Listening to Lead: How Gathering Feedback Drives Success
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” — Ken Blanchard
When we face challenges in the workplace, our instinct is often to create a new process to solve the problem or overcome the obstacle. Whether it's delivering on a sales budget, managing payroll expenses, or planning a multitude of projects, we strive to find solutions to alleviate our team's stress. However, once we think we've found an answer, we often implement it as a directive and expect flawless execution. But what if the key to better outcomes lies not just in the solutions we create, but in the feedback we seek along the way?
What if that formula was different? What if we spent more time as a leader framing up the problem we want to overcome so that it is well-defined and clear? Then we sought answers from our team. Or, perhaps we offer up a solution as a potential direction, but open the conversation up for further ideas and iterations. Of course, the relationship you have with your team or even your peers may determine what that conversation looks like initially, but with time, patience, and an open mind, solutions will begin to flow. One idea will lead to another. Soon, everyone will start to engage with other people’s opinions. Ultimately, you can land on the best solution for everyone instead of just a fraction of the group.
How can you begin to make this happen in your environment? Here are three ideas you can use to create a continual flow of ideas for better outcomes.
Create Listening Sessions
Set up specific times that you can listen to feedback, input, and information from others. These sessions can take various forms. They might be small group meetings or one-on-one discussions. One of my favorite methods is hosting a town hall style meeting with a group of leaders, where we open the floor to whatever is on their minds. You can begin the conversation with some basic facilitation and discussion starters, then as the group becomes comfortable sharing, the dialogue expands. What I like about these sessions is it allows the leader to be in full listen mode, but also encourages all the participants to engage with each other and not just the leader. Hearing the dialogue between the others is just as important as the direct communication with you.
Facilitate ideation workshops
Similar to listening sessions, it can be productive to set aside specific times to have team members join together to share their ideas on key subjects for the sake of building for the future. The idea is to remove all barriers, obstacles, or limitations that people may feel in the current environment and explore what might be possible. An excellent way to start the conversation may be to state what the desired outcome is long-term and then ask, “what would need to be true in order for that to happen as we described?” That immediately allows everyone to discuss ideas without the limitations of his or her current realities. In fact, it may even allow for some present obstacles to be openly discussed to discover why they are blocking the desired outcomes.
There are two critical elements that you need to have for active ideation workshops. First, gather a group that is diverse in their thought processes. You do not want a number of people who think the same together. You’ll end up with a very narrow look at the subject you are discussing. Second, establish two ground rules up front: you are looking for ALL possibilities, good, bad, reasonable, unreasonable, silly or serious. And, you want a look from all perspectives. Finally, empower the team to think beyond their comfort zone. Titles, positions, skills, or seniority do not play a role in this discussion. Everyone’s voice is equal, and you want to hear from everyone.
Celebrate successes AND failures
You aim to encourage the flow of ideas and recommendations all the time, and not just during special sessions. That will only happen if the culture for sharing has been established and people feel safe in doing so. Celebrating every suggestion and idea becomes important for people to see that you value the idea as much as the outcome. It is easy to demonstrate that even an idea that doesn’t come to full fruition is desired. There are always learnings from every action; those can be used for future purposes and activities. It really is a case of ‘there are no bad ideas.’ As people see that there are positive consequences for even the suggestions that aren’t home runs, they will continue to share their thoughts and ideas. That certainly is something to celebrate.
Here is a bonus idea that will ensure you take your innovative thinking to a larger scale: SHARE your ideas early and often. Too often, we keep our thoughts to ourselves and wait for results before we let others in on what we are doing. As I recently shared, this is a missed opportunity on multiple levels. Just because something isn’t a proven success doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share and get even more input about how your idea can be expanded and improved. Just be mindful of your position as a leader, if you share up front, you need to ensure that does not substitute for other’s ideas. You do not want to stifle other ideas or make it seem as though you have all the answers.
One of the most important roles any leader plays is to tap into the expertise, passion, and experiences of others. Creating an environment that encourages people to contribute their best thinking will lead to innovation, growth, and financial success. All things that every business is looking for today. Open your mind, eyes, and ears and begin discovering the full potential and power of those around you.
What will you do to tap into the power of ideas from your team?
Quick Summary
Create Listening Sessions: Set up times to gather feedback in small group meetings, one-on-one discussions, or town hall style meetings.
Facilitate Ideation Workshops: Encourage team members to share ideas freely, focusing on possibilities without current limitations.
Celebrate Successes and Failures: Foster a culture where all ideas are valued, learning from every attempt.
Share Ideas Early and Often: Openly discuss your thoughts to gather more input and refine your approach.
Tap Into Team Expertise: Leverage the collective wisdom of your team to drive innovation and achieve better outcomes.
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