- Sep 16, 2022
Strategic Listening: The Secret Sauce of Innovation
- Randall Rogers
- 0 comments
Strategic listening is the secret sauce of innovation! Yes, perhaps hard to believe but, in my experience, nonetheless true. Our ability to actively listen to another human being is the most unknown, underrated, and underdeveloped skill we possess and as you will learn also the key to bringing about transformational innovations within your company.
Trouble is, few, if any of us have been formally trained on how to actively listen to others. We take classes on how to communicate better, how to collaborate better, how to write better but when have you ever been trained to strengthen your ability to listen; to actively and deeply listen to another human being? Hence, in this post we will discuss the lost, yet innately familiar art of strategic listening.
Firstly, let me set proper business context for why actively listening to others matters. Here it is: better listening leads to better conversations which leads to better meetings which leads to better business outcomes. Now, in this context a better business outcome could be solving your operational problems faster, accelerating your product development process, improving the customer experience, or innovating for the future, among many other things.
The chain of logic between better listening driving better communication and better communication driving better meetings and better meetings driving better business outcomes is intact. This is undeniable. So, it seems our ability to actively listen to others is THE catalyst for all that follows. Therefore, let’s better understand how to do this.
To actively listen to others first requires acknowledging that for most of us our default mode of listening is – NOT listening. Heretical statement? Perhaps, but you know the truth.
As one of my favorite authors (William Isaacs – Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together) states: “we do not listen, we reload.” What this implies is that when most people enter a meeting or conversation they are thinking only about their ideas, their agenda; their need to prove out their point of view. And when we do this it leaves little room to consider others’ point of view that might be contrary to your own. Hence, when someone is saying something disconfirming to what you think you know the tendency is to dismiss such comment while at the same time preparing a rebuttal.
Of note, preparing the rebuttal is evidence of you ‘reloading’. I suspect you know this reflex well. We all do it.
But, and for obvious reasons, such habit does not create the conditions for active inquiry, deep learning, and innovations to occur. Such outcomes, real innovation is only possible when we choose to actively listen to others; to hear their ideas thus broadening, expanding, and improving ours in the process. There is a reason such adage exists: “two heads are better than one.” So, how do we do this?
How can we create the conditions to enable the cascade of better listening, better conversations, better meetings, and better business outcomes occurring? Well, as all the above strongly alludes – it begins with YOU. To improve YOUR ability to actively listen to others requires deliberately and consistently practicing the following (before/during/after each of your meetings):
Pre-Meeting Practices
Develop a set of key remembrances to read to remind you of the need to do the following:
Be open minded; to being influenced by others
To consider others’ thoughts, other perspectives
To not ‘reload’ when presented with disconfirming thoughts
To treat those next to you as teachers; someone to learn from
Remember you represent only a single perspective of ANY view
Remember you are not cornering the market on good ideas
In-Meeting Practices
Remain conscious of your thinking; your thoughts
Be mindful, in the moment, of why you are thinking the way you are
Challenge your own assumptions, beliefs, mental models (real-time)
Refrain from responding immediately to others’ comments; suspend your impulse to respond; instead, redirect your efforts to actively listening to what others have to say
Practice empathy; put yourself in the shoes of another to fully consider their point of view
Post-Meeting Practices
Reflect on how well you listened to others (i.e., tuned-out your own internal chatter)
Reflect on how mature, reasoned, and thoughtful your responses were
Reflect on what you can do better next time (be still a better listener, etc.)
Know this: to actively listen, in an unfailing way, to others takes considerable effort, presence, and attention. This is not likely a well-formed capability of yours and thus will take weeks if not months to cultivate and develop. Do not be discouraged by this fact, as with each passing day, week, and month you will see remarkable progress in your ability to actively listen to others and that will excite and inspire you further. In time, you will develop a high-order capability that few people possess.
In my 30 years of corporate life, I have encountered very few individuals who have possessed the ability to deeply, actively listen to others – in the moment. We stand in awe of these people. Their skill is noticeable, unmistakable, and infectious.
In such instances, I’ve always found myself asking: “what is happening here”; “what skill am I observing”; “how can I do that”. For the past several years, I have deliberately tried to improve my own ability to actively listen to others – and it has not only helped me become a better professional but has helped those around me and the broader companies I’ve served. I know the following ‘pairs’ of logic to be true – [better listening does lead to better conversation] and [better conversations do lead to better meetings] and [better meetings do lead to better business outcomes].
I suspect your human and business instincts tell you the same. Therefore, choose today to elevate your listening ability. Choose today to develop this high-order capability.
Choose today to become one of the ‘vital few’. For when you do, it will lead to better outcomes for all – you and all those you inspire along the way.
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