44’s Nick Robbins is asking why, why, why we’re promoting employee voice and how, how, how we can listen with purpose to better engage employees.
As a dad to two young children, in the last 12 months I have managed to read Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, a searing short story collection with a darkly comic edge and a deep-rooted fascination with the foibles and vulnerability of the human condition; and What the Ladybird Heard Next 741 times (thanks to Stewart Lee for that joke).
That means that my ‘to read’ list is growing almost as fast as the dirty washing that’s sent back with my children from nursery each day.
Top of that pile (of books, not washing), and the one I am at least attempting to read before I fall asleep, is a new handbook about the listening organisation.
To me, the book is part of a conscious movement to nudge organisations away from thinking about enabling voice in favour of listening. Semantically, at least, it takes the act away from the employee (You must speak up) and puts it on the organisation (We must listen). A subtle shift of emphasis that says so much about the chasm that can be created when employee voice falls on deaf ears.
The one where the friends push back
At 44, we put friendship as our first value. It’s a funny concept though friendship, isn’t it? Rarely does the course of true friendship run smoothly and what can define it is the ability to push back and challenge. To say: “Listen mate, I’m not sure you’re doing the right thing”, “Maybe don’t lead with that joke in your wedding speech”, or “I’m not sure you can pull off those cowboy boots, actually.”
It’s an incredible power and central to the IC professional’s toolkit. It’s influence without authority. To craft a relationship where you can change someone’s thinking and ultimately their decision-making without holding any decision-making power yourself.
So, if you’re asked to promote employee voice: run a survey, audit or some focus groups, for example, do you feel confident to push back and ask, well, why?
There’s theory behind that too – it’s called the Five Whys. I thought it was a device inspired by a chatty toddler, but it’s actually attributed to Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota Industries.
It’s a great way of digging down into the root cause of an issue or request. For example, it’s one way of moving a stakeholder’s thinking away from an output (what form should this communication take?) and towards an outcome (why are we communicating this and what do we want it to achieve?).
By having the confidence to challenge and ask why – often multiple times – you’ll soon find yourself at the nub of the issue. From “I need a PDF guide creating” to “We need to address a growing employee retention issue” in the space of a few short questions.
Back to listening. Put yourself in the shoes of someone asked to attend a focus group, one-on-one or group interview. Your burning question, regardless of topic, would be: “What is this going to be used for?” So don’t walk into the room unless you can summarise:
- What you’re trying to find out
- What the output will be
- When people can expect to be updated
In your organisation, is listening something you do because you feel you should, or something you do with a purpose? That’s the sort of question friends should be asking and might stop those lovingly crafted, intensely researched audit reports, slide decks and recommendation documents languishing in drawers (or buried on servers).
If you want some help finding your purpose when it comes to employee voice and listening, or how to turn your recommendations into positive actions, reach out to us.
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