The Learning Ear – A Leadership Lesson from Jazz
“The ear,” said jazz great Duke Ellington, “is the most essential instrument in the world.”
When I was doing the executive coaching program at Royal Roads University back in 2002, I remember Marj Busse introducing us to her favourite acronym – WAIT – “Why Am I Talking.” Now, for a Presbyterian preacher and former university dean and professor, that was a powerful challenge. It inspired me to start thinking about the skill of listening in a whole new way. What we can learn and provoke by considerate listening is crucial to the central task of leadership – doing your work through other people.
There are two key advantages for leaders in developing a more finely-tuned learning ear.
The first is that we build sustainable collaboration through listening and learning. Listening shows respect. People want their passions and talents heard and appreciated. And you can’t hear what they have to offer while you’re talking. The wisdom of the group is always richer than the wisdom of the individual. The secret is to find ways of letting it surface.
The second advantage is that listening and learning create innovation. So much of our talk these days is discussion and debate, in which closed minds battle to make their limited perspectives dominant. That approach alienates potential allies and keeps our thinking stuck in what we already know. If we are to find new ways out of the challenges we face, we have to listen, to use our learning ear and hear different perspectives and viewpoints that will provoke new ideas and possibilities. This is what William Isaacs calls “dialogue” and it’s essential to being able to improvise and adapt to the constantly changing environment in which we live.
We can take our cue from Duke Ellington. What he did with his ear was astounding. He led the greatest jazz band of the twentieth century. Let’s give him the last word on the proper use of the learning ear in leading.
“I regard my entire orchestra as one large instrument, and I try to play on that instrument to the fullest of its capabilities. My aim is and always has been to mold the music around the man. I’ve found out that it doesn’t matter so much what you have available, but rather what you make of what you have – finding a good ‘fit’ for every instrumentalist in the group. I study each man in the orchestra and find out what he can do best, and what he would like to do.”
That takes a special kind of ear, a learning ear. And we’ve all got two.
By: Brian Fraser