In our work on organizational listening, carried out jointly with Mike Pounsford and Kevin Ruck, we argue that there are many benefits for companies who listen effectively. One of these is the important role that listening plays in helping to deliver successful change management.

McKinsey claims that 70% of transformations don’t deliver what they promise. Think of the implied amount of time, effort and money lost if seven out of 10 transformations aren’t delivering. At its heart, we’ve learned organizations that listen well are more likely to generate good ideas on how to work effectively, manage change effectively and respond appropriately.

Drawing from nearly six years of dedicated research, our findings indicate that organizations that use data from employees to improve performance are perceived to be much more likely to manage change well, to innovate and to treat people fairly. So why is it that listening is so important in change?

The Pre-announcement Phase: A Critical Time for Listening

Before any announcement, it’s safe to suggest that a major transformation program will go through a set of rigorous processes. Senior leaders will likely spend time and effort before approving a business case that’s anticipated to deliver major benefits, typically financial in nature and often based on savings.

Recognizing the need to communicate this change, leaders collaborate with their communication teams to plan town halls, CEO briefings and other launch activities. These efforts stress the gravity of the program but can often be described as top down or broadcast in nature. In such circumstances, these tactics focus on encouraging employees to accept the planned changes as a set of logical and necessary actions.

Where this approach fails is that people don’t just make decisions based on logic — we simply don’t think that way. As people, we base our decisions as much on an emotional response as we do on logic. We need to internalize, consider, check understanding and then respond, often with additional ideas or suggestions.

In my work, I describe the three questions that people need to answer before they can get on board with change. The first two questions are:

1. What does this change mean to me?

2. What does this change mean to us as a team?

Only after you’ve answered these two questions to your satisfaction will you begin to think more about the future and start considering question three:

3. What actions can we start to take so we can influence and improve the change?

This is an emotional process based on building understanding, often through conversation, with listening at its heart. Employees might say “Help me to understand,” “Explain again until I’m clear” and “What do you think of my, or our, ideas?”

In allowing for conversation and supporting people as they build their understanding, listening not only helps individuals get on board with change but allows the organization to understand how people are feeling and where greater clarity or targeted support might be required.

The Importance of Listening in Building Resilience

In her book “Neuroscience for Communicators,” author Hilary Scarlett reinforces that “People want to feel that someone is listening, and this is especially true when going through change.”

Having managed to get people prepared to support a change, listening also helps to build resilience — the ability to sustain change and to keep going despite setbacks that often beset it. Providing opportunities for people to express how they feel about change helps reduce the negative impact that uncertainty, anxiety, anger and frustration might have. 

This was the case in one of my recent roles, where a decision was taken to rationalize a network of factories. An announcement followed confirming that one of the oldest and best-known sites in the network would close two years hence.

While the announcement was not necessarily a shock, its impact — if delivered poorly — could have had a far greater negative impact internally and externally. Efforts were made to provide opportunities for conversation. Leaders were coached so that, rather than simply broadcasting information, they would listen and encourage people to speak up.

The result was a notable shift in employee reaction, far from resigned acceptance or worse. As employees began to understand the plans, they started to think about the opportunities open to them. Ideas began to flow about potential projects, collaborating with other sites, offering valuable and additional experiences. This proactive approach also helped in building resilience among employees, enabling them to deal more constructively with what would still remain a challenging period.

The Agile Approach: Where Listening Is Inherent

Many companies feel the need to adapt to changing external environments with increasing speed and more rapid approaches to change. For many, an agile approach has become a popular way to think about change. Based on our research, we would argue that listening is inherent in the principles embodied in this agile approach.

• Being agile emphasizes the need to work collaboratively and consistently with end users or customers. This requires constant listening to their needs and reactions.
• Projects should be built around motivated individuals who should be given a supportive environment and trusted to get the job done.
• Face-to-face conversations, based on good listening, are recognized as the most efficient and effective method of conveying information.
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then adjusts its behavior accordingly.

More Listening, Less Talking

Almost every organization goes through change. However, given nearly three quarters of transformations are not delivering what they promise, it feels incumbent on organizations to think differently about how such programs are delivered. More time listening and less time talking is one way of getting employees to come on the journey — and maybe even improve it.

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