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Can you demonstrate effective listening? This question falls within a cluster of behaviours that we call respect and empathy. This is important, because although listening is a skill that you can improve with effort and attention, it demonstrates that it’s part of a broader competency about your ability to genuinely connect with others.

How can you become more effective in your verbal communication? By listening actively and questioning effectively. If you don’t question effectively during verbal communication, then it’s unlikely you’ll understand what the speaker is talking about and you certainly won’t be capable of offering help.

Some managers are more likely than others to develop the climate of trust with employees which is needed for them to develop. These managers consider their people to be inherently ambitious, self-motivated and able to exercise self-control. They are also thought to enjoy their mental and physical work. Given the proper conditions, employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-direction in accomplishing assigned goals or targets. This approach assumes that most people will want to do well at work and job satisfaction is a strong motivator.

Analysis of corporate leaders’ 360-degree feedback suggest that as many as one in four has a listening deficit. The effects can be devastating for a company. But, despite today’s fast-paced business environment, even time-starved leaders can master the art of disciplined listening. Conventional advice for better listening is to be emotionally intelligent and available; however, truly good listening requires far more than that.

Leadership skills can be learned, though along the way you may have to rethink your conception of what a great leader actually does, and overcome discomfort and anxiety in order to raise your game. One of the most uncomfortable facts is that great leadership is not about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions.

Here are six dimensions of automatic listening:

Where is your organisation ‘located’? I don’t mean its geographical location, its files or its products and services. I’m asking where your organisation is ‘located’ in your mind and the minds of your colleagues, customers, competitors and suppliers. All organisations are ‘located’ in conversation – in how people think about and talk about them – and, more specifically, in an aspect of conversation called ‘listening’.