Because leaders are busy, they often get distracted and fail to listen carefully to those around them. That distraction and lack of attention can have serious consequences.
Case in point. A client of mine recently resigned because of major dysfunction in a program he led. Those above him chose to bring unqualified individuals into the program, making my client's leadership impossible. He warned his two superiors that things were getting messy, but they ignored him. He resigned, and four weeks later, the people he warned his superiors about have nearly destroyed the program. One is gone, and the program may not survive.
My client will be fine. He has moved on. The program is in trouble and will likely be shut down. The sad thing is that it was avoidable. If people had listened. But they were too busy to listen.
Intelligence as to what is actually happening in an organization is a precious thing. Leaders can make strategic decisions, but if they ignore what is happening inside the organization because they're distracted, busy, or too arrogant to listen to good people, their leadership suffers. And so does their organization and the impact it is trying to make.
When you are busy, sometimes the last thing you want is another conversation. But that conversation could be the key to a new idea, a better way, or, as in this case, a threat to the organization. The discipline of stopping and listening, engaging, and dialoguing is one of the key practices of good leadership.
When leaders are too busy to listen, people eventually stop trying to tell them important things. And if it is important, there is always a cost.
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