Listening and the great clunking ham-fist

After the local election results the Beeb picked up a “we need to listen"meme running through all the Labour reactions (I can’t list them all, but it was endless). Good news I guess for Opinion Leader, Mori, and the other favoured pollsters. My own concern is whether what they practice really is the sort of deep, respectful listening I’ve observed in the Society of Friends, or whether it’s a sort of disrespectul, suferficial, Amstrad-like listening for the buying signals. ("Watts per channel RMS? I’ll give them watts per channel RMS...etc")

Here is, I fear, our answer, from the great clunking fist himself. What has he done wrong, asks Beeb R4 this Sunday morning?

I’ve spent too little time thinking how we can get our arguments across to the people

Noooooooooooooo no no! Too much time thinking about that. Not enough time cultivating respectful listening in the right way.

Published by William Heath on 04/05/08 at 9:14am

Comments

It’s probably the same sort of listening as a very recent MS customer sat survey.
I complained about MS software not doing what I expected (eg formatting in word, not being able to export to pdf) - stuff which drives me and my colleagues mad on a daily basis and the response was “thanks” but here’s are the issues that you told us last time… security, licencing and tech support. WIBBI we remember that a “consultation” or “survey” is not about confirming what we know but about seeking out alternative views?

Reply by on 05/06/08 at 11:12 am
For the hopelessly optimistic (such as myself - sometimes) it was fair to believe that Brown would indeed listen: he would develop policy on the basis of conversations with party members in and out of Westminster - that’s what he said. Now, I find it next to impossible to believe that Brown is capable of listening / learning lessons which might point to the need for serious listening. He is intransigent and mendacious.

He, and all senior Ministers, need to be exposed to the people to which they are accountable. Whose words they are supposed to listen to. Perhaps a monthly on-record meeting with a small group of electors might help a little. It would be like jury service, but to help remind powerful politicians that they are in fact public servants. The service would last for 3 meetings, then the minister would move on to another group (randomly selected).

They need our help…

Reply by on 05/06/08 at 3:20 pm
I’ve asked Patricia to place this comment here to underline my personal commitment to Listening as part of our wider work on Customer Insight. We had a meeting about this only last week, and I’ve already had a memo sent to all staff as a result. So in Whitehall, at least, we’re swinging into action on this one.

Reply by on 05/07/08 at 10:58 am
Perhaps records of all focus group meeting records should be made public after 30 days (What was asked, what were the results)? Electors need to know (and accountability demands) how and why particular decisions are made. Not just the formal (or sofa style) processes, but what factors are most influential.

Can real time decision-making audits be made available, which would allow targeted and specific interventions by citizens. The justification for policies could be presented far more clearly (in most cases). What’s the problem? Recommendations, evidence, alternatives, impact, risks, etc. PResentation could be quite transparent along with intervention points. A standard format across Whitehall.

Reply by on 05/07/08 at 5:04 pm
I sat through a well-delivered presentation on soft skills earlier this week, which revealed the disarmingly simple statement of the bleedin’ obvious that to get people to listen to you, first you must listen to them! People will listen to you only after you demonstrate you have listened to them.

Sounds really easy, doesn’t? Oh dear, I will forget this!

Reply by on 05/10/08 at 3:27 am

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