People who can balance speaking and listening are usually successful in handling relationships and are rarely misunderstood. Each word has a meaning and a value hence they should be used very prudently.  Useless words only create noise. When we use them foolishly, or throwing them aimlessly just to grab someone’s attention we only create a commotion and it really does not help in making a healthy communication. Talk less, listen more is a golden rule for peaceful life.

It is said that despite being the 16th President of the U.S. who was considered as a towering figure Abraham Lincoln believed in using condensed communication, though he was a great communicator and he never offended people. The founder of Virgin Air, Richard Branson believes in talking less and listening more.

Listen to what somebody is saying; listening is a life skill which helps you avoid misunderstanding. Listening is important because it prevents misinterpretation in communication, when you listen carefully it clarifies the message more precisely and can help reduce the amount of frustration for the speaker. Listening is a skill that is required for all types of communication. When somebody is talking, avoid interrupting verbally. Please remember that while we listen we keep giving non-verbal feedback through our facial expressions, our nodding, our humming to the person we are listening to. When pauses occur in the natural flow of the conversation, we get impatient and we feel that it’s our responsibility to instantly fill the void, which is not correct.

To be honest, we don’t really listen to someone when they are talking, instead we are only thinking about what to say next or what we want to talk. We eagerly wait for the person talking to finish. When someone asks a question, do we answer them to the point? A learned and refined person gives very little about himself to the conversation. Whereas, most people forget that words have power, they have energy because they vibrate. So, speaking too much enlarges the power within and it affects our ability to focus. The more we speak the more our mind wanders as a result it becomes increasingly difficult to control our thoughts.

If we look around carefully, we will notice that people who speak less accomplish more; trust me, this is a universal truth. I have seen that successful people are good listeners and judicious speakers. We need to take control of ourselves when the urge to speak comes up. We must stop it, this can be done only with practice. God has given us two ears and one mouth, and we must distribute our energies to use them accordingly; we must listen twice as much as we speak. It is better to keep practicing and keep the ears and mouth ratio in mind.

The people who are the most intelligent are actually the ones you would least expect to be smart. They patiently wait for other people to say what they need to say. They choose to open their ears rather than their mouths. The quietest people are the smartest people. They talk less and have smart brains. These are the introverts. They’re the creative types, the geniuses who get stimulation from learning rather than mingling. They are a bit difficult to get noticed: they prefer to fly under the radar, silently producing the best work and the most incredible art.

Every time you have a conversation with someone, talk for three to five minutes, then allow the other person an equal amount of time to express his/her thoughts. Listen patiently, avoid your strong and inevitable desire to interrupt the person talking.  Rather, develop your skills in asking good questions. Also, avoid the one word answer – the yes, no, uh huh, yeah etc. If you can’t think of anything, consider the possibility that you weren’t listening closely enough and work on improving that skill. Develop the habit of backtracking after you had a conversation with somebody. Recall the kinds of things you just said.  Do you find yourself repeating what you have already said? Could those things you said be phrased another way? Did you overstate your point? Did you hurt somebody unnecessarily? If yes, then it is time you try to find condensed and conciseness in the words you choose. The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent.’

Situational Leadership model is a popular model of leadership which is formed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard; this leadership model is based on the idea that effective direction depends on leader’s ability to be flexible as per the requirement of a situation in the organization.

Situational leadership refers to the styles of leadership in an organization which leaders manage as per demand of a situation. They need to show lot of flexibility while managing challenging and difficult situations. They need to command, demand, inspire, prompt, mentor, guide, coach, sell ideas, take part, act, build, and sometimes even reprimand. Often the leadership style may change as per need of the hour. Following are four styles which are common.

Telling and Directing:

James F. Parker, the Ex-Southwest Airlines CEO is a great example of telling & directing leadership. He has earned reputation for always putting the customer first, no matter what the situation. The September 11, 2001 tragedy led to an unmatched situation of forcing all airlines to shut down for days, which led to stranding passengers, pilots and flight attendants at airports across US. While other airlines sat and waited, Southwest employees took the passengers for bowling or to the movies to pass the time. The customer loyalty earned owing to this quick thinking, resourcefulness, and flexibility to make the most out of a bad situation helped Southwest’s popularity soar leaps and bounds. Parker also announced Southwest would not only retain all their employees but also start a profit sharing payment to employees just three days after 9/11, when other airlines were contemplating a 20 percent cut in staffing. Southwest handled the crisis much better than any other airline.

In telling and directing, the leader of the organization makes the decisions and informs others in the organization of the decision; this style of leadership also refers as micro-management because the leader is very involved himself in the crisis or situation and closely supervises the people who are working. The leader calls the shots by getting closely involved and his subordinates follow him with faith.

Selling and Coaching:  

Effective leadership in change process is particularly important because the leader can make great effect during the organizational change process. The leader’s competencies such as emotional intelligence, integrity, drive, leadership motivation, self confidence, intelligence and knowledge of business are essential for effective leadership for transforming organization. Ratan Tata started his career as a chairman to Tata Group of Companies in 1991. He took charge from J.R.D. Tata. India was going through a period of economic reforms such as liberalization, privatization and globalization of business. The constantly changing business environment needed the business leaders like Ratan Tata first to manage the environmental change. Ratan Tata during the nation’s transitional phase led the Tata Group of Companies for 21 years and established Tata as a world brand. He used the various leadership styles such as transformational, transactional. He also used product orientation as well as people orientation concern – selling and coaching. He led the Tata Group with the qualities such as courage, creativity; risk bearing ability, social sense, sense of employee training and development and ultimately having a quality concern about the product. Leaders when they use the selling and coaching style of leadership get   involved in the day-to-day activities as they are aware of critical inputs. However, input is requested from the employees before the decision is implemented. With this style of situational leadership, employees are still supervised but it is in more of a coaching manner rather than a management manner.

Participating and Supporting:

Virgin Airline’s Richard Branson’s informal style and unconventional attitude has earned him fame. His affinity to the hippie movement, particularly of the sixties, simply reflects his knack for being in tune with the feeling of the times. This is one of Branson’s greatest business attributes. This allows him to project the Virgin brand as a “cool” alternative. Besides, Branson is not motivated by money. Money may be a measure of his success, but for him the excitement is in the challenge. Virgin staffs are often paid a little less than market rates yet they are happy to work for Virgin because they enjoy being in the team. In this regard, I will like to draw your attention to the fact that when organizations struggle today on the employee retention issue for Virgin Airline loyal employees are their core competence. Losing skilled and experienced employees is the biggest loss to companies. Branson leads his organization with self-example; he tells his people to do “the impossible possible”. For Branson, the Virgin experience has been a magical mystery tour. That is the reason people can’t resist joining the Virgin adventure. It is a way of life than a job.

The participating and supporting style of situational leadership passes more responsibility to the employers or followers. While the leader still provides some direction, the decisions ultimately lie with the follower. The leader is there to provide feedback and to increase their confidence and motivation with praise and feedback for the tasks completed.

Delegating style:

Delegating leadership requires appointing managers who are competent and do not need day-to-day supervision. Warren Buffett hires executives who are highly skilled and independent and then trusts them to perform. Within this environment, Buffett’s staff is self-assured and driven to achieve. They not only feel they are in charge; they do have full responsibility. Consequently, supervisors are motivated to reach their goals. Buffet believes in the abilities of his employees, but he does not keep that to himself. He communicates his trust and respect to the people he hires. If someone makes a mistake, Buffett often uses it as a learning experience and does not believe in penalizing the worker. Although he does not interfere with his executives’ functions, Buffett is accessible and willing to advice, if he is sought out. He is open and honest in his interpersonal dealings and is willing to acknowledge his own mistakes. Buffet is approachable, because he projects a mixture of modesty, confidence and appreciation.

Delegating is the situational leadership style where the leader is involved the least amount with the employees. The employees are responsible for choosing the tasks and the directions they will take. Although the leader may still be involved for direction or feedback purposes, it is on a much lower level than with other situational leadership styles. With this style of leadership, the employees know their role and perform it with little supervision required.

Conclusion: The Situational Leadership Model suggests that there is no sure-shot solution or “one size fits all” approach to leadership. Depending on the situation, varying styles of leadership is required.  However, leaders must first identify their most important tasks or priorities. Second, leaders must consider the readiness level of their followers by analyzing the group’s ability and readiness. Depending on the level of these variables, leaders must apply the most appropriate leadership style to fit the given situation. Change is pertinent and each change brings along with it different challenges. Leaders are supposed to grasp the situation and use relevant keys to solve problems.