{"id":5941,"date":"2017-09-14T21:09:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T02:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=5941"},"modified":"2017-09-14T21:09:48","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T02:09:48","slug":"5-times-leaders-just-need-to-stop-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/14\/5-times-leaders-just-need-to-stop-talking\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Times Leaders Just Need to Stop Talking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaders need to talk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They must cast vision. They must issue challenges. They must extend encouragement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But just as importantly, effective leaders also grasp another fundamental truth:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes leaders need to just stop talking.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These are times when the most effective communication strategy is not say a thing.<\/p>\n

1. When it\u2019s time to listen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When the vision casting is over, when the cheer-leading is done, the most important role of the leader is to just listen. \u201cWhat is the team saying?\u201d \u201cWhat are they thinking about?\u201d \u201cWhat do they think is important?\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders must be master listeners. And for that to happen, the talking needs to end.<\/p>\n

2. When it\u2019s time to think<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In many leadership circles, thinking has become an almost lost art. Of all the leadership disciplines, the simple act of thinking may be the most under-rated. It\u2019s in thinking that leaders develop ideas, process complex information, and formulate important perspectives.<\/p>\n

But if they keep talking, that can\u2019t start thinking.<\/p>\n

3. When it\u2019s time to observe<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Leaders must be observers of talent. They must be observers of performance. They must be observers of teamwork.<\/p>\n

But the act of careful observation happens best when the leader stops talking.<\/p>\n

4. When it\u2019s time to decide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ever been in a meeting when everyone seemed to know it was time to make a decision\u2026but the leader just kept talking and talking and talking?<\/p>\n

A conversation that just keeps dieseling around in circles will drive any high-performance team crazy.<\/p>\n

Leaders need to know when it\u2019s time to stop talking and to start leading.<\/p>\n

5. When it\u2019s time to act<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Several years ago, a backup quarterback in the National Football League was thrust into the game with two minutes to play. The starting QB was injured, and with time winding down the young backup needed to generate a game-winning drive.<\/p>\n

Arriving in the huddle this inexperienced quarterback attempted to inspire his veteran teammates by going on at length about the great victory that was within their grasp. After babbling on for several minutes, one of the linemen reached over, grabbed the quarterback\u2019s arm and growled, \u201cJust call the play!\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders need to know when it\u2019s time to stop inspiring, and to start executing.<\/p>\n

Being an effective leader means being an effective communicator.<\/p>\n

And while that certainly means knowing when to speak up, be sure you’re also savvy enough to know when to pipe down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leaders need to talk. They must cast vision. They must issue challenges. They must extend encouragement. But just as importantly, effective leaders also grasp another fundamental truth: Sometimes leaders need to just stop talking. These are times when the most effective communication strategy is not say a thing. 1. When it\u2019s time to listen When…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[738,478,577,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-focus","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5944,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions\/5944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}