{"id":716648,"date":"2020-07-21T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=716648"},"modified":"2020-07-21T21:48:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T01:48:59","slug":"listening-when-you-cant-possibly-hear-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/listening-when-you-cant-possibly-hear-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening When You Can\u2019t Possibly Hear Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a leader, you should want to be at the ground level. All leaders should listen carefully, with the posture of learning. But you can\u2019t possibly be with everyone all the time. If you lead a church of more than 75 people (the median church size), then it\u2019s tough to listen to everyone. Even if you tried, decisions that should take weeks could end up taking years. You would become a poor leader because of an inability to steward time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some leaders use listening as an excuse not to make a decision. They hide their lack of vision, lack of discernment, or lack of courage to make a decision behind the guise of listening to people. But that&#8217;s not most leaders. Most leaders should listen more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How can you listen when you can\u2019t possibly hear everyone?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Use discernment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Not everyone wants to be heard on every issue. At any given point, only a portion of people will have <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strong<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> opinions. Some won\u2019t have an opinion. Others may not have the expertise or experience to weigh in on a particular topic. It\u2019s not necessary to get everyone\u2019s take all the time. The best listening leaders know how to steward time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Be accessible. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t be available to everyone, but you can be accessible. Constant availability is a trap. Available church leaders are in one spot, on demand and at the command of others\u2019 schedules. Accessibility means you\u2019re reachable and approachable. Accessible church leaders have an intentional strategy to be among as many people as possible, but on their own schedules.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Take time.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If you need an extra month to track the pulse of the congregation, take it. Dragging out a decision for a year is indecisive leadership. Taking an extra week or month may mean the difference of respecting the voice of the congregation or not.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Utilize others<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Use staff, elders, deacons, or other key leaders to be the\u2014constant\u2014eyes and ears. You can\u2019t be everywhere, but you can have ears listening in many places for you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Don\u2019t hide.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Leadership is a gift from followers. Don\u2019t selfishly hoard it by hiding. Hold town hall gatherings. Attend committee meetings. Visit Bible study classes. Hang out. Simply be among the people and listen. Perhaps people will talk about how you listen.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Follow up<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Lastly, one of the best ways to listen is to follow up personally with detractors. Winning them over can go a long way for future work, and it also makes a statement to the congregation that you\u2019re willing to hear all sides.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t possibly listen to everyone. But you can make sure everyone has a voice.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All leaders should listen carefully, with the posture of learning. But you can\u2019t possibly be with everyone all the time. If you lead a church of more than 75 people (the median church size), then it\u2019s tough to listen to everyone. Even if you tried, decisions that should take weeks could end up taking years. You would become a poor leader because of an inability to steward time. How can you listen when you can\u2019t possibly hear everyone?","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":716651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","category-lead"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Listening When You Can\u2019t Possibly Hear Everyone | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All leaders should listen carefully, with the posture of learning. 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