The Listening Organisation

In this episode, the team is joined by guest Howard Krais to discuss the importance of listening in organisations and the role of leadership in fostering a listening culture. He highlights the lack of emphasis on listening in business education and the challenges organisations face in prioritising and acting on feedback from internal stakeholders. He emphasises the need for leaders and internal communicators to develop interpersonal listening skills and become the voice of employees. He encourages internal communicators to take action by leveraging their influence to drive change and improve organizational outcomes through effective listening.

 

Takeaways

• Listening is a crucial skill for leaders and organisations to foster trust, engagement, and innovation.
• The lack of emphasis on listening in business education hinders leaders' ability to effectively listen and engage with employees.
• Organisations should prioritise and act on feedback from internal stakeholders to drive change and improve outcomes.
• Internal communicators can play a vital role in creating a listening culture by becoming the voice of employees and influencing decision-making.

 

About Howard Krais

Howard co-founded True, a business set up to help organisations build winning cultures through maximising the potential of their people in early 2023.

Before True, Howard spent much of his career in senior in house communications and engagement roles at businesses such as Ernst & Young, GSK and latterly Johnson Matthey. 

Over the last six years, together with colleague Mike Pounsford and Kevin Ruck, Howard has led work focused on how organisations listen. Following four ground-breaking reports, a book, entitled “Leading the Listening Organisation” was published by Routledge in December 2023. 

Howard was President of the UK chapter of International Association of Business Communicators for two years (2019-21), and Chairman of Wealdstone Football Club (2007-16). 

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-krais-4094a02/