Why leaders need to start listening to their staff
Managers should master the art of ‘respectful inquiry’ – asking questions and then listening attentively to the answer
Always, as managers of large organisations, we are told to “listen to your staff”. New research at UNSW Business School shows how crucial this is.
Several years ago, I ran a series of experiments to test the theory that a bad apple team member could ruin the bunch.
I sent an actor into meetings, one who would act like a bad apple by behaving like a jerk, dragging down the mood or generally being a slacker. And indeed, in most cases, having a bad apple in the team led to worse team performance and dynamics.
But one meeting was an exception, with the group performing remarkably well. And I wondered why. So I began to investigate the secret of that meeting’s success. What I discovered was as simple as it was powerful.
Success was largely due to one person who was a talented informal leader. He asked lots of open-ended questions to engage people and distract others away from the bad apple.
He was also very good at listening once he had asked a question. I found out later that he happened to be the son of a diplomat. He was the good apple who saved the bunch.