Active Listening Loops Act to E.N.G.A.G.E.
Sep 28, 2025
Have you ever completed an employee engagement survey and never heard the results?
Were you asked for feedback in a meeting, then watched your suggestions disappear into a corporate black hole?
Ever participated in a "listening session" that felt more like performance theater than genuine dialogue?
Welcome to the feedback collection industry that creates zero culture transformation and instead sows cynicism among the very people you need to retain.
Companies today are experts at collecting feedback and terrible at doing anything with it.
Collection Obsession Breeds Cynicism
"The biggest problem in corporate America today is that we're experts at collecting feedback and terrible at doing something with it," explains Pam Gass from One Florida Bank, whom I interviewed on the Work Positive Podcast.
She’s right. Think about how deeply this feedback collection mentality infiltrates our organizations:
- We send annual engagement surveys and file the results.
- We hold town halls where leaders do most of the talking.
- We create suggestion boxes that become suggestion graveyards.
- We run focus groups about problems instead of solutions.
- We measure feedback quantity while ignoring feedback quality.
This obsession with collection without action dates back to management theories that treated employee input as data to be analyzed rather than intelligence to be acted upon. While we've gotten sophisticated at gathering opinions, we are primitive at transformation.
And we wonder why employees stop giving honest feedback and engagement scores tank.
The traditional approach to feedback said: "Tell us what you think, and we'll consider it."
Active listening loops say: "Tell us what you think, and let's solve it together."
Fake listening operates from analysis paralysis, but authentic listening loops today embrace rapid experimentation. Organizations know that imperfect action beats perfect planning every time.
Research shows that organizations with effective feedback-action cycles see 12% higher engagement and 18% better retention. But as Kate McKinnon, formerly of Playfly Sports, emphasized to me in her Work Positive Podcast, "It's not about having the perfect system. It's about consistent follow-through."
We engage well when we shift our focus away from survey tools to action-based listening loops.
Get Up and Move
What exactly do effective listening loops look like in practice? Diane K. Adams told me on the Work Positive Podcast what they demonstrated at Sprinklr with their multi-touchpoint system where "every input generates visible action or transparent explanation."
In an action-focused culture:
- Feedback immediately triggers either implementation or explanation.
- People see direct connections between their input and organizational changes.
- Leaders follow up personally on suggestions they receive.
- Problems get solved, not just documented.
- Improvement becomes collaborative, not top-down.
Such an E.N.G.A.G.E. culture drives measurable business outcomes with effective listening loops like a:
- 23% increase in innovation implementation.
- 31% improvement in problem-solving speed.
- 45% better employee trust scores.
- 27% reduction in recurring issues.
Speed to E.N.G.A.G.E.
"People don't need perfection; they need progress," Pam Gass told me on the Work Positive Podcast. "When they see you acting on feedback quickly, even imperfectly, trust increases dramatically."
Many leaders worry that acting quickly on feedback leads to poor decisions. The opposite is true: rapid experimentation with course correction produces better outcomes than prolonged analysis with delayed implementation.
One of the most destructive elements in feedback systems is what I call "loop paralysis," the organizational behaviors that create the appearance of listening while ensuring nothing changes:
- "We'll take that under consideration." Translation: “We'll ignore it.”
- "That's a great suggestion for the committee to review." Translation: “A slow bureaucratic death by analysis.”
- "We need to study this more before acting." Translation: “We hope you forget.”
- "Thanks for the feedback. We'll get back to you." Translation: “No, we won't.”
This corporate punishment disincentivizes those people who care enough to provide input. As Carmen Ruiz from Fast Signs Daytona Beach told me on the Work Positive Podcast, "Every time you ask for feedback and don't act, you're teaching people their opinions don't matter."
The antidote?
When someone provides feedback, respond immediately with either implementation or explanation: "Here's what we're doing about this" or "Here's why we can't act on this right now." This simple response creates accountability and maintains trust even when you can't implement every suggestion.
The key to building trust through listening loops is clear processes for feedback evaluation and implementation:
- Quick wins: "Here are changes we can make immediately."
- Longer-term projects: "Here's how we're addressing bigger issues."
- Cannot implement: "Here's why this suggestion won't work right now."
- Need more input: "Here's what we need to understand better"
Your Active Listening Loop Challenge
Ready to breakthrough and create active listening loops that act to E.N.G.A.G.E.? Try these three action-focused improvements this week:
- Implement the "48-Hour Rule": Respond to every piece of feedback within two business days with either action or explanation.
- Create One "Quick Win" Loop: Identify one type of feedback that consistently requires simple fixes and create an immediate implementation process.
- Transform One Collection Process: Convert one survey or feedback mechanism into an action-generating system with visible results.
The Work Positive Bottom Line
The best organizations today go beyond just feedback collection. They create change.
When you build active listening loops, you do more than hear people's ideas. You implement their improvements.
Stop collecting opinions. Start creating transformation.
What's your question about building effective listening loops in your organization? Ask Dr. Joey here.
Taken from Dr. Joey's book, Redefine Work: E.N.G.A.G.E. People and Grow Profits.
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