Showing Up For Your Team…Are You Listening?

Are you hearing what your teams are saying through their words or actions or are you limited because of the box you have put yourself in?  

Are you just hearing the voices of your peers or those that align with your way of thinking or are you listening to a broad, diverse audience?  

Are you hearing individual insights but not stepping back to see if there's a broader message?

This article about Riot Games made me start thinking about the criticality of true listening in organizations - by organizational leaders and day to day team leaders.    We make decisions every day based on what we believe we know.  But, what if our knowledge is only partial because we're not fully listening?

What if we're not making the best decision we can because we don't have the insights from a diverse set of thinkers? 

What if our decision hasn't been fully tested by people open to challenging ideas?  

What if we're not asking "what will make this decision fail" or "what will be required to make this work?"  

What if we don't understand the daily challenges our people are facing?

What if we're not seeing or hearing about the micro-aggressions occurring in our workplace that hinder our employees from fully reaching their potential?

We may be making decisions that may be suboptimal for the long-term.  We may be perpetuating programs and environments that are not healthy.

Listening is critical right now with the environment our workplaces are facing...a global pandemic that is changing the way we work and causing additional stressors because of the unknown impacts, the need to address the racial and gender injustices in our country and our workplaces, an upcoming election, and general concern with the economy as a result of the pandemic.  With many employees either on the front-lines and dealing with that pressure or the many employees working from home, it may be harder to really hear the opinions of your team.  It's more important than ever to check in regularly and create a safe environment for your team to be able to share what they are struggling with - either personally or professionally.  

The positive outcome of the pandemic is that more organizations and leaders are focusing on the overall wellness of their employees, but this focus is not a sprint but needs to be a marathon or, as I heard one speaker mention yesterday, it's an IronMan distance.  The research is showing that mental health concerns are rising as a result of this pandemic, whether because of the fear of the illness or grief due to those who have been directly impacted or the reduction in social interaction, or some combination of factors. As a leader, you need to understand what's on the mind of your team members.  We need to listen to our teams and what they're facing and solve the challenges individually in some cases but systemically in others.  We need to make sure we're not just hearing what's in our "telephone booth" as in the picture.

I thought this comment from Nicolo Laurent, Riot Games CEO was insightful, "Listening is critical to make sure you don't miss the forest for the trees. Looking back, I now realize that many of Riot's cultural issues arose in part from focusing and solving isolated events, but never stepping back to consider the whole landscape."  Obviously, he's referring to specific issues they were and are still facing but it's a lesson to all of us as we lead teams and organizations.  He also points out, "In that moment, a couple of vital points became clear to me. First, the future of Riot -- and of any organization -- rests on a culture where people are comfortable speaking up, and leaders carefully listen when they do. Second, the most successful organizations don't stop at investigation and discipline "whack a mole," but also empower every employee to be an agent of change and support in building a culture we can all be proud of."

To be good leaders in our organizations, we need to do a few things...

• Create and maintain an environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and taking risks

• Build 1:1 and team trust

• Don't assume you understand everyone's perspective if they haven't spoken up.  Encourage participation even if it's a dissenting opinion.

• Provide multiple channels for information to be shared and discussed.  Go on a listening tour if you haven't recently.

• Listen without reacting.  Some things you hear, you will disagree with and want to defend the position.  Seek instead to understand the other perspective.

• Check your reaction when you want to defend your position...what's making you believe they are wrong?  Is it ego or something else? 

2020 has turned out to be an inflection point across many areas of our lives.  Maybe now is the time to assess how well you and your organization are doing related to listening, interpreting, finding insights, and setting a new direction based on what you've learned.

As my most recent boss often reminded us and is quoted often elsewhere, "we were born with 2 ears and 1 mouth, and we should use them proportionately."  Is it time to do more listening?  Is it time to broaden the audience to whom you are listening?  

The opportunity is greater learning, increased perceptions of inclusiveness, and better decision making.  Sounds like a worthwhile focus.