Feedback – I received some interesting comments on the post on self-reflection. Exactly how do leaders get feedback?

Well, the standard answers range from setting up hotlines to having lunches/breakfasts with employees to employee satisfaction/engagement surveys. To me though, these are organizational in nature. I am more interested in exactly what highly effective leaders do as individuals to get good feedback. My feeling is that the real key is how those leaders listen. Here are some thoughts that I borrow from my book Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies (Health Administration Press, 2006) –

"Listening like you mean it means you maintain a calm, easy-to-approach demeanor; are patient, open minded, and willing to hear people out; understand others and pick up the meaning of their messages; are warm, gracious, and inviting; build strong rapport; see through the words that others express to the real meaning (i.e., cut to the heart of the issue); maintain formal and informal channels of communication." (Chapter Six)