The Listening Cycle: Closing the Loop

Over the last four weeks, I’ve elaborated on what I call the Closing the Loop. You can find the articles here. This consists of:

• Step 1: Recognizing the Unsaid – Unspoken things in your culture’s organization to recognize that your people aren’t telling their entire truth.
• Step 2: Seeking to Understand – Leaning in to understand someone’s perspective and really hearing them.
• Step 3: Decode – Taking time to reflect, investigate, and then ponder about the feedback you have been given and what to do about it.
• Step 4: Act – Acting upon what you’ve heard, so your people know their voices are powerful and that you will do something about the feedback that is given.
• Step 5: Closing the Loop – Connecting the dots by sharing what you’ve heard and the actions you’re taking.

I think, often, leaders don’t put in the time to truly learn how to listen because it may seem primal. But, the truth is, truly listening is something most leaders don’t know how to do.

Think about it – have you ever had a manager who really listened to you?

In this video, I break down what it means to connect the dots from the very beginning of the process to the very end.

Plus, I tell you about the extremely rewarding results that closing the loop has.

Hint, hint: it makes team members feel valued, heard, and included because they know that their feedback was taken into consideration and actions were taken as a result.

The Listening Cycle: Closing the Loop

I want to challenge you to write down (or think) about a time when:

You felt that your manager truly listened to you
You felt like your voice was not heard
Let’s think about how this made you feel.

Now that you have these two distinct feelings in mind, you will better understand how important completing the five steps in the listening process is.

You wouldn’t want to make someone feel like you did when your voice was not heard, right?

Of course not! So, I encourage you to take the initiative and create a Culture of Listening in your organization.

Heather R Younger is a highly sought-after speaker, 2x-TEDx speaker, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, and contributor to leading news outlets. She is also the Founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, a leading employee engagement and consulting firm.

After over 25,000 employee engagement surveys and years of working with organizations to transform employee engagement, here’s what Heather has seen over and over:

When you know how to listen, employees will tell you exactly what they need to bring their full selves to work for Closing the Loop.

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