listening tour agenda

How to Conduct a Listening Tour

What Is a Listening Tour?

A listening tour is an extremely valuable tool for any new CEO (or any leader, for that matter). It involves meeting with a wide variety of people from many levels of your company. It helps you understand “the lay of the land” at your company. More specifically, it helps you:

• Gather information about what’s really happening at your company.
• Collect input on key issues you’ve identified in advance.
• Capture ideas that will move the business forward.
• Communicate key messages about the company vision and strategic future.

While a listening tour provides you with a lot of information about the company, the most important outcome of a listening tour is that it presents an opportunity for employees to get to know and trust you. If you want to be a successful CEO, people must trust you. They must believe that the company is in good hands. They want to know that you’ll be transparent, open, and authentic. They need to know that you are not the kind of person who will let them down.

Why Is It Important?

It is extremely important during a leadership transition that employees get to know you. If they don’t know you, they won’t trust you, follow you, and/or sign up for the agenda you have set.

But there’s more. When a new CEO is appointed (whether internal or external), the rumor mill goes into overdrive about the changes you might make. As one new CEO told me, “I really needed to get out into the organization to combat fake news.” In a vacuum, employees will make up all kinds of stories about who you are and what you might do as the new CEO. Most of these stories have to do with fear of change and tend to have a consistent set of themes:

• fear of reorganization and changes in reporting structures
• fear of job losses
• fear of changes in control or career opportunity

A listening tour provides the opportunity for employees to voice their fears and for you to hear and acknowledge those fears and address the fears that need to be put to rest.

One of the common mistakes a new, internal CEO makes is to assume the organization knows her. This is absolutely not the case. Employees fears about what you might do prevail over any prior knowledge of you in your previous role. You are going to have to remind them of what you stand for and who you are.

There is another issue at play here. The higher your position in the organization, the more employees (especially your “go-to” employees) will tell you what they want you to hear. Your appointment will cause “storming” at the top levels of leadership (per Tuckman’s model [1]  of group dynamics, introducing any new member to a team will initiate a period of forming/storming/norming/performing). Members of the executive team will likely be figuring out (unconsciously) their status/influence/power on your new team. Unfortunately, this means that a new leader is surrounded by people who are more reluctant to provide you with honest, relevant feedback.

If you are inheriting the CEO role from a popular CEO or if you are an outside hire, a listening tour presents you with an opportunity to “re-recruit” employees. On a very practical level, it allows you to build relationships, demonstrate your knowledge, and model a leadership style that listens. All of this builds followership and increases employee engagement.

Before You Start

I have learned that there are several “pre-listening” steps you can take to dramatically improve the impact and quality of the time you will invest in a listening tour.

First , the conventional wisdom is that a new CEO should take the first 90–100 days to listen and not make decisions. I recommend that you ignore this timeframe and guidance. You should plan to do a listening tour during your first 30 days. Also, while you should avoid making public commitments during your listening tour, you should not shy away from making pressing decisions (especially commercial or personnel decisions).

Second , consider conducting some informal web surveys before you go on your tour. Invite all employees to participate. Don’t make the survey long, but do make it democratic (i.e. open to all employees). Your corporate communications office can help you manage this process. You can isolate the survey process to business units and geographic areas to capture more “local” issues/concerns.  Note : You will need the support of a dedicated, experienced corporate communications resource to facilitate this process.

Conducting a survey in advance allows you to dig deeper in a more targeted way during your tour. You will appear to know the company’s issues and understand the organization’s problems. You can use your tour to begin to generate ideas about how to address the most common issues.

Finally , a listening tour is not about talking! Remind yourself that your goal is to listen. Don’t waste time on PowerPoint (if you must, stick to three slides with your most important messages). The biggest challenge with listening tours is that a new CEO is tempted to talk too much—after all, you want to prove that you are a worthy new leader, especially when you already have ideas about how you want to address issues. I promise that you’ll learn much more and have a much more valuable experience if you stay open and curious. It will provide you with a deeper understanding of the people in your organization and the issues they care about.

How to Conduct the Tour

You have some flexibility in how you conduct your listening tour. There are a variety of formats that might work, but there are several obvious steps to take.

• Decide who to include.  This involves thinking about locations, individuals, business units, thought leaders, etc. Sometimes you might want to do a customer listening tour (a topic for another day). This involves making a decision about who are the most important people to include  and  it also presents you with an opportunity to reach some neglected locations or parts of the business. I had a new CEO visit his IT organization in India. They had never had a visit from his predecessor. In the course of his conversations with the IT team, they convinced him that they could move the company to a new IT platform that would allow the company to lead their industry in the area of data-mining. It was time well spent.
• Let the company know your intent for the listening tour.  Explain why you are doing it, how long it will take, and where you plan to visit or not visit. If you have a global business, you might want to plan to live-stream (and record) some events. Few new CEOs have the capacity to travel to all company locations in 30 days. That said, I have had one global CEO who traveled to every location over a year-long time period. The symbolism of that commitment was not lost on employees.
• Determine the questions you want to ask in advance.  You can distribute the questions in advance to individuals or groups. You’ll have questions you want to ask everyone and other questions that are more specific. As recommended above, you can survey audiences in advance of your visit. Sending the questions in advance provides employees with an opportunity to reflect and provide more meaningful feedback. Springing questions on employees can make it feel more like a test than a genuine conversation.

In a 2017  New York Times  article, [2]  Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi Strauss, described his listening tour as focusing on four key questions:

• What are the three things you think we have to change?
• What are the three things that we have to keep?
• What do you most want me to do?
• What are you most afraid I might do?

Of course, you can use a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) format for questions or you might have more company-specific questions. One of the most common areas to address is to determine how well strategy is understood.

You can email questions in advance, use a survey in advance, and you can have index cards available in the room for people to submit questions (just make sure that you have a good question moderator). If you are live-casting, employees can submit their questions to a moderator.

For one-on-one conversations, you’ll have more specific questions you might want to ask. I recommend also sending these questions in advance. In the one-on-one conversations, do not stick with the scripted questions! Embrace inquiry, become curious, and stay in the moment.

• Keep logistics quite simple.  Meetings should be 60–90 minutes. You can do a presentation format. You can do a coffee-talk or fireside-chat format. You can have members of your team onstage with you. One of my clients insisted that his full team be with him on stage when he presented at HQ. He took the time to introduce each team member and speak to their personal virtues and talents. It was quite effective and moving.
• Follow up with a survey.  You’ll find that the feedback is almost always overwhelmingly positive, and you’ll get some suggestions about how to improve the quality of your events. But don’t just stop there—send a follow-up note. Detail what you heard. Express gratitude. Commit to some next steps.

Finally, some practical do’s and don’ts:

• Do not check out during the breaks. That’s the time that the more introverted leaders in the group might want to check in with you.
• Pay attention to the contrarians or more controversial input—they often surface the issues that no one wants to bring to your attention.
• Be keen to identify relationships you might need to build. This is an opportunity for you to identify talent and connect with the next generation of leaders.
• In one-on-one conversations, pay close attention to why people came to work at your company and what keeps them at your company.
• Consider an annual or more targeted listening tour.

A listening tour is a terrific opportunity for the organization to get to know you and for you to get to know the organization. People really do want to know who you are and what you are about—even if they’ve worked with you for a long time. To be successful, you’ll have to be confident, open, transparent, vulnerable, and present—a tall order! Put simply, be authentic.

You can master this challenge by preparing well and being intentional, while, at the same time, avoiding being scripted or too careful. Remind people of your intent: to listen. You can tell stories about yourself and your challenges; use a story formula that is compelling and engaging. Finally, make sure that employees know that they are the everyday heroes—the heartbeat of your company.

When it’s over? Take care of yourself. These listening tours can be exhausting. Carve out time to reflect on what you heard. And ask yourself what you can do to rest or rejuvenate after the tour. As a new CEO, it’s never too early to implement good self-care practices.

[1]  Bruce W. Tuckman, “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups,”  Psychological Bulletin  63, no. 6 (1965): 384–399.

[2]  Adam Bryant, “Chip Bergh on Setting a High Bar and Holding People Accountable,”  The   New York Times , June 9, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/business/chip-bergh-on-setting-a-high-bar-and-holding-people-accountable.html.

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Listening Tours: A Strategic Approach to Leadership

August 2, 2023

Jason Cortel

As a leader seeking to make a lasting impact on your department and organization, you understand the importance of effective leadership. Leading with empathy, openness, and a willingness to understand your team’s and stakeholders’ perspectives is crucial for success. This article will explore a powerful tool that can transform your leadership journey: the “listening tour.”

You can uncover valuable insights by embarking on a journey of active engagement and listening. Listening allows you to bridge the gap between assumptions and reality and pave the way for positive change and growth. So, let us delve into why listening tours are critical to your success as a leader and how they can empower you to become the change-maker your department needs.

Alex’s Story

Alex is a seasoned leader who is known for turning around struggling departments and transforming organizations. Alex was thrilled when they were hired as the new Operations leader for a well-established company. During the interview process, the hiring team presented a detailed set of challenges they were facing and expressed their eagerness for Alex to solve them.

With excitement and confidence, Alex began outlining a comprehensive plan to address the stated challenges. However, as Alex delved deeper into the day-to-day operations, they quickly noticed that the hiring team’s description of the opportunities and obstacles didn’t quite align with reality. The actual situation was far more complex and nuanced than what was presented during the interviews.

Undeterred, Alex continued implementing the initial plan, assuming the hiring team knew the organization inside out. But as time passed, it became evident that the employees resisted the changes being implemented. They felt that the plan did not align with their needs or address the root issues they faced. Morale plummeted, and productivity suffered as a result.

Despite their best intentions, Alex’s efforts were met with skepticism and pushback from the employees. The team’s resistance grew more assertive, further complicating the challenging situation. Alex began to feel isolated and frustrated, realizing that the trust they thought they had earned during the interview process was nowhere to be found.

After 18 months of intense struggle, the situation reached a breaking point, and Alex was ultimately let go by the organization. It was a painful and humbling experience for the once-confident leader.

Conversely, had Alex taken the time to validate the hiring team’s assumptions with a listening tour, the outcome might have been entirely different. A listening tour would have allowed Alex to connect with the employees, understand their concerns, and uncover their genuine challenges. Even more, by involving the employees in the problem-solving process, Alex could have gained their trust and buy-in, creating a stronger foundation for implementing the necessary changes.

Alex’s story serves as a powerful reminder that leadership isn’t just about devising solutions based on assumptions. Instead, effective leadership is about actively listening and collaborating with the people affected by those decisions. Had Alex embarked on a listening tour, they would have been better equipped to lead their department toward success because they fostered a culture of open communication and shared understanding.

The Significance of Listening Tours

Listening tours are essential because they bridge the gap between assumptions and reality. Unfortunately, leaders get trapped in their beliefs and preconceived notions, leading to disorientation, disillusionment, and stagnation within their departments. Leaders must actively seek feedback to avoid disconnecting from the front line and the broader organization, hindering their decision-making.

By conducting listening tours, leaders can break free from this trap and gain valuable insights from those directly affected by their decisions. When leaders listen actively, they foster trust, improve morale, and demonstrate their commitment to the organization’s success. This empathetic approach sets the foundation for positive change and ultimately positions the leader as a change-maker and problem-solver.

The Benefits of Listening Tours

Organizations facing complex challenges and seeking innovative solutions often turn to expensive consultants for guidance. Surprisingly, the first step these consultants take is to embark on a listening tour. Why? Because listening tours hold immense value because you hear the real business challenges directly from the employees. Let’s explore ten key advantages of conducting a listening tour and understand why each plays a pivotal role in a leader’s path to success.

Gaining Valuable Insights:

Listening tours allow leaders to gather firsthand insights from employees, stakeholders, and customers. Because they gain a comprehensive understanding, it helps leaders identify underlying issues and make well-informed decisions.

Building Trust and Rapport:

Actively engaging with team members through listening tours fosters trust and rapport. Employees who feel heard and valued are more likely to support the leader’s vision and strategies.

Enhancing Employee Morale:

Listening gives employees a voice, boosting morale and creating a positive work environment . Empowered employees are more motivated, productive, and committed to achieving organizational goals.

Uncovering Hidden Challenges:

Employees often possess unique perspectives on challenges that might not be apparent to leaders. As a result of listening tours, leaders can reveal these hidden obstacles, enabling leaders to address them effectively.

Fostering Collaboration:

Listening tours promote collaboration among team members, breaking down silos and encouraging cross-functional cooperation. This collaborative culture enhances problem-solving and overall productivity.

Aligning Strategies:

Understanding diverse viewpoints through listening tours helps leaders align their strategies with the needs and expectations of various stakeholders. As a result, leaders ensure that organizational efforts are purposeful and focused.

Encouraging Innovation:

Actively listening to employees encourages them to share innovative ideas and solutions. Leaders can leverage these fresh perspectives to drive innovation within the organization.

Identifying Growth Opportunities:

Listening tours shed light on untapped opportunities for growth and improvement. As a result, leaders can explore these opportunities to lead their departments toward new avenues of success.

Preventing Costly Mistakes:

Making decisions based on assumptions can lead to costly mistakes. Conversely, listening tours provide context and data to avoid pitfalls and make informed choices.

Earning Credibility and Respect:

Leaders who prioritize listening earn credibility and respect from their team and stakeholders. Consequently, this respect bolsters the leader’s influence and ability to lead the organization effectively.

Listening tours are vital in a leader’s journey to success because they offer a treasure trove of benefits. Listening tours allow leaders to gain insights, build trust, and foster collaboration. By valuing the voices of those within their organization, leaders can make informed decisions, create a positive work culture, and ultimately drive the organization toward success without the need for expensive external consultants.

The Five Types of Listening Tours

Listening tours allow leaders to gain valuable insights from key stakeholders, employees, and customers because they provide them with context to lead effectively. Let’s explore the five types of listening tours and understand why they are vital.

Cross-Departmental Tours:

Leaders must connect with various departments within the organization because it helps them understand their unique challenges and opportunities. These tours facilitate collaboration, helping the leader identify potential synergies and areas for cross-functional improvement, thereby fostering a cohesive and united organization.

Example questions to ask other department heads:

• “From your perspective, what are your department’s key challenges in achieving its goals?”
• “How do you see our department contributing to the organization’s overall success?”
• “What could improve collaboration and communication between my department and yours?”
• “Are there any untapped opportunities for cross-functional projects or initiatives that you believe could benefit both our departments?”
• “What resources or support do you feel are lacking within my department that could enhance our performance?”
• “How do you envision my department’s success aligning with the broader organizational strategy?”
• “What are the main pain points you encounter when working with my department, and how can we address them effectively?”
• “What innovative ideas or approaches could improve efficiency or better outcomes for both our departments?”
• “How can we ensure that the work of your department and mine complement each other to achieve shared goals?”
• “Is there anything you would like me to know or consider as the leader of my department that could contribute to a more positive and collaborative work environment?”

These open-ended questions encourage employees from different departments to share their perspectives openly, allowing the leader to understand the challenges, opportunities, and potential areas for improvement. As a result, of these insights, leaders can foster collaboration, align departmental efforts with organizational goals, and promote a cohesive and united work environment.

Leadership Team Tours:

Engaging with fellow executives and team members allows leaders to align their visions and strategies for the organization. Accordingly, these tours create a shared understanding among the leadership team, which creates a strong leadership culture and drives organizational alignment from the top.

Example questions to ask the leadership team:

• “As a leader, I value your insights. What feedback do you have about the current state of my department?”
• “What are the biggest strengths of my department, and how can we leverage them further?”
• “Are there any specific areas where you feel my department can improve its performance or efficiency?”
• “How can I enhance collaboration and communication between my team and different departments?”
• “As a leadership team, how can we better support our department members’ professional development and growth?”
• “Are there any challenges or obstacles you think have been overlooked, and how can we address them together?”
• “What changes or initiatives would you like to see implemented in my department to foster a positive work culture?”
• “As we strive for continuous improvement, what resources or tools do you believe my team needs to achieve our goals?”
• “In your view, what steps can we take to ensure that my department’s objectives align seamlessly with the broader organizational strategy?”
• “Is there any feedback or advice you would like to share to help me better support and empower my team?”

These open-ended questions demonstrate a leader’s commitment to actively seeking feedback and valuing the perspectives of their leadership team. By inviting candid discussions, leaders can create a culture of trust, engagement, and collaboration within the department. As a result, leaders can identify opportunities for improvement, address challenges effectively, and collectively work towards achieving departmental success and organizational goals.

Frontline Employee Tours:

Listening to frontline employees provides valuable insights into daily operations and customer interactions. As a result, these tours enable the leader to empathize with the challenges faced by frontline employees and build trust, cultivating a positive work environment from the outset.

Example questions to ask employees:

• “As a frontline employee, what are the most significant challenges you face daily?”
• “Can you share any specific examples of things the organization does or doesn’t do that make your job more challenging?”
• “In your experience, what leadership qualities do you appreciate the most, and how have these qualities positively impacted your work?”
• “Are there any areas where you feel the organization could improve its support for frontline employees?”
• “What changes or improvements would you like to see in our department to enhance the overall work experience?”
• “Can you recall any specific positive experiences you had with former leaders that made a lasting impact on your motivation and engagement at work?”
• “Have there been any instances in the past where you felt your concerns or suggestions were not adequately addressed? How do you believe we can improve communication and responsiveness?”
• “As a frontline employee, what ideas or suggestions do you have that could contribute to the success and growth of our department?”
• “How can we, as leaders, better recognize and appreciate the hard work and contributions of frontline employees?”
• “In your view, what steps can we take to create a positive and inclusive work environment where everyone’s voice is valued and heard?”

These questions encourage frontline employees to share their honest perspectives and experiences. By actively listening to the frontline employees’ feedback, leaders can identify areas for improvement and then make meaningful changes, which creates a workplace culture that fosters engagement, loyalty, and mutual respect.

Customer or Client Listening Tours:

Engaging with customers or clients helps leaders comprehend their needs and expectations better. Understanding the customer’s perspective early on allows the leader to make immediate adjustments to serve the market better, so they can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Example questions to ask customers/clients:

• “We value your feedback as a customer/client. What aspects of our products/services do you find most valuable and beneficial to your needs?”
• “Could you share any specific positive experiences you’ve had with our organization that stood out to you?”
• “Are there any areas where you believe our organization excels and sets itself apart from competitors?”
• “In your view, what improvements or enhancements can we make to better meet your expectations and requirements?”
• “Can you describe any instances where our products/services have exceeded your expectations? What made those experiences exceptional?”
• “Are there any specific pain points or challenges you encounter when using our products/services that we should address to enhance your overall experience?”
• “As a customer/client, what additional features or offerings would you like to see from us to better serve your needs?”
• “How can we better understand and anticipate your changing needs to ensure we remain a relevant and valuable partner for you?”
• “In your interactions with our organization, are there any opportunities for improvement in our communication, responsiveness, or support?”
• “Is there anything else you would like to share with us that could help us improve and continue delivering high-quality products/services to meet your expectations?”

These questions encourage customers or clients to express their genuine feedback, highlighting both the organization’s strengths and areas that require improvement. By actively listening to customer insights, leaders can better understand their target market’s needs and preferences. Additionally, emphasizing the customer’s voice in decision-making demonstrates the organization’s commitment to customer satisfaction and long-term relationships, ultimately driving success and growth.

Investor and Board Tours:

Listening to investors and board members aligns organizational goals with financial objectives. Establishing open communication with investors and the board during the early stages demonstrates a proactive approach, reassuring stakeholders of the leader’s commitment to transparency and shared success.

Example questions to ask investors/board members:

• “From your perspective, what are my department’s most significant strengths and opportunities?”
• “What strategic initiatives or areas of improvement could enhance the performance and impact of my department?”
• “Are there any specific metrics or key performance indicators you believe my department should prioritize to demonstrate value to investors and the board?”
• “As an investor/board member, what expectations do you have from my department, and how can we better align our efforts with your goals?”
• “How can my department contribute more effectively to the overall organizational strategy and financial objectives?”
• “Are there any potential risks or challenges you see that may impact my department’s success, and how can we proactively address them?”
• “In your interactions with my department, what are the most critical factors contributing to your confidence in our performance?”
• “How can we enhance our communication and reporting to ensure you receive the information you need?”
• “Are there any emerging trends or industry developments that our department should be aware of to stay ahead of the competition?”
• “What additional support or resources would you like to see us invest in to elevate our department’s capabilities and value proposition?”

These questions demonstrate the leader’s willingness to engage in meaningful discussions with investors and board members. By actively seeking feedback, leaders can better align the department’s goals and initiatives with the interests of investors and the board. This approach fosters a collaborative relationship, builds trust, and ensures that the department contributes to the organization’s overall success and meets the expectations of key stakeholders.

By conducting these five listening tours, leaders demonstrate a sincere interest in understanding the organization from multiple perspectives. Above all, they help them identify challenges and opportunities accurately, make informed decisions, and build trust among employees, stakeholders, and customers.

These insights form the foundation for the leader’s strategic approach. They pave the way for long-term success and effective leadership throughout their tenure. Moreover, engaging in listening tours early on sets the tone for a collaborative and communicative organizational culture.

Listening tours are indispensable for leaders seeking sustainable success and growth within their departments. Remember, the true power of leadership lies not just in giving orders. Instead, it is the ability to listen, empathize, and act collaboratively toward a common goal.

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Jason Cortel is currently the Director of Global Workforce Management for a leading technology company. He has been in customer service, marketing, and sales services for over 20 years. In addition, he has extensive experience in offshore and nearshore outsourcing. Jason is an avid Star Trek fan and is on a mission to change the universe by helping people develop professionally. He is driven to help managers and leaders lead their teams better. Jason is also a veteran in creating talent and office cultures.

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New Managers: Take a Listening Tour to Understand Your Company’s Strategy

When you manage a team, your strategies and goals must align with the priorities of those above you. If you don’t fully understand how your group’s work fits into the bigger picture, consider going on a “listening tour” — a series of conversations with people who can clarify the company’s strategic objectives. Of course, start […]

When you manage a team, your strategies and goals must align with the priorities of those above you. If you don’t fully understand how your group’s work fits into the bigger picture, consider going on a “listening tour” — a series of conversations with people who can clarify the company’s strategic objectives. Of course, start with your boss, but also talk with other leaders in the organization, including peers and people lower in the hierarchy. Ask yourself: Who’s been at the company for a long time? Who’s worked closely with the current leadership? Who recently transferred from a company that went through a similar change process? When you reach out, demonstrate that you have a basic grasp of the strategy and ask for their input. For example, you might say: “I hear you saying that innovation is a priority for my team. Where would you like to see us focus?”

Source: Adapted from the Harvard Business Review Manager's Handbook

• JO JM Olejarz is an associate editor at Harvard Business Review.

Partner Center

Whitney Sieck, CPTD

• Jul 20, 2020

The Ultimate Listening Tour

Updated: Apr 28, 2021

I once made a shift between competitive organizations in the same industry. It would have been so easy for me to come in and simply duplicate the same program - yet, after a few instrumental 1:1s, I quickly realized that approach would not resonate with the culture at the second company. By giving myself some time to deeply understand the challenges and speak the language of the teams I was supporting, I was able to create a strategic framework that was right for that unique business culture.

Purpose of Listening Tour

A listening tour is a series of intentional interviews with your colleagues to gather information, insights and ideas on how your role can be most effective. A listening tour allows the team to contribute their perspective in a crucial time where a new enablement leader will be defining strategy - something that should never be done in a vacuum!

You'll likely be provided with a list of key 1:1s. Don't be afraid to reach beyond that for a more diverse perspective . Employees and leaders have different vantage points of an organization, so it's important to take a multi-level approach. Consider cross-functional partners as Enablement often supports the efficiency of the joints/handoffs of the customer journey.

Be consistent - ask the same high-level questions to all parties so you can start to see trends in responses. Determine these questions in advance and add them to the agenda so your partners recognize that this conversation is more than just the traditional "get-to-know-you" first 1:1 they may be used to. You may want to layer in more specific questions based on how closely you'll interact with the role.

Check out this template for some additional inspiration!

Pair the anecdotal feedback with a quantitative data report to understand where there may be disconnects - surfacing conflicting information can be as beneficial as surfacing trends. Partner with someone from Revenue Operations to support this part of your Listening Tour. (See my previous blog on Data Strategy to learn more about what intel to gather!)

Present the results and gain alignment on the perspective. Ensure key stakeholders understand the insights shared and focus on how these interact with any initiatives/priorities that are in flight.

By conducting a listening tour, you gain a comprehensive view on where the enablement function can add value. You establish credibility as a collaborative cross-functional leader. Finally, you inform a strategic roadmap that aligns with what's important to the business.

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• 📄 Guide: Evaluate your culture: a "Listening Tour"

Guide: Evaluate your culture: a "Listening Tour"

Throughout my career, I’ve observed that the most successful leaders never underestimate the power of being an exceptional listener. Truly great leaders commit to continuous growth in the art of listening throughout their careers. 

I’ve developed this list of questions over the years to holistically assess organizations (or, “organisms” as I like to think of them). I typically use a set of these questions for my onboarding tour when I join a company as head of people, and I’m sharing it here because I imagine it could be useful for any sort of listening tour that a leader may want to take.

Safety First!

Step one of a successful listening tour is to create a sense of clarity and safety around what you’re doing and why. Keep in mind that there are power dynamics at play and if you’re in a senior-level role there will be a power differential that will impact the conversation. Consider sharing your questions with folks a few days before the meetings so they have time to process their answers in advance. Some people love spontaneous questions and feel confident when they’re put on the spot, but the majority of us value time to do some internal processing in advance of an important conversation.

Here’s a simple slack or email script to get you started:

Hi @Name, just a heads up that I’m scheduling an onboarding 1-1 for us and I look forward to answering any questions you might have. I also wanted to share a list of questions that I’m asking folks in advance of our meeting (see below). Please note that I won’t be sharing any specific details of our conversation with anyone - the spirit of these meetings is for us to get to know one another and for me to identify themes that might help refine our people strategy. I’ll be sharing out a high-level summary of themes after I’ve met with everyone. You’re welcome to share your answers in advance in a google document, or, I can scribe some notes during our meeting. And if there are any questions you’d rather not answer just say “pass” and we’ll skip them. :) I’m looking forward to connecting with you soon...and if you need anything in the meantime please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Questions For Everyone

What, if any, questions do you have for me?

Why did you join this company? 

What keeps you here? 

What would entice you to leave? This could be something that would pull you toward another company or push you away

What really drives you to do the work you do now? Mining for intrinsic motivation

What’s your top personal core value?  If they don’t know, ask them what pisses them off most in this world? The opposite of the upsetting behavior is usually something that points to top value.

How are you most often misperceived?

Can you tell me a little bit about the highest impact work your team is doing right now?

What do you see as the top strengths of the organization that we want to preserve as we grow and change?

What can you share about the leadership style here? Is it collaborative? 

How does decision making work around here?

What can you share about how things are successfully implemented here? ex.  Habits / communication approaches / norms 

What do you wish was different?  From your vantage point, what might be stopping us from being as good as we can be? Are there any organizational blind spots?

What advice do you have for me?

What, if anything, do you need right now?

Questions For People Managers (all questions above, plus…)

Tell me about how your team is structured - i.e. the current state

Who’s doing well? How are you recognizing them? Mine for understanding of knowledge of folks preferences around recognition

Who’s struggling? For people who are struggling, how have you addressed it? Where is feedback being documented?

What are you doing to gel the team? Testing for gaps in leads’ understanding of their ICs’ personal aspirations, strengths/weaknesses 

What do you envision the future state of your team looks like 12 months from now? Mining for gaps on Capacity (right people in right roles to deliver on commitments)Capability (already have it, need to buy it, build it, borrow it?)Culture (team’s collective attitudes, assumptions, practices enable their best work)

Historically, what have been the change management approaches used? What worked? What didn’t?

What resources or support do you need to feel better equipped as a manager?

What have you gotten feedback on in the past?

What are your preferences on communication channels?  ex. Do you prefer slack for quick questions, and texts for anything urgent outside of typical work hours? Emails for longer communications? Phone? Video?

Questions For Leadership Team Members (all questions above, plus)

What are the top 5 most important work activities or key processes? How would you prioritize the single most important work activity? 2nd and 3rd? How well are these key processes working together? Mining for the top processes that we need to be the best in the world at in order to achieve our mission. Usually, these are cross-functional. As a leader, you want to ensure you’re building the organization in a way that supports these key activities. Mining for alignment on what is most important versus process/activities that aren’t differentiators.Mining for what is broken.Ex. An airline might say that the top 3 most important activities are safety, customer service, and workplace communication and culture.

What needs to happen in the next 6-12 months for the company to be successful? What does this mean for staffing?

What is our biggest strength from a Talent Acquisition perspective? The biggest challenge in terms of accelerating our ability to hire?

What skills and capabilities are we missing?

What do people value most in terms of our total rewards? Ex. intrinsic rewards, cash compensation, benefits, equity, recognition programs, support for learning and growth 

What’s our biggest pain point in terms of rewards right now?

How can we better leverage culture as a strategic asset?

What organizational health metrics are most important to you?

How do you define success for diversity, equity and inclusion?

What would you like to see accomplished through our DEI work?

What makes you trust someone? Conversely, what causes you to lose trust?

Team and Org Chart

Andrew logemann, product roadmap template, clare price, go-to-market plan (gtm plan) template, yelena kozlova, guide: asynchronous communication, darren murph, template: the build/measure/learn loop worksheet, prd template, katherine kampf, weekly standup template, allison daley, quarterly business review (qbr) memo template, brie wolfson.

Current - For people in public media

Current (https://current.org/2019/03/6-tips-for-holding-a-public-media-listening-tour/)

6 tips for holding a public media listening tour

By scott finn , consultant (finn advising) | march 1, 2019.

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Francesca Orsini, VPR's development systems administrator, hands an event attendee a tote bag at Alchemist Brewery in Stowe, Vt., Sept. 27, 2018.

I had no idea what to do first when, several years ago, I took the helm at West Virginia Public Broadcasting. I called Skip Hinton, then head of the National Educational Telecommunications Association, who gave me some valuable advice from his time in Alabama: “Go on a listening tour.”

We did, and heard an earful about what we were doing right and wrong. (We also learned that many people had little idea who we were.)

So when I started a new gig at Vermont Public Radio, I was thrilled to learn that VPR’s marketing and engagement staff had been thinking along the same lines: to host a series of events across the state to hear from as many people as we could.

The result was the Tell Me More Tour . Over four months last summer and fall, we met more than 700 people in all 14 counties of Vermont. We met them at a farmers’ market, restaurants and a bagel shop, a brewery and a cidery, museums and arts venues. The tour had a fun logo and custom tote bags (of course).

Through trial and error, we learned a lot. Here are some dos and don’ts for planning your own listening tour:

1. Don’t have an agenda. Don’t perform. Just listen.

As public media stations, we are used to being the ones who do the talking. A listening tour flips this paradigm on its head. The people and their opinions are the performers. Our staff and board members are the audience.

This is the secret sauce of any listening tour. If you remember anything from this article, it should be this. Don’t try to tack listening onto a performance or “normal” event — make listening the entire point.

2. Do have questions.

Instead of a program, VPR asked participants to answer three questions:

• What should people know about where you live?
• What issues are important to you?
• How can VPR serve your community better?

We asked them to write their answers on huge Post-it notes. (Later, we hung these in the station’s lobby, right next to the kitchen and bathrooms.) We also transcribed these notes into a huge database.

At bigger events, we asked people to pair up with someone they didn’t know well and discuss their answers, and then share them with the larger group. This “pair and share” routine was simple and effective in keeping people engaged and kept with the public media ethos of connecting communities and people.

3. Don’t go it alone.

It’s not enough for just station leadership or the development staff to attend. The audience wants to meet everyone — especially reporters and hosts. More than 90 percent of VPR’s staff participated in at least one Tell Me More Tour event. Most board members did as well.

One reporter who planned to go to just one event ended up attending three. He said it was a good place to develop new sources and that it was useful to hear directly from listeners how important his reporting was to their lives.

4. Do go everywhere you can.

Every place I’ve lived, there are communities that feel neglected or left out of the conversation by public media. And usually, they have a point.

In cities, this can mean immigrant communities or low-income areas. In states like Vermont and West Virginia, the people who live in the most rural areas feel ignored.

Our idea was to systematically visit all 14 Vermont counties. This paid off in Vermont’s isolated Northeast Kingdom, home to three sparsely populated counties.

“We expected you to come to St. Johnsbury,” said one participant, “but we didn’t expect you to come to Newport and Island Pond too.”

5. Don’t forget to tell everyone.

We advertised these events constantly — on the air, online, even in outside local media. Of course, the best advertising is word-of-mouth; that’s why we collaborated with existing partners to help get the word out in the various communities we visited.

It’s not just about the attendance. It’s about making everyone know you are making the effort to be in their community — even if they can’t make it personally.

6. Do follow up.

After each visit, I wrote a quick summary of what I heard and posted it on our website , and we followed up with anyone who had provided us with their email address. Meanwhile, we were tabulating all these comments into a massive word cloud. When we were done, our marketing and engagement team sifted through all this data, and we reported back to our audience on what we learned .

And in addition to these visits, VPR found more scientific ways to take the temperature of our audience and of all Vermonters. We hired a survey firm to ask our listeners, nonlisteners and members about their perceptions of VPR. And in the lead-up to the 2018 election, VPR and Vermont PBS combined forces to conduct two statewide public opinion polls .

In general, Vermonters asked for more coverage of jobs and the economy. They were worried about Vermont’s aging population. Addiction, school consolidation and climate change are also important to them.

They asked us to tell more hopeful stories — not just problems, but solutions, too. They reaffirmed the value of the old-fashioned broadcast signal in a rural, mountainous state, while still wanting us to expand into new digital platforms.

Most importantly, they asked us to come back. In person. As often as we can.

In response, VPR has increased both our events and engagement staff and more than doubled our planned events from just two years ago.

These events will be focused on our programs and content — a live version of our children’s podcast But Why? , intimate classical music performances and an experiential event around our people-powered journalism project Brave Little State.

But in a few years, I think it will be time for “Tell Me More II: The Reunion Tour,” starring the one and only VPR Audience.

Scott Finn is president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio. VPR’s Manager of Marketing and Communications Michelle Owens contributed to this article.

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from training.npr.org: https://training.npr.org/2016/02/16/six-ways-to-run-a-listening-session/

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Six ways to run a listening session

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Alison MacAdam of the NPR Training team leads a listening session for NPR staff. Listening sessions are a great way to share constructive feedback and think deeply about audio storytelling. (Jenna Sterner/NPR)

If you work in audio journalism and storytelling, you know that “listening is our gold standard,” to quote former NPR editor Sara Sarasohn. We all have opinions about what we hear and need perspective on what we create. We all aspire to do great work, but we can’t do it alone.

A listening session is one of the best ways to get constructive feedback and share best practices. What is it? Basically, a group of people in a room, listening to stories and discussing them. (But if it were that simple, we wouldn’t bother writing this post.)

There are a lot of ways to get value out of listening sessions, but it helps to do some thinking and planning ahead of time. What follows are guiding principles for a successful listening session and six different formats you can use.

Decide on one clear goal

Listening sessions can fail if their purpose is not clear. Before you gather people into a room, decide what you’re trying to achieve.

Here are some possible goals:

• To encourage a culture of healthy critique in your newsroom
• To workshop particular stories or review a special project
• To help people from different parts of an organization get to know each other
• To share best practices
• To explore a theme
• To dissect particular elements of a story

The choice you make about the session’s purpose will help you decide how you choose or solicit audio — and how to conduct the session.

The role of the moderator

Anyone can organize a listening session. You don’t have to be the boss, editor or project manager. As long as you have a goal that you can convey, the ability to synthesize ideas, and the willingness to keep the conversation flowing comfortably (without inserting yourself too much), give it a try.

Here are a few guidelines:

• Clearly communicate the goal of the session ahead of time.
• Request that participants volunteering a story that is not their own get permission from whomever reported or produced the story.
• At the beginning of a session, explain “rules of engagement” and set expectations.
• Establish the tone. Encourage participation that is constructive, sympathetic and honest.
• Push participants to be specific. “Good” or “bad” is not helpful. What makes it “good?”
• Watch out for moments in which a participant might get defensive or feel attacked. If that happens, gently take the reins and steer the conversation.
• Guide participants toward takeaways that transcend any one story.
• Watch the clock! An hour-long session will fly by. (I’ve found it hard to play more than four stories – each a length of five minutes or less – in an hour, when the conversation is flowing.)

After a listening session, ask yourself what worked and what didn’t. Did conversation veer off track anywhere? Did people seem to miss the point? Did you run out of time? Consider these questions and others, and adjust your approach next time. You don’t have to get it “right” the first time.

(Besides, how do you judge the “rightness” of a listening session? Mostly, it’s gut. And how your colleagues react afterwards. Did they express appreciation? Do they seem inspired?)

Listening session #1: Building a culture of critique

The best way to ensure meaningful critique is to solicit audio from participants that is NOT their favorite work. Suggest they bring stories of their own that challenged or puzzled them. This way, no participant is anxiously anticipating raves for their story; they are already invested in seeking constructive feedback. And participants who did not offer stories can approach the table with generosity, knowing their colleagues are willingly putting themselves in a vulnerable position.

When participants share their stories, give them a chance to articulate their concerns about the piece. That way, colleagues can help them with these specific challenges.

The downside: You’re not hearing the best work.

Listening session #2: Workshopping particular stories

In the cases when your “playlist” is already set, the challenge is focusing the conversation. Why do these stories need workshopping? Offer your participants a handful of specific questions about the stories. The questions (pick 2-3) should be designed to lead to meaningful conclusions and, hopefully, lessons for the future.

Here are some questions NPR Senior Editor Andrea de Leon uses to guide discussion about news stories:

• What is the specific focus of this piece?
• Did the piece make us care?
• Are the stakeholders all here? Are their points balanced?
• Is all the information here? Is there too much information?
• Is the piece written for the ear?
• Are there scenes in this piece? Visuals?
• Is every bite unique, dynamic and interesting?
• How could more sound and more scenes improve this story?
• Is the structure of this story the best it can be?

When you’re workshopping bigger projects, like a podcast pilot or a broadcast series, it helps to return to your initial goals and form questions around them. For example, ask, “ Have we achieved the tone we wanted ?” and “ Will this speak to the audience we’ve targeted? ” or “ Are these stories engaging enough to keep listeners coming back?”

Keep your participants on track. There are loads of ways you could workshop a piece. Just make sure everyone is sticking to the goals at hand.

Downside: The conversation can get into the weeds.

Listening session #3: Helping people get to know each other

This is a good opportunity to curate a listening session. The point is for people to be in a room together, engaged in a project. It matters less that you emerge with clear takeaways about specific stories, and more that people learn about the variety of work that’s happening in your office.

Choose stories that sound different from each other and come from different parts of the organization. When setting rules of engagement, encourage “dumb” questions. This is a great chance for participants to ask something they might feel uncomfortable asking in a different setting.

Guide the conversation lightly to allow a free-flowing conversation. This is a chance for the people in the room to engage with each other. Your job as a moderator is mostly to keep things moving and help synthesize ideas and questions that arise.

At the end, consider a quick spin around the room to give everyone a chance to say something they learned from the session.

Downside: The conversation is not tightly-focused and critique is less likely.

Listening session #4: Sharing best practices

This is the moment to bring the best work to the table. It could be curated by you or submitted by participants. What’s important is that someone in the room be prepared to explain — specifically — what makes each story work. This is a great opportunity to decode storytelling, by opening up project files in your editing software or looking closely at language in the script.

Even though this session is focused on best practices, it helps to remind participants that they can still critique stories. In our craft, there is not always a right or perfect answer, and people should feel free to raise questions or engage the group in respectful debate.

Downside: It can be harder to facilitate healthy conversation when the stories have — at least by some participants — already been pre-ordained as good.

Listening session #5: Exploring a theme

This style of session allows a deep dive into a topic, coverage area or format. It’s a great way to focus on a newsroom priority (e.g. improving storytelling, experimenting with format, strengthening coverage of a major event). This session could be curated or could use solicited stories, as long as they speak in some way to the chosen theme.

Here are some examples of themes:

• Coverage area (e.g. political, science, arts)
• Kinds of stories (e.g. profiles, breaking news)
• Formats of stories (e.g. 4-minute features, interviews, newscast spots)
• A big, all-hands-on-deck story in your newsroom (e.g. disaster, scandal, election)
• Experiments or pilots (new subjects or formats your newsroom is trying out)

Use the conversation time about each story to extract broad lessons. You might even consider holding the conversation until after you’ve listened to all the chosen pieces. This way, participants can critique what worked and what didn’t from a perspective that’s larger than any one story.

Downside: Focusing on a theme sometimes makes it harder to simply discuss the quality of the work.

Listening session #6: Dissecting a story

You don’t always have to play entire stories during a listening session. In fact, you can break the piece into its parts and find new, helpful ways to discuss what worked and what didn’t. Here are two ways to do that:

• Stop each story you play at a pre-ordained time, perhaps two minutes in. Then ask participants about their level of engagement and interest. What makes them want to keep listening (or stop)? Do they care? Do they understand what the story is about? What do they expect to happen by the end of the story? This is a great way to talk about momentum, expectation-setting and structure in stories.  (h/t NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce)
• Extract all the narration from the story and play only the “tape.” Is the story’s sound compelling and relevant? Does the order in which it appears make sense? Can you get a clear sense of what the story is about? Obviously, a session like this will pretty quickly demonstrate the quality of a story’s sound and whether or not it is used well.

Downside:  You’re not judging stories in their entirety, which can be unsatisfying for some participants.

So that’s six ways to carry out listening sessions. Surely there are more — and we’d love to hear about them. Write us at [email protected] if you have a strategy to recommend.

Alison MacAdam was a Senior Editorial Specialist with the NPR Training team, where she focused on audio storytelling. Prior to that, she edited All Things Considered.

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Conducting a Listening Tour to Align With Stakeholders

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Enablement can often be thought of as the connective tissue between teams within a revenue-facing organization like sales and marketing. To be a highly skilled enablement leader often comes with balancing the needs and interests of teams enablement partners closely to ultimately drive revenue and secure deeper partnerships with customers for the future.

A listening tour is a scheduled meeting or block of time that can be used by any one teammate or even a new manager to help gain a deeper understanding of the thoughts, needs, and interests of their colleagues and various stakeholders. The tour is geared toward learning interpretations, insights, and perceptions from a variety of sources in an attempt to actualize the goals of the business on a deeper level and seek out areas for improvement. Listening tours also present a great opportunity for a leader to visualize the future possibilities for their team and the business by opening up everyone’s own thoughts to greater possibilities.

Here are three key tips to help conduct a successful and effective listening tour and a template to help set the wheels in motion for a future where enablement can optimize and operate at its fullest potential with the backing and support of key stakeholders.

Adopt a Beginner’s Mindset

Once a schedule for the tour has been set, it’s helpful to begin with an open mind. To get the best, most authentic responses to questions and concerns, people will want to feel comfortable and confident in sharing their perceptions, opinions, and insights. As the listener, adopting a beginner’s mindset can be useful in focusing on the purpose of the listening tour — to learn and to understand.

It can be useful to state your intentions for the listening tour first to the broader enablement team. This allows for the opportunity for colleagues to jump on board and contribute ideas or questions ahead of time before meeting with other stakeholders. Stating the purpose and intent of the tour will also ensure that the process is transparent and inclusive from the beginning.

Next, identify the people to be included in the listening tour and clarify why their participation and insights are valuable to the tour. As an enablement leader, this is especially important if the role of the enablement team spans several different departments, including product marketing, sales, customer success, or even human resources. Scheduling one-on-one sessions with the partners within those teams that interact with the enablement function closely is critical in ensuring that goals are aligned for the future.

“I think about [a beginner’s mind] as having the discipline to forget everything we think we know and have heard so that we can hear what’s being said to us for the first time,” said Karen Mangia, vice president of customer and market insights at Salesforce.

Setting the intention and coming into a listening tour with an open mind and beginner’s mindset can help open the door to more discovery, greater curiosity, and more productive conversations with cross-functional teams.

Prepare Thought-Provoking and Open-Ended Questions

To kickstart the preparation ahead of the meetings, it’s now time to consider the types of questions that will spur thoughtful and meaningful conversations and shed light on some key issues that are looking to be resolved.

“I conducted a listening tour of sales,” said Trevor Yeats, director of B2B marketing at Yahoo for Business. “I wanted to learn more about a go-to-market process, and I asked open-ended questions. What’s going well, and what could be better? And by far, the number one opportunity for our organization was to improve the search and discovery of our sales collateral.”

Open-ended questions allow more space to drive meaningful connections and opportunities for the conversation to flow naturally, all while prompting thoughtful responses that can shed light on some key insights for the broader team.

“I used to think being a great salesperson, or sales leader was all about having the right answers, and what I’ve come to discover is that great salespeople and sales leaders ask great questions,” said Mangia.

Examples of questions that can lead to better insight include:

• What was the most impactful project you worked on last year?
• What is your biggest priority?
• How does enablement help your team? How does it provide value?
• What are some things the enablement team should definitely continue?
• How do you like to receive feedback?
• Who else should enablement talk to for more alignment and resources?

The end goal of these meetings is to both extract some valuable responses for each partner or stakeholder enablement interacts with, as well as generate some new ideas on how to better support the team and the organization’s overarching goals. The early focus on receiving people’s ideas and keenly listening will be invaluable to the enablement team as they plan for more projects and initiatives requiring critical buy-in.

Document Everything and Share Observations

Recording key conversations and writing down key insights can help keep thoughts and ideas together and allow the opportunity to spark new ones. It may be worth considering keeping all the insights anonymous. However, it can be useful to share with the team the title or role each person plays and their impact in partnering with the broader enablement team.

After the listening tour concludes, compile the insights, throughlines, or key themes present throughout the discussions to share with the rest of the team. At this stage, it still may be early to detail exact action plans, but it can help sharpen the enablement’s team vision moving forward and help prioritize the challenges and opportunities that are evident from speaking with various stakeholders.

At the end of the listening tour and after sharing observations, a new path forward may start to take shape to improve working relationships between enablement and other teams. An effective listening tour reveals how collaboration can be beneficial for all parties and also illuminate the opportunities to drive better business partnerships that will have long-lasting effects on an organization’s long-term vision. By listening carefully and taking into account the needs and interests of the stakeholders that enablement teams work the most closely with, a stronger and more clear direction can be found.

To create your own listening tour, download our template with questions and observation prompts to get started.

VP, Customer & Market Insights, Salesforce

Director, B2B Marketing, Yahoo for Business

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The Power of a Listening Tour

Taking time to hear employees’ concerns and ideas can help new managers and company divisions work through organizational change

Anytime Geno Cutolo takes on new responsibilities or has a new team, he finds that a listening tour is an effective way to build trust and gather data that he can use to make informed decisions.

“The higher up you are in the organization, the harder it is to get unfiltered feedback because people often just tell you what they think you want to hear,” Cutolo said. “If you listen in an open, honest and unbiased way, you can get a lot of valuable information.”

In 2022, after being appointed president of Adecco-North America, a staffing agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Cutolo embarked on a 90-day listening tour during which he met with people in different roles, units and locations to get a good cross-section of experiences and opinions.

He used multiple internal and external channels to communicate where he was, what he was doing and some of what he was learning. Ultimately, this led to the redesign of Adecco’s planned reorganization to help eliminate many of the frustrations and obstacles that people had shared with him during his listening tour.

“It’s important to act on what you hear,” Cutolo said. “That’s how people know you’re listening.”

What Listening Tours Can Do

“It’s a great tool to get a pulse on what’s happening inside the company for new teams, new managers and after organizational change,” said Jennifer Dulski, founder and CEO of Rising Team, a distributed team performance platform based in Silicon Valley. “The goal is to understand what is going well, what can be improved and what is missing.”

Dulski developed a three-step process that can be used as a framework for a listening tour:

• Just listen. “To be done well, there has to be a psychologically safe environment,” she noted. Employees have to know there won’t be any retribution and that the information will be used with good intent.
• Report back. After conducting meetings with employees (or other stakeholders), tour leaders need to report back to participants about what they learned during the tour so that participants know they have been heard.
• Share solutions. After analyzing the data, leaders need to let participants know what actions they are taking to address any issues and, if appropriate, engage them in coming up with solutions.

Listening tours are often used by new managers when starting a new job or leading a new team.

“For a new manager, it’s an opportunity to meet people early on and establish the principles of the relationship. It’s a chance to learn who they are, what’s important to them, how they do their jobs and what they expect from a leader,” said Joe Galvin, chief research officer at Vistage Worldwide, a coaching and peer advisory organization headquartered in San Diego, Calif.

“It’s best for managers to meet face to face with their team members, but that’s not always practical in a remote or hybrid environment. You have to meet people where they are,” he added.

The Role of HR

HR has a pivotal role to play in the formation and implementation of listening tours:

• Providing leaders and managers with data, resources and training.
• Running their own listening tours.
• Developing and implementing HR-related solutions based on feedback gained during the tour.

Kelly Wells’ most recent listening tour started eight months ago when she accepted a new position as the vice president of HR in the Airport Lounges vertical at Sodexo, a French food services and facilities management company.

Wells and her colleagues dedicated time with a cross-section of employees and clients in various formats (small focus groups, one-on-ones and town halls) to learn about operational challenges, cultural dynamics, organizational climate and employee morale.

After analyzing the insights, she and her team established three Employee Advisory Councils composed of employees, managers and an HR representative and empowered them to implement solutions. The next employee engagement survey showed a 10 percent increase in employee engagement scores.

At Safeguard Global, a professional employer organization headquartered in Austin, Texas, the HR team conducts annual listening tours to dig into information gleaned from their engagement surveys.

“At its most basic level, it’s about the employee experience—a way for us to learn about the ideas they have for innovation and the obstacles and challenges they face,” said Chief People Officer Katherine Loranger. “Beyond that, it can be effective when there’s a change in business or to the way people do business. The purpose of the tour drives the agenda.”

During the tour, leaders are separated from their teams to ensure that employees feel safe to share their feelings and opinions. The HR team then meets one on one with team leaders.

“It’s important for us to connect the tour to the value of caring,” Loranger said.

During last year’s tour, the HR team discovered that their European teams were concerned about heating bills in the winter and other rising costs associated with inflation. The company subsequently decided to offer those employees a monthly stipend during the winter to offset those costs.

“It wouldn’t have happened without the firsthand information about how inflation was impacting those employees,” Loranger said.

The tour has also enabled the HR team to position itself as a trusted employee advocate. “It’s not enough for HR to have an ‘open door’ policy. We have to be proactive by reaching out to people directly,” Loranger said.

Align The Tour with Organizational Values and Culture

“You have to be prepared for hard truths and to act on what you hear. It’s not a box-checking exercise. If you don’t mean it, don’t do it,” said Lorna Borenstein, CEO and founder of Grokker, a corporate well-being platform headquartered in San Francisco, and author of It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring (Grokker Innovation Labs Press, 2021).

At Grokker, active listening is a fundamental part of the culture, and listening tours are connected to the values of caring and accountability. “Our company's purpose is corporate well-being. It’s important to show our employees we care about their well-being, too,” Borenstein said.

Listening tours can also bring clarity and comfort during stressful transitions. While working as the president and COO of the global social activism platform Change.org, Dulski and her senior leadership team found themselves in the unenviable position of having to lay people off.

After the layoffs, Dulski conducted a massive multi-country tour to grasp the impact on the remaining employees. As she listened to their stories, she understood how much they wanted and needed to be heard.

“We realized that we needed to work to build back their trust,” Dulski said. To accomplish that goal, they decided to be more transparent about their financial situation. “It helped employees understand why the decision to lay people off was made.”

Maximizing the Impact

When Nikhil Arora took over as CEO of Epignosis in December 2023, he immediately launched a series of monthly listening tours from the learning software company’s London headquarters.

Arora has found that “the byproduct of active listening is always growth and learning” and that “listening tours humanize the way that leaders gather feedback.”

Each tour is a combination of small-group skip-level meetings with employees from different functions and department lines and one-on-one meetings with other employees, customers and shareholders.

Arora reports back to employees on Fridays by video and in writing about how he spent his week and conducts periodic town halls to share what he has learned. While he recognizes that this requires a deep commitment of time and energy, he firmly believes that it is well worth the effort because of the myriad benefits that it yields:

• Community and connection that keep employees (and other stakeholders) motivated and engaged.
• Ideas for innovation and identification of outmoded ideas that need to be eliminated.
• An accelerated learning curve and culture of lean experimentation.

As the company grows, he hopes that other senior leaders will recognize the value of listening tours and follow his lead.

“I think of it as a muscle that needs to be used by all managers and leaders in the organization,” Arora said. “But you have to believe in it. If you don’t believe in it, it doesn’t matter.”

Arlene Hirsch is a career counselor and author based in Chicago.

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Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace

​An organization run by AI is not a futuristic concept. Such technology is already a part of many workplaces and will continue to shape the labor market and HR. Here's how employers and employees can successfully manage generative AI and other AI-powered systems.

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