A good leader listens to volunteers and staff with empathy. How do you do that? You ask good questions and respond appropriately. Learning to ask the right questions takes practice and is accomplished by trial and error. Ask the question; evaluate the response.
For example, “What’s wrong with you?” is, on a scale of 0-10, a flat 0! It’s a bad question no matter how you phrase it. Why not try something like, “You seem troubled. Would you like to talk?” Communication as a leader is all about listening. Empathic listening takes time, but not as much time as it takes to correct the misunderstandings you’ll face if you don’t. Volunteers and staff who are not encouraged to express themselves clearly usually repress their problems which eventually manifest as poor performance.
One of the fruits of the Spirit that you already possess is kindness; another is gentleness...wonderfully important traits for a manger!
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