Why Leaders Fail: The Listening Mistake That Starts With You

Описание: Seeding the Lead is a leadership development and coaching company based in Edmonton, Alberta, founded by Adam Melnyk, leadership coach and mentor. Adam works with managers, emerging leaders, and executives who want to lead with confidence, clarity, and credibility.

Seeding the Lead focuses on practical leadership skills that strengthen trust, improve team engagement, and help leaders navigate difficult conversations, performance challenges, and organizational pressure with integrity.

Learn more at https://seedingthelead.com/

In Today's Video...
Adam Melnyk explains why many leaders fail and why the root cause often starts with how they listen.

Adam shares a real example from his coaching practice involving a newly promoted manager whose team engagement score came back at just 20 percent. The result left her fearful, embarrassed, and worried about her future in the company, especially since her team had consistently told her she was an amazing manager.

The disconnect came down to listening at the wrong level.

Adam breaks down the three levels of listening and how they directly impact leadership success.

Level One Listening is focused on the self. It is all about personal concerns, fear, reputation, and survival. This was the level the manager was operating from, making the situation about her rather than her team.

Level Two Listening shifts the focus to the other person. When the manager began asking deeper questions, she discovered her team was not upset with her at all. They were frustrated with senior leadership, overwhelmed by workload, underappreciated, and burnt out. The low engagement score was their way of sending a message upward that conditions were not acceptable.

Level Three Listening looks at what is not being said. Adam explains that the fact that 80 percent of the team completed the engagement survey actually showed they still cared and wanted the organization to improve. Even silence carries meaning when leaders know how to listen for it.

The manager realized her failure was not about competence but about awareness. Her team needed her to acknowledge reality, stop making promises she knew would not be kept, and begin advocating honestly for better conditions. Adam emphasizes that teams quickly recognize when a leader is avoiding the truth or offering false reassurance.

The core lesson is clear. Leaders who do not listen at a higher level are setting themselves up to fail. Effective leadership requires listening beyond words, understanding underlying meaning, and advocating for people even when it is uncomfortable.

Adam closes by reminding leaders that trust is built through honesty, awareness, and the courage to listen deeply.

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