With all that is going on in the political arena these days, it seems that Town Hall meetings have become a firestorm where people can vent their discontent with what is or is not happening in Washington. Sure seems like there is a lot of screaming and yelling as if the person on stage is deaf. Who knows...maybe they are?

It's similar to situations when people don't think they are being heard or understood so they yell louder.  Like my wife does when someone doesn't speak English and she's trying to talk with them, she begins to speak louder as if that is going to solve the problem.

As I've listened to parts of a couple of these town hall meetings, it dawned on me the format is wrong. The whole format needs to be changed if there is ever going to be any true communication.  Allow me to explain.

What if the concept of a town meeting was turned around?  The politicians would ask the questions and get answers from the audience. Now that would be original wouldn't it? I mean if someone who represented my best interest asked me what I thought instead of telling me what I thought, I might be more inclined to not only listen to him/her but my respect for his/her role would also increase.  I may not agree with every move made, but at least he/she had enough respect for me to listen. Sounds like a great plan for some who claim to be leading.

In his book Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Leaders Ask the Right Questions, Gary Cohen makes this comment:

If you want to grow your people, you need them to be the ones who come up with the answers. And the only way to make that happen is by asking them the questions and not knowing the answers. A lot of the leadership processes look at trust as going upwards.[But] you have to really learn to trust the people under you. There are multiple answers to every question; there isn't just one way.

What a novel idea!  To ask questions and listen? Hmmm...

Wouldn't that be interesting if every once in awhile someone who is leading decides to take the stage and ask questions seeking ideas from those they lead? Amazing. So amazing that in 1956, Earl Nightengale wrote a classic essay entitled The Strangest Secret. Want to know what the strangest secret was?

Listening. Plain and simple. Try listening to those you lead, live with or hang out with and see if anything strange happens. Bet it does.

A true fact: Those men and women I work with who are the best leaders know the secret.

rb