One of the six roles of Host Leadership is the Initiator – the person who starts thing off, notices a priority and brings it into focus.  Before you can do that, there is a necessary first step: listen out for what your organisation is calling for. 

•   What’s coming over the horizon? 
•   What challenges are starting to appear in the marketplace? 
•   How are your distribution channels shifting? 
•   How are people finding out about you? 
•   How are you tracking your success with customers and user groups? 

It could, of course, be any of these, all of them, or all kinds of other things.  This month’s hint is to listen.  Not rush in. Not jump to a snap decision.  Listen.  Listen to the conversation in the office and outside it.  Listen to what you are hearing on social media. And most importantly listen to your own heart about what’s really important and that you want to take forward.  

Our top tip for this is go somewhere quiet.  Listening is usually best done with a little focus and a little peace.  So why not go out at lunchtime and find a seat someplace, or take a moment on your way into work tomorrow. Take five minutes to see where you are and what’s coming along.  And then park it, store it away, and see what happens next. If it just vanishes, it probably wasn’t that important.  If it stays with you, and you start seeing other signs that this is important, then it probably is.

Listen. Listen again. Then act.

You can find a more detailed exposition of ways to listen for what is being called for in Mark McKergow’s chapter of the Host Leadership Field Book.

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