When we’ve worked in an organization for a period of time, we sometimes become a natural part of the wonderful “cultural inertia” that makes our organization great.
The bad news? This can unintentionally lead to decisions that are disconnected from people with whom we work. In Assembly’s Relational Recruitment Master Class, we introduce participants to the art of a listening tour — a method to meet one-on-one with those in our community or potential community members to continuously integrate their voices into our unfolding strategy.
It is one thing to talk about continuous relationship development and leads cultivation, but it is quite another thing to do it, which is why we invite all 60 Master Class participants to complete a Micro Listening Tour, challenging them to reach out to and invite five people to meet with them in the course of one week.
Here are some of the discoveries these Jewish communal professionals make on the other side of a Micro Listening Tour:
- A Leads List is essential. Any one person can only keep track of 180 relationships in their life, which may sound like a lot until we remember that includes all of our extended family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and people we interact with semi-regularly. We need a system of organization when it comes to launching a Listening Tour — we call this a “Leads List” and gave each participant a template to build from.
“It’s so much easier to keep a running list of who to engage with rather than not have a list at all! It made my engagements feel bite-sized and easier to attain.” —Hillel Professional
- Be personal. Be honest — have you ever replied to an email that started “Hi everyone,” or “Dear colleagues?” People are much more likely to take action when it’s clear you’ve thought of them personally and demonstrate that in your outreach.
“A personal reach out brought almost immediate responses!” —Federation Family Engagement Professional
- Make a clear ask. We often think we’ve clearly invited someone to do something, but we never actually asked them a question. Ending your invitation with a simple question, like “do you have any time next week?” or “are you available for coffee soon?” yields many more positive responses.
“I discovered that asking a question at the end of an email is so powerful and helpful for generating a response from the individual.” —Teacher Support Coach
- Seek input from teammates. Your colleagues can support you, if you let them! Ask others for help making introductions, reviewing your outreach communications, and even roleplaying Listening Tour conversations. Move as a team, not alone!
“I was excited and had some butterflies, but I wrote and sent it to our Rabbi and we worked on it together.” —Congregational Educator
- One-on-ones are a force multiplier, not a time suck. The greatest resistance we often receive to an assignment like this (reach out to 5 people in 5 work days!) is fear about how much time it will take. After all, none of us have endless extra hours in our day. But, once you master a few key techniques, this kind of engagement makes your work much more fruitful, much more quickly.
“The assignment wasn’t as overwhelming as I imagined it to be. I identified 5 people to reach out to, sent email invitations, and got 3 positive responses. I’m actually working today from the location of one of those prospects.” —Federation Community Engagement Manager
- Even a “no” can become a win. Did someone turn down your expertly crafted invitation? Either way, you’re now in touch, which can become an opportunity to ask about something else!
“I discovered that even when people can’t make it to the specific thing they are invited to, they become more likely to come to something else.” —National Program Director
- People want to hear from you. Let’s face it, reaching out to people individually can feel like an exposure. What if they think we are weird/uncool/too salesy? In our experience, this is almost always our lizard-brain fears talking. People are generally happy to hear from us. After all, we all want to feel seen and appreciated.
“Many were happy to hear from me and felt thought of and missed.” —JCC Professional