take responsibility. You will transform and grow positively, to your own surprise!

Olatunji Sobodu

+234 809 891 1826 | [email protected]