The Art of Motivational Listening: Creative Ideas for Effective Leaders

What’s a motivational listener?

Executives and lead pastors alike know there are limitations regarding how long anyone will remember anything from a motivational speech or sermon. After six weeks, your retention without follow up is around 1 percent. Yet even in today’s age, corporations continue to put speakers in their budget every year, sometimes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Churches and non-profits do it too; they bring in an itinerant preacher and everyone gets psyched up. Plenty of people are aware that retention is increased dramatically with follow-up coaching. Of course, you have to speak occasionally to motivate people, but the hard part is budgeting time and space for listening.