The Age of Listening: Are you in?

by Howard Krais:

Just over a year ago, the book “Leading the Listening Organisation” that I co-authored with Kevin Ruck and Mike Pounsford was published.  

Central to the book is the belief that we have entered a time where listening is fundamental to business success. With no apologies and rather grandly, we claimed that we are entering the ‘Age of Listening’.  

The book, the first to focus on listening to employees, was the culmination of several years’ work, that included publication of four reports (available here).  Response has been great, with communicators, HR professionals and leaders realizing how listening to employees is a way of driving competitive advantage.  

Increasingly, listening seems to be part of our day-to-day discussions. These days  I see the language of listening appearing more than ever. Whether in LinkedIn articles; the services agencies offer (I was sent a ‘step-by-step plan to creating an employee listening strategy’ from one agency only this morning) or the way more organisations recognise that communications and engagement cannot be successful if they are directionally one way. Focus on differentiating the employee experience further emphasises the growing importance of listening.  

In the book we talk about the many benefits organisations that follow from listening. At the top of the list, is better performance, which flows through improved decision making, more effective risk management, a better appreciation of customer needs and more successfully delivered change.  

Supporting the delivery of the transformation agendas in the modern organisation, listening needs to be appreciated as a central enabler for innovation and change. Enabling employees to build understanding around why change is happening involves listening to their ideas, concerns and questions and then responding appropriately.  

In the year since the book was published more communications, HR and other professionals are joining the discussion. They are working out how they create space within their already busy strategies to listen properly. There is greater understanding that this can’t just be through the old-fashioned annual survey.  Indeed, a common challenge is to work out how all the different strands of listening can come together. 

The message is clear. Listening needs to be a central part of how companies engage with their employees. We have entered an Age of Listening. Don’t get left behind.  

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To connect with Howard Krais and to talk more about listening, you can find Howard on LinkedIn, or via howard@true-comms.com. 

You can buy a copy of ‘Leading the Listening Organisation’ here.

Written by: Editor