Systematize Listening

We’ve been talking about The Great Resignation in our last two Leading Thoughts. Tens of millions are resigning their jobs and pouring into the American labor market. Why? They’ve been working remotely during the pandemic and this has given them time to contemplate their jobs and what they really want from their work lives. Now, they are making a change.

The result? Companies are in upheaval. Bosses are in panic. Whole industries are being upended. All of them are asking what this great mass of resigning humanity really want.

This brings us to the core of the matter, to the heart of one of the great arts of leadership. You see, leaders are eager to do now what they should have been doing at a whole lot of junctures before now: listen.

I think we will find that most of those who have resigned by the millions are doing so because they did not believe they would be heard had they voiced their needs. They had no hope that things would change. And this is no longer acceptable. So they quit.

They weren’t heard. I’m not surprised. You would not believe the number of times in my work that I’ve said to a leader, “Did anybody talk to Jane to find out why she blew up?” Or, “Did anyone track down Joe to learn why he never came back?” Or, did anyone meet with that client to ask why they went with another company?”

In other words, did anyone listen? The answer is usually “No.”

Now, what I’m talking about here is not so much the personal skill of listening—though that helps—but rather the art of building listening into your company and its procedures.

Let me shoot straight here.

• No one should ever quit your company without someone conducting an exit interview in which the person leaving is urged to speak plainly.
• No one should ever be promoted in your company without someone asking them if there is anything they have to say that would help the person taking their previous job or that would make their previous department better.
• No mess, clog, or accident should ever occur without those involved and nearby being asked how, in their opinion, it might have been avoided.
• Every person in your firm should be asked every six months—yes, every six months—if there is anything that can be done to help them be more effective and happier in their work.
• Every new person in a company should be asked soon after they arrive what they see that could help make the company better. We should ask this early in their experience before they get acclimated to the company culture and stop seeing needs for change so clearly.

Here’s the bottom line: Systematize listening. Personalize listening. Liberate listening. What do I mean by this last phrase? Make listening cost-free by making the speaking of truth penalty-free. When you remove the constraints and costs of someone speaking truth, you get to hear what you need to hear. Liberate listening by making the speaking of truth penalty-free.

My guess is that many of the people now resigning their jobs would have stayed had someone heard them and made changes accordingly. How are you doing this? How are you building this into your systems? How are you making listening part of the culture of your firm?

You are a good leader. Become schooled at this art of listening and watch what you lead soar even higher.