Who’s listening? A small-scale research project exploring how organisations listen to employees
Preface
The authors believe listening is critical to improved performance and
decision-making within organisations; and is more important than ever given how the nature of work and the workforce is changing, the increased focus on ethical and social purpose as well as the drive to innovate.
However, this initial small-scale study suggests that there are some important barriers to better listening because we undervalue it and pay lip service to effective listening as a key leadership capability.
The results of the work in this report suggest that while we talk a good story about listening we do not actually practice it, especially when it comes to employees. We focus more on external stakeholders and politely nod to the importance of internal listening.
This report calls for recognition by leaders of the critical role of listening and challenges internal communicators to drive change in this area.
Authors
Howard Krais, Mike Pounsford, and Kevin Ruck
Paper
Tags: listening (44) | speak up (26)
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In-person, 7–11 September 2026
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