Listening Tours

Purpose

A listening tour gives leaders an opportunity to systematically ask people the same set of questions to get a pulse on how the team feels. The goals of the tour are to:

1. Ensure every person on the team gets a chance to share their perspective

2. Give the leaders an opportunity to learn and help them stay connected to the experience of people working on the team

3. Potentially inform future projects and decisions

If done well, a listening tour can support leaders with building an environment where people know their opinions are heard and valued. When leaders demonstrate they are learning and listening, it can help build trust on the team and encourage team members to speak openly in the future.

The Set Up

Organizations have different team sizes and reporting structures. Once you decide what type of information you’re interested in collecting, decide which listening tour format you will use. Here are different examples:

• One does all: One senior leader has a 15 minute 1-on-1 with each team member

• Share the load: The whole staff is divided into logical categories and different senior leaders are assigned to do 1-on-1s with each person who falls within a certain category (ie: new staff/returning staff, teaching staff/non-instructional staff, etc.).

• Small groups: Divide the staff into groups of 3-4 and have a group conversations for 45-60 minutes.

Share the purpose of the listening tour with your team and 2-4 questions they should think about in advance of the conversation. Oftentimes these questions correspond to an organizational priority or goal. Ask each person the same set of questions. Here are some example questions:

1. What’s going well and what is contributing to that success?

2. What challenges have you faced at work this year?

3. What parts of your onboarding were most/least helpful?

4. If you had a magic wand, what would you change about our organization?

5. What are 1-2 things that would help you be more successful at work?

6. What don’t I know that I should know?

Tips for Scheduling

If done well, you can incorporate a listening tour into your schedule without overloading your calendar. Avoid sprinkling conversations throughout your calendar over the course of several weeks. Instead, try to concentrate the conversations within a 2 week time span by canceling or shortening recurring team meetings and check-ins.

Give yourself a buffer between conversations so that you can take notes, stretch and clear your head. Have people sign up at :00 and :30 after the hour so that you can have 15-20 minute conversation with each person and 10 minutes between people to decompress.

Try alternating listening days with regular work days to give yourself a break. You likely have time to have 6 conversations in the morning, take a long lunch break and have 6 conversations in the afternoon. If you had 2 listening days per week, you could feasibly talk with 20+ team members a week while still having days to attend to other important work.

Occasionally, you might have a small action that needs to be taken after a conversation (sending someone a resource, connecting two people by email, etc.). During listening weeks, block out time in your calendar for these quick follow ups.

During the Meeting

Your goal during the chat is to stay connected and to fully understand the other person’s perspective. When/if you find yourself being triggered by feedback you receive.  Use a self-management strategy to stay in learning mode, rather than defense mode.  For example, you might channel your curiosity and ask more about what they’re sharing “you said… can you tell me more about what that could look like?”  You might use mirroring to make sure you fully understood, “I hear you saying, x… did I get that right?”  You might find it helpful to have a notebook to jot quick notes, or if you’re able to keep your laptop to the side and maintain good eye contact, you can try that as well.

At the close of your meeting, share gratitude for the conversation in the way that feels most genuine to you.  Share a synopsis of what you heard, what you will be thinking more about and any small actions you plan on following up on. Do not feel the pressure to make promises of action — under promise, over deliver is my motto!

After the Tour

Choose an appropriate forum to share back what you have learned such as a staff meeting or a weekly newsletter. Here is some guidance that might help you decide what to share:

1. What themes emerged?

2. What were some common successes and challenges?

3. What did you learn? What do you know now that you didn’t know before?

4. What additional thinking or conversations are you going to have as a result of the tour?

5. What small or big changes are you considering as a result of feedback you received?

Good luck designing and executing your upcoming listening tour and reach out if you need support!