The average American changes jobs 12 times over their career, according to research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics examining the career trajectories of older Boomers.
If those statistics hold for younger generations in the workforce, that means we will, on average, recalibrate our work and our work relationships every 4 years.
So how do we do that well?
That question was on Daniel’s mind, a mid-career leader who reached out to me a few weeks ago. Daniel is moving his family across Canada to become the lead pastor of a congregation in Ontario.
“I want to start by listening,” Daniel told me. Then he asked for help in finding good questions for uncovering the congregation’s realities — the sort of truths that, without intentional listening, would otherwise take leaders months or even years to understand.
Understanding as a starting place
There’s a newly built home just a block away from my own house in Chicago. It’s new construction, but that wasn’t the owners’ original plan. They purchased an older home, built in the late 1890s like the others on our street, and planned to renovate it themselves. Wanting a fresher look, they began removing walls on the first floor to create an open-concept living area.
Their intentions were good — but the house collapsed. Unknowingly, they had removed a support beam, and the home quickly fell on itself. (Thankfully, no one was hurt.)
I think of that story often when I hear of leaders who arrive at a new job with plans of impressing their new team on Day 1. They roll in with fresh ideas, new directions and powerful insights. They make fast changes, at the risk of taking out a support beam.
A little research would have saved the home. A little research can also keep executives from making shortsighted moves.
Entering a new role means walking into an organization with an existing set of opportunities and challenges. The existing team has worries and hopes, superpowers and talent gaps. It’s your job to uncover them. This level of understanding is only reached through intentional listening.
Conducting a listening tour is an essential first activity of your first 90 days in a new role. Without focused listening, you risk taking out a support beam. With focused listening, you might uncover a hidden opportunity that helps you succeed faster.
Questions for your first 90-days listening tour
In our conversation, Daniel and I crafted a series of questions he could ask congregational stakeholders to help him understand their hopes for his leadership. We shaped the questions using the Appreciative Inquiry framework; It is a collaborative, future-focused process of organizational change.
Below are three questions you can use as you enter a new role.
#1: High Point Experience
I’m sure you’ve had ups and downs throughout your time at our organization. I want to hear about one of your high-point experiences — a time when you felt you were really contributing to our mission. A time when the work was high quality, people were performing well, and progress was clear. Tell me the story of this high point experience.
What was it about you that made this experience possible? What was it about others? What was it about the organization (its culture, ways of working, processes, resources, values or systems)?
Why this question works well: Starting here gives your team a subtle opportunity to share strengths and experiences, without feeling like they’re bragging. You can find out what is working well and what people are proud of.
#2: Images of the Future
Now, imagine it’s two years from now, and this is the organization (or team) of your dreams. The work is energizing, you feel productive and valued, and we’re making incredible progress toward goals. As you look around, you can see others feel this way too — people are working with efficiency and ease, and the results are impactful. Tell the story of this future.
What is new? What is different? What is the same? What does it mean for our products, our processes and our teams? What does it mean for you? Tell me what’s happening.
Why this question works well: People can get stuck in the day-to-day; by looking a few years ahead, the needed growth often becomes clearer. This question also allows people to name changes they’d like to see happen without being seen as a complainer. Incredible new ideas often emerge as people realize they have permission to share ideas that compel them.
#3: Strategic Opportunities
Now, with that future in mind, what are the most important things for me to know or focus on right now? In six months? Tell me in order of priority.
Why this question works well: Blue-sky thinking in the previous question can unlock many organizational truths; with the third question, we ask people to make a choice — what is your highest priority to help us reach the future we desire? The ideas become more concrete and actionable, helping you find possible paths forward.
How to conduct your listening tour
For small teams, these questions are great to ask in one-to-one conversations. Listen carefully to the answers, repeat what you hear back and take good notes. Then, be sure to follow up as you implement ideas or move the team closer to the vision a teammate shared.
With a larger group, you may need to bring sub-teams together for a listening session in which colleagues can interview one another using these questions, then share their collective insights with you, their new executive.
Of course, the listening shouldn’t stop with these three questions. Follow up and continue to ask questions that deepen your understanding of the organization, which means going beyond simple facts to grasp the relationships, assumptions, values, motives and priorities that shape the work.
Follow listening with action
Eventually, it is time to share your insights. At the end of your listening tour, you’ll have the benefit of connecting your fresh ideas to the hopes, needs and opportunities that your team identified in their responses.
People support what they help to create. Your team will receive your ideas with more enthusiasm if they can see their fingerprints on the plans.
If you’re about to join a new organization or move into a new role, conducting a listening tour will signal that you hear and appreciate your team’s ideas. It will create psychological safety and earn respect, especially if you follow listening with action.
You’ll also have created a personal connection with your team members, helping to fast-track the familiarity that makes work easier and creates understanding between team members.
The three questions outlined above are a great place to start; if you want to understand better how to adapt these questions, which draw on the Appreciative Inquiry framework, find additional resources here.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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