Why listen to employees?
Is it just to pamper the snowflakes - or is it to unlock continuous new value creation..?
“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen”. — Ernest Hemingway 1
This interesting question came my way in the last few weeks…
“Geoff – I recently heard you say something to the effect that senior executives are often not well plugged into the rich sense making going on in the body of their own organisations. Are you saying that senior executives are not listening to their own people, and if so, why do you think this is the case?”
My reply is in the 13-minute Future-Fit Culture Frequently Asked Questions video below, which highlights how:
unexamined assumptions about organisations are a major impediment to the creation of new value
traditionally-minded senior executives often regard “listening” as either unnecessary, or a chore they must endure “to keep the snowflakes happy”
more enlightened senior executives recognise rich sense making in the body of the organisations as a treasure trove of future opportunities for new value creation
technology platforms that support “listening” will only deliver real organisational value in contexts where senior executives have made the above shift
Why listen to employees..? [13 minute video]:
The above video mentions this previous article on the “Double Disconnect” — firstly between sense making and decision making and secondly between decision making and action taking.
Hemingway’s letter of advice to a young writer, reported in LIFE magazine (January 10, 1949). A longer version appears in Hemingway's Across the River and Into the Trees (1967): "When people talk listen completely. Don't be thinking what you're going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling".