Listen to Lead: Raise Retention and Boost Business

In 2023, there is a heightened level of communication and transparency expected from corporations when it comes to their employees. And both consumers and investors increasingly want to know that employers are paying fair wages, providing healthcare and paid leave, and ensuring safety in the workplace, so that they attract and retain the best talent. To compete successfully today, maintaining leadership in employee engagement is critical. This starts with listening, and it continues with action.

Leaders often forget the power and importance of a simple coffee, a simple question, and just listening before we make assumptions about our team members. Listening not only helps to retain existing employees, but also helps with onboarding new employees. Finding the time to commit to listening strengthens company culture by showing that you care.

Great leaders don’t command. Great leaders listen.

Listening is so important in these fast-changing times. It’s how we learn where our employees are thriving, and how we can best support them.

For our guests, Luke is not the face of Luke’s Lobster, and neither am I. Our teammates are. They are the ones that talk to our guests, learn who they are, why they came, what they like and don’t like. They turn first-time visitors into regulars. And they handle our product constantly, while we as leaders can’t do that. So they’re the experts. Our company would not still be here today if we didn’t put our team’s feedback first when we make decisions about the company.

Deep listening practices with my team has helped me go beyond knowing what our workplace culture looks like. Now, I also understand better how it feels. Once you get a pulse on your internal culture, it’s important to act on what you hear. By listening, I’ve acted on empowering my team with more decision-making. I already see examples of a more joyous and liberating work experience. We’re on the road to creating a thriving culture that leads to better results.

A culture where all belong and feel valued starts with authentically engaging and prioritizing employee voice.

Our team members are key stakeholders. Their concerns matter as much as our clients’ concerns because they help drive if, when, and how we deliver mission impact.

In order to be the most effective at advancing the business case of investing in the worker, we must take a data-driven approach to measuring job quality, and clearly demonstrate that workforce investments can lead to positive business and financial outcomes. Creating tools and instruments to quantitatively measure job quality that are voice-of-the-worker informed and focused on what employees want – good jobs – and not what companies want – greater productivity – will further help strengthen the case. We believe that good jobs aren’t just good for society, they are good business.