We hear things about organisations. Employees at Google being given a day a week to work on their own projects. Employees at Amazon and at many call centres being monitored, tracked and micro managed. And throughout the NHS employees being expected to work extremely hard, and putting in plenty of extra hours and effort.
What is your organisation known for? If you asked your team members, your customers and the general public (if yours is a well known organisation), what would they say? Most organisations draw out a mix of positive and negative comments. So probably the most important question for leaders and managers to ask is “what would you like people to say about your organisation?”. In this article, I want to present the case for being known as an organisation that loves and uses coaching well. See what you think….
Organisations that are good at listening
It can all start with listening. At the customer level, does your organisation listen to what they say, want, expect? It’s easy to ask people to complete feedback surveys. But harder to implement any changes that customers recommend in the surveys.
And at the team member level, do people feel heard? It’s easy to assume that the senior people have all the ideas, answers and approaches. But it’s often team members who see things more clearly, as they are often closest to the work. Some years ago Britvic introduced a reward scheme – everyone in the organisation was invited to make suggestions for improvement (efficiency, revenue, savings, wellbeing). These suggestions would be brought straight to the CEO, and if they were implemented, the team member would benefit with a reward.
Recently we have seen listening being promoted as a “thing” (can’t think of a different word for this). Perhaps an initiative, a process… The idea being that listening forums be set up, that arrangements made to “show we are listening”. All sounds good, but it’s probably too structured. What most people want is that the person in front of them listens to them.
Being known as a listening organisation
It may seem strange to say, but many of us benefit from learning how to listen better. It’s one of those things that very few people admit to not being able to do well. “I’m not a very good listener” has never been said in a job interview. In coach training people often say something like “I thought I was quite a good listener, but I realise now that I wasn’t.” It’s often a bit of an epiphany.
What do I mean by a listening organisation? Put simply, where people have the time and the skill to listen well. It starts at the individual level, progresses to teams and managers, and then spreads throughout the organisation. It is a fundamental shift of approach, from a telling approach, to an asking approach.
So how do we do this? A few things that can be put in place:
- Listening skills training. This isn’t just about telling people to stop talking and listen. It goes beyond that. Full attention, asking questions that encourage further talking, holding back on the “me too” interrupting. It’s a skill that only has upsides
- Encouraging managers to have regular 1:1s that have no agenda, save for wanting to listen to their team member talk and share
- And encourage managers and leaders to know people, make time for them, and be open to hearing what they have to say
- Finally, make sure that any interactions with your service users (customers, students, parents…) show and truly demonstrate that everyone in the organisation values listening
These are definitely low tech, human and relatively simple things to do. But the impact can be profound.
A couple of listening case studies
One head teacher I worked with used listening, knowing everyone and appreciation as his default approach. Each morning, break and lunchtime he used to walk round the school. Anyone who he came across – staff members, pupils, parents – he would shake their hand, acknowledge them and ask them a question. If he knew them well he would ask a focussed question “how’s year 9 getting on with their xx project?”. Or if he knew them less well he would ask a more general one “how are you finding things this week?” The responses were always positive, heartfelt and it was clear that a significant exchange was happening. Multiply this by hundreds every week, and we can see the impact.
And another head teacher who has recently trained to be a coach shared her new approach. “This term I have met for 30 minutes with all the adults in the school. Teachers, TAs, office staff. I’ve just listened, and asked a few questions. It has been so powerful. I’ve learned lots about them, but more importantly, they have been happy to share all sorts of things. Those 30 minutes have been much more motivational than any thank you card, box of chocolates or acknowledgement in meetings could ever be.”
Final words
It may seem a bit simplistic to advocate nothing more than listening. And yet….. Some organisations do little more than listen (think about the Samaritans and other helplines). And some organisations seem to be closed to listening and hearing (put in your own nemesis organisation here). So being known as a listening organisation can have a huge impact for you, your people and the people who use your service. See what happens when you put listening to the top of the agenda.
Want to bring a listening approach into your organisation?
Coaching skills are at the heart of it. Whether you want to develop your own listening skills or build a coaching culture across your team, we can help. Get in touch for a chat about what that might look like for you.
