effective listening and the leader blc essay

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The Role of Leadership and Effective Listening in the Efficiency of a Team

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Army Effective Listening: Empowering Leadership

This essay will discuss the importance of effective listening in military leadership. It will explore how active listening skills can enhance command efficacy, improve team dynamics, and foster a respectful environment. The piece will provide insights into the application of listening skills in the Army. Additionally, PapersOwl presents more free essays samples linked to Cognition.

How it works

• 1.1 Communication Mastery: The Power of Effective Listening
• 1.2 Crafting Marketable Resumes: Elevating Professional Appeal
• 1.3 Embarking on Leadership Journeys: Public Speaking and Team Dynamics
• 2.0.1 References:

Mastering Effective Listening: A Vital Communication Skill

Over a few weeks of the Basic Leader Course (BLC), I learned many useful skills that can help me become a better leader. The purpose of this essay is to inform future soldiers of the process of becoming a great leader. As a beginner in the course, learning about some of the requirements to pass seemed difficult, but I overcame them and became a more confident leader by the end of the course.

Communication Mastery: The Power of Effective Listening

One of the best lessons I learned was how to listen effectively.

In the Army, communication is an especially important concept. Without proper communication to get your message across, missions will most likely fail. However, to communicate effectively, we must first learn to be an effective listener. Proper listening means to fully understanding the speaker verbally and nonverbally. It is important to use effective listening skills. Once you become an effective listener, you will be able to communicate information without misguiding others.

Crafting Marketable Resumes: Elevating Professional Appeal

Another lesson that I enjoyed was learning how to write a marketable resume. I think writing a resume effectively is an essential skill that everyone should know. Knowing how to successfully write a resume not only helps you find a job but also makes you more marketable in comparison to other job applicants. So, knowing how to write a resume with proper keywords and format is important.

Embarking on Leadership Journeys: Public Speaking and Team Dynamics

In addition, I learned the qualities of being a great public speaker and learning how to conduct individual training. Public speaking usually makes me nervous, but once I am familiar with the information I am about to brief, it is easier. Rehearsing the information made it easier for me to stray away from the podium and able to walk around the class. It also taught me about time management and being able to share information in the allotted time. Prior to BLC, I would not have considered myself a great public speaker.

The most memorable part of the entire course was being in a leadership position. I had the opportunity to lead a squad through physical readiness training, drills, and ceremonies and conduct individual training classes. Leading the physical activities showed how simple it seems from the student’s point of view, but teaching a class is a challenging task.

One thing I realized through the course is as individuals, we all have strengths and weaknesses. We all came from various places of the world, not knowing each other, but were able to work as a team. We were able to work together and correct each other when needed respectfully. In areas where others fell short, we took time to rehearse or help with physical activities and written assignments. Working as a team, we accomplished more and built trust in each other.

Conclusion: A Transformational Journey

In conclusion, the Basic Leader Course was a success. There is ample information that soldiers can learn to apply to both military and civilian life. You would not know how capable you are of succeeding until you are challenged to show your worth. All the things I told myself I would not be able to carry out, I achieved on my own. I gained knowledge and skills that I can report to my unit to become a great leader. I can guide my squad and unit on how to become better, effective leaders. I can guide them on how to do things correctly by always referring to the Army regulations.   

References:

• U.S. Army. (n.d.). Basic Leader Course (BLC). Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/blc/
• Krauss, S. E. (2005). Research paradigms and meaning making: A primer. The Qualitative Report, 10(4), 758-770.
• Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2009). An educational psychology success story: Social interdependence theory and cooperative learning. Educational Researcher, 38(5), 365-379.
• Adler, R. B., & Elmhorst, J. M. (2015). Communicating at work: Principles and practices for business and the professions. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
• Ellis, A., & Miller, W. R. (2002). Motivational interviewing in the treatment of psychological problems. Guilford Press.
• Lambert, M. J., & Barley, D. E. (2002). Research summary on the therapeutic relationship and psychotherapy outcome. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 38(4), 357-361.
• O’Hair, D., Wiemann, M., & Fritz, J. (2015). Real communication: An introduction. Macmillan Higher Education.
• Lucas, S. E. (2012). The art of public speaking. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Zigarmi, D., Blanchard, K. H., & O’Connor, M. (2018). Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing effectiveness through situational leadership II. William Morrow.
• Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership. Psychology Press.

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Comprehensive industrial hygiene, related articles, a holistic approach to occupational safety and health, how increasing employee engagement improves your environmental health and safety efforts, leadership development (infographic), using effective listening to improve leadership in environmental health and safety.

by Erica Hersh

Every day, environmental health and safety professionals make a myriad of decisions using their technical skills, which have far-reaching impacts for both organizations and the public at large. But while those technical skills are crucial, making the right decisions goes beyond this knowledge. Determining the best way to meet the needs of your colleagues and employers, as well as enlisting them to help you meet your goals, takes effective listening.

What is Effective Listening?

Effective listening, a more active form of listening, is a process that goes beyond simply hearing. While you hear with your ears, you listen with your entire body, including your ears, eyes, heart and brain.

“The overarching principle of effective listening is to seek first to understand, then to be understood,” says Rick Fulwiler, PhD, CIH, CSHM, President of Transformational Leadership Associates, a program director at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the former Director of Health and Safety Worldwide at Procter and Gamble. “It requires much more energy than just passive listening, but you will not be as successful without effective listening skills.”

Effective listening, according to Fulwiler, is about words, dance, and music – the other person’s words, tonality, and body language. This is what listening with your entire body is about. It means going beyond someone’s words by paying attention to body language how the words are spoken (music) and putting this into the context of what you know about this individual.

Being able to listen effectively is a skill that must be learned and practiced. This is particularly true in fields such as environmental health and safety, where technical skills are often emphasized over soft skills, such as communication.

How to Listen Effectively

Effective listening is not something that comes naturally to many people. Being able to listen effectively – and then use these skills for influential leadership – is a skill that must be learned and practiced. This is particularly true in fields such as environmental health and safety, where technical skills are often emphasized over soft skills, such as communication.

However, there are many barriers to effective listening, particularly in our modern world. According to Fulwiler, some of the most common are:

• Prejudging the person you need to listen to : People often judge others on qualities such as their appearance, background, or language barriers. However, these judgments can get in the way of truly listening to the message the person is trying to deliver.
• Formulating a response or rebuttal before someone is finished with their message : If you are thinking about how you will respond to someone before they’ve completed their thought, you’re not listening to their complete message. Fulwiler notes that refraining from doing this requires a lot of discipline, because “most of us are active problem solvers.”
• Listening just for facts : Communication is primarily conveyed by words, tone, and body language – but research has shown only seven percent of a message is expressed by words. This makes it even more crucial to embrace effective listening. If you do not pay attention to the emotions behind the facts, as well as expression through body language, you might miss what is driving the message.
• Misunderstanding cultural cues : As our lives become increasingly global, it may be hard to understand the culture of the person you are talking to, or at least understand how it may be different. Without this awareness, it can be difficult to determine the nuances and motivations of what someone is saying.
• Multitasking : With advances in technology, there are more opportunities to multitask than ever. However, if you are looking at your phone while someone else is talking, you cannot listen effectively.

Building positive relations is an important part of leadership, and listening is a critical part of building good relationships.

Once you recognize these barriers and how they might impact your listening skills, you can work on improving your effective listening skills. There many ways to do this, including:

• Reminding yourself that there is a difference between hearing and listening. You might hear what someone else is saying, but ask yourself if you’re truly listening.
• Asking others if you are a good listener. If they say that you are not, ask them what they feel keeps you from being one and concentrate on those weak points.
• When you’re in a situation where you need to truly listen, reminding yourself to seek to understand first and then be understood.
• Focusing on the words, tonality, and body language of the other person. Try to determine the interest and passion behind the words, instead of just listening to the words themselves.
• Keep learning. There are trainings and readings you can do to learn more about how to listen effectively.

By using all these components to practice effective listening, you can develop and strengthen your skills to improve your communication and leadership.

Effective Listening for Effective Leadership

Once you start implementing effective listening, you can put those skills into practice to improve your leadership skills. Effective listening, according to Fulwiler, is a critical component of being a transformational leader , in which you focus on not just the task, but also the person doing the work. This type of leadership is more likely to inspire excellence and dedication from your employees than if you only care about their output.

Building positive relations is an important part of leadership, and listening is a critical part of building good relationships. Actively listening to others lets them know that you are interested in their needs, as well as what they’re trying to say. When people feel that you care about them, it will make them more likely to follow your leadership, says Fulwiler.

Effective listening will help you “sell” your technical skills by allowing you to explain and utilize those skills in a way others understand.

Effective listening is also crucial to selling. You might not think that you are in sales – most people don’t – but anytime you try to influence someone, that’s selling. For example, you, as an environmental and health safety professional, might try to convince management that you need a particular – dust control system to eliminate exposure to a hazardous chemical. – If you are successful in convincing them, you then need to sell the shop floor workers on wearing personal protective equipment while maintaining the system. You might see these as just normal parts of your job, but you are selling solutions.

“We’re constantly in a customer-supplier relationship, even if we don’t realize it,” says Fulwiler. “If I’m not a good listener, I won’t really understand what my customer wants.”

By listening effectively to your customer – anyone you are trying to sell to – you can learn to speak their language. You’ll learn what’s important to them and how to see their world, which helps you become both a better salesperson and – leader.

While technical skills can get you in the door, you won’t be able to use them as successfully without listening skills. Effective listening will help you “sell” your technical skills by allowing you to explain and utilize those skills in a way others understand. In addition, when you listen to others, they are more likely to listen to and understand your intentions.

Effective Listening for Better Communication

Listening effectively is the foundation of effective communication. The best way to make sure others understand what you are trying to say is to truly understand who your audience is and what their needs are. This will allow you to tailor your message so that others are more receptive to it.

Effective listening also promotes empathy, which is not just about understanding others, but being actively sensitive to their needs. Focusing on this, even when speaking to people who may be below you in your organization, will allow you to build better relationships and encourage them to help you meet your needs now or in the future.

“The leading cause of miscommunication is communication,” says Fulwiler. “There is going to be miscommunication, but you can minimize it by ensuring you understand what someone else is really trying to say.”

Effective listening, therefore, can be a powerful tool in the environmental health and safety field that ensures understanding your colleagues, minimizing miscommunication, and improving your leadership capabilities.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers Management and Leadership Skills for Environmental Health and Safety Professionals , an  program designed to Develop EHS management and leadership skills for team guidance, decision-making, stakeholder engagement, and driving change.

The Field Grade Leader

Organizational leadership in the us army, the art of listening, a guest post by nate player.

Successful officers are good listeners. They use effective listening skills to gain perspective from their subordinates and listen to their Soldiers to build a foundation of trust. Officers who do this are more effective in leading their teams than those who do not. This essay will enable better understanding by discussing three topics: listening to gain perspective on assigned missions or tasks; listening to build trust in the team and; some tips for improving listening skills.

June 24, 2015 – Photo by U.S. Army Maj. Randy Stillinger U.S. Army Sgt. Troy Lord, a CH-47 Flight Engineer with the Texas National Guard’s 2-149th General Support Aviation Battalion, guides a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, as Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 133rd Field Artillery, hook up a 105mm Howitzer during an air assault exercise on Fort Hood.

“Keep an open mind and seek advice. Every team has experienced members that are an extremely valuable resource. These team members can provide historical examples of past issues and help guide your decisions. But first, you must be approachable and willing to listen.”

 Listening to gain perspective on assigned missions or tasks

An officer who demonstrates by their actions an attitude of willingness to listen will have a more cohesive team and greater mission accomplishment. Because it is up to the officer to make the final decision at their level, listening does not necessarily mean you must follow all given counsel. However, those who keep an open mind and seek advice will likely succeed in mission planning and execution ahead of their peers.

Effective listeners are humble and teachable. Remember, the rank you hold requires that your orders be followed, but does not necessarily mean your idea is the best one. Before you make any final decisions on a course of action, ask for feedback and consider the counsel offered with an open mind. Officers should not be emotionally attached to their ideas. If a better one comes along it should be embraced enthusiastically.

Listening means getting out of your office and spending time with your team. Today’s officer corps often feel tethered to their computers and email. To combat this, an officer should have time dedicated in their personal battle rhythm to being out and moving around. Try not to be the officer who nobody sees all day. That is a recipe for disaster.

Listening to build trust in the team

Perhaps more importantly, officers who are approachable professionally are by extension showing themselves to be approachable personally. Consequently, they will be much more effective in their role of leading Soldiers. You cannot lead those who do not trust you, and one of the best ways to build trust is by listening to and caring about your team.

Officers should remember that feeling heard is one of the most important desires people have emotionally and that Soldiers are human beings under their uniforms. The officer NCO relationship is in many ways like a marriage. If your NCO counterpart feels like their opinion is sought and valued, they will move mountains for you. By the same token, if they feel as if you are not interested in their experience or opinion, your partnership will quickly fall apart.

Soldiers only bring their problems to leaders who have shown through their actions that they care and are willing to listen. Make it a point to give your Soldiers an opportunity to talk to you. This can be accomplished through formal counseling sessions or by simply taking the opportunity to ask them how they are doing. Follow up questions are also important. Don’t just ask “how was your weekend” and walk away. Find out what they did and with whom. Learn the names of spouses and children. Approaching your Soldiers in this manner will work wonders in the difficult moments when you must ask a little bit more from your team. Those moments come both on the battlefield and in the garrison. If your team knows you listen and knows you care, they will follow you wherever you lead them.

Some tips for improving listening skills

So how does one become an effective listener? For starters, it takes lots of practice. Effective leaders master the art of “listening to understand” as opposed to “listening to respond.” A concerted effort is required to hone this skill. For starters, try to focus on what someone is saying overall before you formulate a response. Let them finish their thought and then take some time to think through your answer. In other words, don’t be afraid of a few moments of silence. Be careful with knee-jerk reactions to what you are hearing. The tradition of “holding questions until the end of a brief” stems from the fact that many questions are answered in due course if we allow others time to fully explain their ideas.

It is also important to use active listening skills. That means communicating back to the person you are speaking with that you understand what they have been saying. For example, if a Soldier comes to you with a problem, after listening to all they have to say, repeat back to them a summary of the problem as you heard them communicate it. This gives them the opportunity to clarify or confirm your understanding. Once you have reached a point of mutual understanding, you can begin to come up with a solution to the problem together.

Not everyone starts out as a good listener. Officers should not expect to be immediately proficient at the techniques and efforts discussed here. More leaders are made than born. Remember that fact and keep moving forward.  As you strive to humble yourself and improve your skills at active listening your team will support you with counsel and follow your orders no matter how difficult the circumstance.

Enjoy the article? This is part of Nate Player’s series on success as an officer in the Army. Read more HERE

Major Nathan Player is currently a student at the Superior School of War in Bogota Colombia. He is assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg following graduation. He has 13 years of combined enlisted and officer service, has commanded at the O3 Level, and served in various joint staff and professional education assignments.

Listening as a Leadership Tool: A Survey of Subordinates' Perception towards Listening Skills of Effective Leaders

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Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Army — Leadership and The Army Profession

Leadership and The Army Profession

• Categories: Army Army Values Leadership

About this sample

Words: 1002 |

Updated: 27 November, 2023

Words: 1002 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Works Cited

• Dixon, P. (2017). Army Leadership: Competent, Confident, and Agile. Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Press.
• Hackworth, D. H., & Sherman, J. D. (2003). About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior. New York, NY: Touchstone.
• Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2019). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
• Murphy, A. (1956). To Hell and Back. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
• U.S. Army. (2021). Army Doctrine Publication 6-22: Army Leadership and the Profession. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• U.S. Army. (2020). Army Regulation 600-100: Army Leadership. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• U.S. Army. (2021). Army Doctrine Reference Publication 6-22: Army Leadership. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• U.S. Army. (2020). Army Field Manual 6-22: Leader Development. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• U.S. Army. (2021). Army Field Manual 7-0: Training the Force. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• Wakin, E. (1996). Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

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