One outstanding quality of a great leader is excellent communication skills. But what exactly makes a great communicator? 

Using an excited tone of voice? Being able to use your body language with your words? Adding just the right amount of humor? Having a strong voice? Maintaining eye contact? Brilliant stories? An abundant vocabulary?
 
Most definitely, all these skills are very valuable and should be perfected daily. But none of these amount up to the single most important part of communication in a leadership situation:
 
Listening!
 
Why does leadership mean listening?
 
A leader must listen closely to the world around him or her to be able to react to it.
 
Business leaders all over the nation are asked about communication and one theme comes up repeatedly – great leaders are great listeners. Extraordinary men and women apply feedback, listen to opinions, and act on that intelligence.
 
Genuine listening generates respect, understanding and trust between talker and listener. Great listening skills are an important resource, educate, build business, innovate and motivate. In particular, employees like, and respond better to, supervisors who they think are listening to them.
 
Pat Croce, a nationally renowned motivational speaker explains in his book Lead or Get off the Pot, the Seven Secrets of a Self-Made Leader pg. 120-121, “The best listeners are those who learn to listen with a leader’s eye. This supernatural-sounding skill doesn’t call for magic spells, but when it’s practiced and consistently applied, it does lead to magical results.”
 
Listening skills have always been important in the workplace. View the possibilities. Observe the body language behind the words and identify the emotions. Listen with an eye toward making a connection. And keep all lines of communication open to all things. If you keep the big picture in mind, you will listen with a leader’s eye.