In today’s fast-paced work environment, leaders must embrace the art of listening to truly understand their teams, address concerns, and create an atmosphere where feedback leads to action. Listening is more than just hearing words; it’s about absorbing information, processing it meaningfully, and acting on it. Rob Catalano is tapping into the opportunity to help us sharpen our listening skills so that we can truly make an impact via feedback. He has navigated a dynamic career path focused on enhancing employee experiences across organizations. He is deeply invested in transforming workplace cultures through effective listening and structured feedback and replacing blame with curiosity to foster psychological safety and enhance employee feedback mechanisms. In this blog, we’ll explore why intentional listening is critical for any workplace, how leaders can practice it effectively, and why organizations must adopt systems that scale feedback and listening efforts efficiently.
Why Intentional Listening Matters in Leadership
Listening is one of the most vital yet often overlooked skills for leaders. When leaders listen well, it fosters trust, encourages open communication, and leads to better outcomes. But what does intentional listening actually involve? It’s more than just nodding along to what someone is saying. It requires being fully present, processing the information thoughtfully, and responding in ways that show the speaker their input is valued.
One of the biggest issues organizations face is a lack of intentionality when it comes to listening. As companies grow and priorities shift, listening often becomes passive—something that happens occasionally rather than being an ingrained practice. As Rob, Chief Engagement Officer at Work Tango, points out, “There’s no such thing as survey fatigue; there’s only lack of action fatigue.” People don’t get tired of sharing their insights, but they will stop if their feedback doesn’t lead to meaningful change.
The Three Pillars of Intentional Listening
Listening, when done well, can be broken down into three essential components: frequency, rhythm, and action.
- Frequency: Listening should happen regularly. Whether through one-on-one conversations, team meetings, or larger organizational feedback mechanisms, creating consistent opportunities to gather input is crucial. Without a structured cadence, feedback becomes inconsistent and often less valuable. The key is to establish regular checkpoints—weekly, monthly, or quarterly—where leaders actively seek out feedback and make time to listen.
- Rhythm: Listening needs a rhythm that fits into the flow of the workday or workweek. In many organizations, leaders get caught up in the daily hustle and lose sight of the importance of regular feedback sessions. Setting a rhythm ensures that listening doesn’t fall by the wayside. Whether through scheduled meetings or regular surveys, having a set rhythm keeps the practice of listening alive and well.
- Action: Listening without action is a wasted effort. Once feedback is collected, the next step is to turn it into action. As Rob explains, “You don’t listen just because it makes you feel good. You listen to be able to do something with that insight or data”. The action may not always involve making immediate changes, but it’s essential to follow up with feedback, explaining why certain changes can or cannot happen. This closes the loop and helps build trust within teams.
These pillars—frequency, rhythm, and action—form the foundation for intentional listening. When practiced regularly, they create an environment where employees feel heard and leaders can respond meaningfully.
Common Pitfalls in Listening and Feedback
Despite its simplicity, many organizations struggle with creating effective listening practices. One major issue is relying too heavily on annual surveys. While these surveys can offer valuable insights, they are often too infrequent to capture the fast-paced changes in employee sentiment. Furthermore, many companies take months to process the data from these surveys, by which time the feedback may be outdated.
In today’s world, where real-time responses are the norm, organizations must shift away from outdated feedback methods. As Rob points out, “Our world is real-time right now… One conversation could change the trajectory of a person”. Annual surveys fail to capture the immediacy of these changes, making it harder to address current concerns.
Additionally, the idea of “survey fatigue” often arises in discussions about feedback systems. However, survey fatigue isn’t caused by the act of collecting feedback—it’s caused by the inaction that follows. Employees are more than willing to share their experiences, but if they feel their voices are not being heard or that their feedback isn’t leading to change, they’ll eventually disengage.
Moving Toward a Continuous Listening Model
The solution to these pitfalls is adopting a continuous listening model. Instead of relying on one-time surveys or occasional feedback sessions, organizations should implement systems that gather feedback throughout the entire employee lifecycle. This includes feedback during onboarding, after major projects, and even during exit interviews. Continuous listening ensures that leaders stay attuned to the needs and challenges of their employees at all stages of their journey.
Diagnostic Feedback
A key aspect of continuous listening is the use of diagnostic feedback. This involves going beyond basic metrics to understand the root causes of employee sentiment. For example, rather than simply tracking employee engagement scores, leaders should dig deeper into why those scores fluctuate. They can ask follow-up questions like, “What could we do differently?” or “How can we improve this experience?” This type of feedback helps leaders identify actionable solutions that address the real issues employees face.
Equipping Leaders for Active Listening
For organizations to build a culture of active listening, leaders at all levels must be equipped with the tools and skills to practice it. One strategy is to hold Brutal Facts sessions, where teams are encouraged to discuss what went wrong over a given period. In these sessions, the focus is on identifying areas for improvement without assigning blame. This approach creates a psychologically safe environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their challenges.
Another key practice is ensuring that feedback flows freely and frequently between all levels of the organization. Leaders must create space for regular one-on-one conversations, where employees are encouraged to share both their successes and their frustrations. “Feedback is a gift, but if we don’t make space for it, it doesn’t happen,” as Rob noted(5_16_G_S_Rob_Catalano_m…). This means setting aside dedicated time for listening and feedback, even when other priorities seem more pressing.
Scaling Listening Across Organizations
For organizations looking to scale their listening efforts, technology can play a pivotal role. Feedback systems should be designed to collect real-time data, allowing leaders to respond quickly to employee concerns. This eliminates the lag that often comes with traditional surveys and ensures that feedback reaches the right people at the right time.
By making real-time feedback accessible to leaders at all levels, organizations can reduce the time between gathering insights and taking action. “You eliminate that time for feedback to get to the people that can do something with it,” Rob explained. With systems like these, data can be broken down by teams, departments, or even individual employees, giving leaders the ability to act on the specific concerns of their direct reports.
A real-world example of this approach is a large retail company that successfully implemented continuous listening to engage its employees more effectively. By honing in on specific groups within the organization—such as the pharmacy team—they were able to gather targeted feedback and address the unique challenges that team faced. The result was improved employee satisfaction and engagement scores in that area, demonstrating the power of timely, focused feedback.
Tactical Tips for Leaders
For leaders looking to improve their listening skills, here are a few practical tips:
- Create Regular Space for Feedback: Schedule weekly one-on-one meetings with your team members, where the focus is solely on listening and gathering feedback. This ensures that you stay connected with your team’s experiences and concerns in real time.
- Practice Active Listening Exercises: A simple exercise involves giving your team specific instructions for a task—such as drawing a stick figure—without giving them the chance to ask questions. The result? Each person’s drawing will look different. This exercise illustrates the importance of creating space for clarifying questions and ensuring everyone is on the same page when giving feedback.
- Replace Blame with Curiosity: Instead of jumping to conclusions or assigning blame, approach feedback with curiosity. “I always like to say, how do you replace blame with curiosity in your feedback mechanism, but adopt a learning mindset,” Rob explains. Ask questions that invite collaboration, such as “I noticed this happened—what do you think we could do to improve it?” This shifts the conversation from blame to problem-solving and encourages employees to engage in finding solutions.
The Impact of Intentional Listening
Intentional listening is not just a leadership skill—it’s a powerful tool for creating engaged, motivated teams. By focusing on frequency, rhythm, and action, leaders can build a culture of trust where employees feel valued and heard. Whether you’re a team leader or an executive, implementing a continuous listening strategy ensures that feedback leads to meaningful change and drives organizational success.
Listen to the episode: Gut + Science | 252: Intentional Listening and Diagnostic Feedback with Rob Catalano
Key Takeaways:
- Replacing blame with curiosity in feedback for enhanced psychological safety
- Harnessing frequent, rhythmic, and actionable listening to drive employee engagement
- Utilizing data and continuous listening to inform real-time, impactful decisions
- The crucial role of diagnostic feedback in understanding and enhancing employee experiences
- Strategies for implementing an effective and scalable active listening system within organizations
Things to listen for:
[00:06:15] Active listening model integrates frequency and feedback.
[00:09:29] Identify macro, frequency, leaders, real-time feedback, engagement.
[00:11:15] Ensure easy feedback access for all employees.
[00:15:30] Specific stick figure instructions; need to listen.
[00:18:42] Data is essential for focus and clarity.
[00:20:37] Replace blame with curiosity, adopt a learning mindset.
[00:23:31] Excitement for the EOS model and passion.
[00:27:42] Combat survey fatigue with active listening and data.
