Why Listening Tours Aren’t Enough for Senior Leaders

Most onboarding leaders I speak with start by doing listening tours - 1:1s, lunch-and-learns, site visits, customer meetings, town halls. These are valuable, but they’re not sufficient.

Here’s why.

First, you’re in the room. That changes what people say. Early in a role, everyone is trying to make a good impression - yourself included. That dynamic often prevents full candor. People may withhold tough truths or present a more polished version of reality.

Second, these conversations don’t scale. No matter how many people you meet, you won’t capture the full picture. You’ll miss key themes, outliers, and systemic patterns that don’t surface in curated or time-limited conversations.

So what’s the alternative?

Facilitated focus groups. Led by a neutral third party, they offer two critical advantages:

• Psychological safety - People are more likely to be honest when speaking with someone outside the chain of command.

• Scale and structure - They allow you to hear from a representative sample and synthesize themes across levels, functions, and geographies.

This approach not only improves the quality of information - it also sends a clear signal: you care about listening deeply and leading with insight.

Starting a new role is challenging enough. Doing it without a clear, unbiased view of the organization? Risky.

Facilitated focus groups are part of how we help leaders get up to speed faster - reach out if you’re curious.