????隨著企業家慢慢成熟變為領袖人物，他們運營公司的方式會出現兩大顯著變化。他們會花更多時間來傾聽，而不是發言。他們不再試圖尋找所有問題的答案，而是開始更多地提問。關鍵時刻，他們將憑借提出正確的問題撥開迷霧，而不再亂下命令。

????這是為什么呢？正如莉斯·懷斯曼在《乘數》（ Multipliers）中所描述的那樣，這種做法可以讓身邊的人變得更聰明。員工們不再坐等首席執行官發號施令，而是開動腦筋自己解決問題。這將提高員工能力，最終使他們更好地實行公司戰略。

????傾聽是說服他人認同自己的最好方法。人質談判專家深諳此道。他們只有一個目標，那就是讓人質劫持者放下武器，但同時又不能上演徒手奪槍的戲碼。他們只能提出切中要害的問題，令罪犯束手就擒。

????我并不說要把員工比作罪犯。員工都是按照自己的動機、自主安排的獨立個體。學會了怎么像CEO一樣去提問，同時并認真傾聽每個員工的答案，這樣就能將工作場所的氛圍變得更愉快，同時取得更好的效果。領導力專家奧布里·丹尼爾斯說，絕大多數員工都停留在完成任務層次上，如果能讓他們在追隨你的過程中充滿激情，他們一定會為之付出更多努力。它甚至可以變成一種競爭優勢。

????如何做到這一點呢？CEO們都可以讀讀馬克·古爾斯頓《傾聽就好》（Just Listen）一書，學學作者解決問題的方法。他是一名臨床精神病專家，根據以前作為人質談判專家和FBI培訓師的經歷提供商業咨詢。

????先從開會入手，員工們通常認為會議浪費生命。開會時，不要一上來就跟下級對日程或發命令。他建議，讓員工設想一下，假如這是一次有史以來最成功的會議，那么等回到工位上，他們會想起這場會議都涵蓋了哪些議題？然后找幾個人問一下他們的意見，不要總挑那些積極發言的人。他指出，通常員工的反饋會集中在以下幾點上：“我們想知道公司眼下頭等大事是什么”，以及“我想知道我該把精力放在什么上頭。萬一跟我想的不一樣，我可不想等公司決定舍棄某項目后整整兩周時間才知道消息。”

????會議進程中，要專注傾聽。身為CEO，聽的時候要注意關注全局，少發表意見。古爾斯頓建議采取“引導話題深入”的策略，顯示你對員工的意見很感興趣。員工講到重點的時候，例如帶“總是”或“絕不”這樣的句子，你就可以說“再講透徹點”、“嗯”或者“真的嗎”，借此引導員工進一步詳細闡述他關注的問題。這時多半就能找到影響團隊進步的問題，無論是壞了的復印機，還是客服電話處理流程出了問題。

????等到談完了會議中最重要的問題，要確認所有人都能領會到你的優先次序。古爾斯頓建議會議結束時，不妨來個小測驗強化一下印象。讓員工在卡片上匿名寫下他們認為會議上談到的最重要、最關鍵的工作，然后把卡片收上來。

????如果團隊關注點出現了偏差，讀這些卡片就可以幫你發現問題。如果你發現有人完全誤解了下一步工作重點，可以這樣說：“我有一個好消息，還有一個壞消息。壞消息是我們思想還沒有完全統一。好消息是我負責解決這個問題。我會把工作做得更好，這樣我們就可以擰成一股繩了。比如說我捫心自問，眼下什么是最重要、最關鍵、最緊迫的工作，我想應該是下面這些事情?！?/p>

????然后一一說明。古爾斯頓說：“如果讓員工去猜，或者不說明白，就有可能讓員工白忙一場。”這樣的后果可能很嚴重。

????能耐心傾聽員工的心聲，同時能把問題提到關鍵點上的CEO收獲一定很大。他們的公司將得以成長。他們有信心員工能圓滿完成工作，而不是像大多數企業家一樣，一年到頭、白天黑夜，任何事情都親力親為。所以，你愿意做哪種類型的CEO呢？（財富中文網）

????譯者：侯婕

????When business owners mature as leaders, they make two crucial changes in the way they run their companies: They spend considerably more time listening than talking. And instead of trying to have all the answers, they start asking more questions. They'll cut through the fog at critical moments with exactly the right inquiry, instead of barking commands.

????Why? It makes everyone around them smarter, as Liz Wiseman explains in her book Multipliers. Instead of waiting for the CEO to issue orders, employees start thinking for themselves. That amplifies their strengths and ultimately makes them better at executing the company's strategy.

????Listening is the most powerful method to persuade others to join your cause. No one knows this better than hostage negotiators. They have one job -- to get the hostage-taker to put the weapon down -- but they can't just reach over and grab the barrel of the shotgun. All they can do is ask the right questions to make the hostage-taker want to surrender it on his own.

????I don't mean to imply that your employees are criminals. But they are individuals who have their own motivations and agendas. By learning to ask them questions the way a CEO should -- and listen carefully to their answers -- you'll build a happier workplace and achieve better results. Most employees will do what's necessary to get by, but if they are enthusiastically behind you, they'll put in a lot more effort, as leadership expert Aubrey Daniels has explained. That can be your competitive edge.

????So how do you do this? Every CEO can learn from the approach taken by Mark Goulston, author of the book Just Listen. He's a clinical psychiatrist who advises businesses based on what he learned as a former hostage negotiator and trainer for the FBI.

????It starts with your meetings, which employees usually think are a giant time suck. Don't start with reviewing the agenda or issuing directives at your next one. Instead, he suggests, ask your employees to imagine walking back to their desks afterward and think about what the meeting would have covered if it had been the best one you ever had. Go around the room and ask a few people, not just the biggest talkers, for their input. Usually, the feedback you'll get comes down to a couple of things, he says: "We'd like to know what the most urgent priorities are," and "I'd like to know what I should be focusing on -- and if it's different, I don't want to be told two weeks from now that we dropped it."

????Once the meeting is underway, concentrate on listening more -- with a CEO's focus on big-picture goals -- and making fewer comments. Goulston suggests using "conversation deepeners" to show employees you're interested in what they have to say. Simply saying, "say more about that," "hmmm," or "really" after they made a particularly emphatic comment -- such as one where they've used the word "always" or "never" -- will prompt them to elaborate on issues that they're passionate about. This is where you are likely to find out about things that are getting in the way of your team's progress, whether it's a broken copy machine or a process for handling customer service calls that's going awry.

????Once you've covered the most important topics at the meeting, make sure employees are leaving with the same priorities you have. Goulston recommends shaking things up with a pop quiz at the end. Ask employees to write down what they think were the most important and critical takeaways of the meeting on an index card -- anonymously -- and collect them.

????If your team is focused on the wrong priorities, reading the cards will help you figure that out. Let's say some of them have completely misunderstood the next steps you've outlined. You might say, "I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is we're all over the place. The good news is it's my responsibility to fix that. I'm going to do a better job so in the future we can all be on the same page. If I were to ask myself what I thought were the most important, critical, and urgent things, they would be the following."

????Then outline them. "If you leave anything to their imagination, and you're not specific, you run the risk of their working hard doing the wrong thing," says Goulston. That can lead to disaster.

????There's a big reward for CEOs who take the time to listen to their employees and learn how to ask the right questions. They're the ones who end up being able to grow their companies. They can trust their employees to get things done -- instead of working 24/7 to do everything themselves like the vast majority of business owners. Which type of CEO do you want to be?