Simple, Free, & Fun Activity to Help You Be a Better Leader!

  Having worked in international conflict resolution for over fifteen years and in leadership development for over a decade, I am clear that the most powerful tool a leader has for engaging employees and driving performance is the ability to understand how another person experiences their work and world. When an employee feels seen and understood by their leader, they feel valued. Valued employees stay longer, work harder, and strive to be their best.

The most powerful tool a leader has for engaging employees and driving performance is the ability to understand how another person experiences their work and world.

Where others battle resignation and resistance, leaders who develop the ability to ask questions, listen through complaints and hear the underlying commitments, know how to powerfully engage their people and drive performance.

Leaders who develop the ability to ask questions, listen through complaints and hear the underlying commitments, know how to powerfully engage their people and drive performance.

Although some people may have a natural tendency and desire to empathize with and understand others, this is a skill set one can develop with focused practice.  Below is a simple no cost activity to help you begin, or further develop, this leadership imperative.

Activity: Employee Experience Social Scientist

This week, take on being a social scientist and interview three to five people in different roles to understand what it is like to do what they do every day.  It is powerful to pick people who work in your organization, but random people from the street are powerful as well.  

 To avoid creeping people out, start this activity by creating a context for your questions: You may start with “I am doing a mini research project for a leadership training activity. Do you have 5-minutes for me to ask you a few questions?” (If you don’t know their name, introduce yourself.)

Questions:

• How long have you been doing _______?
• What is the hardest part of doing your job?
• What do you wish others understood about what it is like to do your job?
• What are you most proud of?
• What keeps you doing this job every day?

After, thank them for their willingness to share and for the work they do every day! (Feel free to ask more questions.)

As you ask questions, your job is to just listen.  Only respond with questions that dig deeper to understand why they feel the way they feel.  

If it sounds like a person is complaining, suspend judgment and remember that behind every complaint is a hidden commitment. Listen for the commitment, listen for what is important to them.  

Practice:

Suspending judgment and remember that behind every complaint is a hidden commitment.

After you complete the five interviews, don’t stop, keep going. As you interview more and more people you will start to notice patterns. You will learn what people want and need to feel valued, and what causes people to not feel valued. Take note, it is understanding these experiences, learning to hear through the words to the commitments, that makes a leader extraordinary!

Learning to hear through the words to the commitments, that makes a leader extraordinary!

Team Activity:

Are you the head of a leadership team? This is a great activity to do as a team. Have each member commit to interviewing five people in your organization between your leadership team meetings and have them share what they learned! 

Please let me know how it goes! [email protected] and follow me on LinkedIn

About the Author:

Christopher Littlefield, is the founder of AcknowledgmentWorks. He trains leaders around the world in the Art of Acknowledgment and Engagement. His work revolves around the understanding that at the heart of all of our relationships is the experience of feeling valued. Conducting over 400 interviews and collecting thousands of surveys around the globe have shaped Chris’ unique understanding of what employees really want and need to feel valued. Chris has worked with Fidelity Investments, Kraft Foods, The Lebanese Postal Service, Salesforce, United Nations and more. Watch Chris as he shares his research at TEDx Beirut.