When leaders truly listen, people step up: The hidden power of listening in leadership
In a fast-moving workplace, listening is often mistaken for passivity.
But real listening—the kind that transforms culture—is anything but passive.
It is presence. It is permission. It is power shared.
As leadership advisor Stephen Shedletzky writes in Speak-Up Culture, “When leaders truly listen, people step up” (Shedletzky, 2023)¹. That’s not just poetic—it’s measurable.
Why Listening Unlocks Leadership
Leadership is not a solo act—it’s a relational practice. And relationships flourish in one kind of soil: psychological safety.
Defined by Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, psychological safety is foundational to innovation, learning, and collaboration. Edmondson’s landmark study found that teams with high psychological safety were more likely to experiment, speak up, and outperform peers in execution and engagement (Edmondson, 1999)².
And what signals psychological safety most clearly?
A leader who listens.
Not one who nods along, but one who listens with intent.
To understand—not to respond.
To include—not to correct.
Listening as a Leadership Habit
At The Art Brewery, we work with leaders ready to shift from managing tasks to leading people.
That shift begins with a single question:
“When your people speak, do they feel heard?”
In our Human-Centered Leadership workshop series, we help leaders turn listening into a daily habit—not an annual competency. Through immersive, research-backed practices, leaders learn to:
Slow down and create space for unfiltered input
Ask open-ended, perspective-seeking questions
Acknowledge emotion without rushing to resolve it
Leave check-ins with clarity—not just status
These aren’t soft skills. They’re strategic practices proven to drive trust, engagement, and retention.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report confirms it: employees who strongly agree that their opinions count are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work (Gallup, 2023)³.
From Silence to Signal: How Listening Invites Voice
Silence in a team doesn’t mean alignment.
It often means fear. Or resignation. Or the quiet belief that “nothing will change.”
In Speak-Up Culture, Shedletzky outlines how cultures of silence suppress innovation, inclusion, and loyalty—and how organizations pay the price in disengagement and turnover¹.
But when leaders show they’re truly listening, something powerful happens:
· Ideas surface.
· Feedback flows.
· Ownership grows.
People stop complying—and start contributing.
Mysteries In Colour™: Listening Without the Need to Solve
One of the most powerful things a leader can do is enter a space where their role is not to fix—but to hear.
That’s what happens in our Mysteries In Colour™ workshop. Teams engage in shared creative interpretation of abstract inkblots, using the neuroscience-backed concept of pareidolia—the brain’s tendency to find meaning in randomness.
There’s no correct answer.
Just the question: What do you see?
In that space, voices emerge. Curiosity replaces judgment. Leaders often realize just how rare it is to listen without rushing toward an outcome.
That realization? It’s the beginning of a cultural shift.
When Listening Becomes Culture
When listening becomes the norm—not the exception—teams shift:
People speak more boldly
Collaboration deepens
Trust takes root
Leaders don’t just drive performance—they inspire it
Because beneath every role, every skill, every strategy—there’s a person who wants to matter.
And when a leader listens, they’re saying:
You matter. I’m here. Let’s build this together.
Ready to Lead Through Listening?
If you want a culture where people speak up, step in, and stay—start with listening.
Explore our Human-Centered Leadership workshops
Discover Mysteries In Colour™ for teams
Book a free consultation
References
Shedletzky S. Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up. Page Two Books; 2023.
Edmondson AC. Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Adm Sci Q. 1999;44(2):350–383. doi:10.2307/2666999
Gallup. State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report. Available from: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx
