How can you use active listening to understand your team's values and beliefs?

The values and beliefs that people hold, can result in the direct success or failure of a team. Once, I was working with a team where 2 people had values that were more focused on teamwork and joy in the workplace, and another had strong values on competition and reaching objectives. We knew there was friction but it wasn´t clear what was the cause for it until we started digging into their personal values and beliefs. Once we understood we had clashing values, we could solve the problem from the root, honouring all values of the team.

Commencing with a reflection on the intricacies of team dynamics, it becomes apparent that assumptions often lurk beneath the surface, imperceptibly influencing our interactions. Reflecting on the dynamic values within my own team, for instance punctuality and meeting length were areas where we discovered varying perspectives. Some valued being on time, while others emphasized efficient meeting closure. Making room for the importance of open dialogue and understanding diverse viewpoints can go a long way and keep the DNA of the team healthy and aligned.

From experience, active listening is a key to uncovering your team's values and beliefs, which are the bedrock of their engagement and motivation. It goes beyond just hearing words; it’s about delving into what really matters to them. Creating a trust-filled environment where everyone feels safe to speak their mind, especially on challenging topics, is essential. When people feel understood and see their values reflected in the organisation's goals, a strong sense of belonging and cohesion is nurtured. This alignment not only fuels a positive culture but drives everyone towards achieving common objectives with a shared sense of purpose and enthusiasm.

Our cultural values matter because they are what we consider important, desirable, and are an expression of our preferred ways of living and working. Understanding our team members and their cultural values, means we are better positioned to lead inclusively. It also means we can be more effective advocates, influencers, and motivators. Culturally intelligent leaders respect and appreciate differences, and adapt their leadership to bridge differences to embrace difference as a value-add.

Even easier: ask people what is important to them. Don´t overcomplicate looking for values, simply ask them what they value most during their work. An easy exercise is to find a list of more or less 50 values online, and ask people to circle max 5 values that are most important for them at work. Be careful though: sometimes people say something is important to them because of peer pressure. If you´re for example in an objective-oriented organisation and you´re a process-oriented person, you might lie and say that reaching the objective is way more important than making sure the process is executed in the proper way. In this case, I agree with the articles that it is always good to look for non-verbal clues.

To truly grasp the significance of values, one must dive into the employees' experience. This entails asking crucial questions like, how did they feel during the last team meeting? What observations did they make during their workday at the company? What elements did they perceive during their last online meeting? Before embarking on any communication about values, it's imperative to cultivate an empathetic perspective towards employees, seeking to understand their emotions and experiences within the organization.

The best way in my experience to do this is to have an open conversation with the team. Once we agree on the current team values and beliefs, ask them where they would like to stand in the future. What would need to happen to get there, what actions should be executed, how do they want to do that? These questions will get the team involved on the culture change and let them take the front seat.

First consider what you mean by 'active listening'. Research tells us that the term is used differently by different people to mean different things, to the extent that the the term has become effectively meaningless. Consider models that allow us to be more purposeful in our listening. For example, the distinction between 'listening for content' when I can repeat every word you say, without truly understanding what you are trying to say, layering my listening with assumptions without realising it, and 'listening for intention' when I am constantly checking in to see if I have connected with your meaning. Or 'listening for identity' when I listen for who you are - your values and beliefs. We might label all of these 'active listening'.