Introduction: The Listening Crisis in Leadership
Now more than ever, it’s time for CEOs to listen. Employee engagement nationally is at an 11-year low, with 79% of employees disengaged. In this climate, cultivating the art of listening is not a soft skill, but a strategic imperative that separates CEOs who preside over disengagement from those who inspire resilience, spark innovation and drive lasting success.
Your organization is constantly generating a wealth of information, but it’s only valuable if you’re tuned in to hear it. The modern workplace demands leaders who can transform listening into competitive advantage. In my 40-plus years of healthcare leadership, I’ve discovered that exceptional leaders don’t just speak—they master the transformative power of strategic listening.
Why Listening Matters More Than Ever
Today’s workforce expects authenticity, transparency, and genuine connection from their leaders. Traditional top-down communication models are failing, and organizations that cling to outdated leadership approaches find themselves struggling with retention, innovation, and employee satisfaction. The solution isn’t more talking—it’s better listening.
Building Trust and Retaining Top Talent
Most team members don’t just work for a paycheck, especially in healthcare. They work for a purpose and a voice. When they feel ignored, unheard or dismissed, their engagement plummets dramatically.
Creating Connection Through Strategic Listening
At Hackensack Meridian, we have several strategies to make people feel connected, heard and motivated. A few years ago, we launched Stand Out, a platform that encourages weekly check-ins so leaders know what their teams are working on and enjoying—but importantly, what isn’t going well, too. This initiative has significantly improved engagement across our network.
Additionally, we launched Connecting with the CEO to reach thousands of team members who typically don’t come into contact with me. In these sessions, we encourage people to be candid; this is how we keep getting better and build authentic relationships throughout the organization.
Real-World Impact: The IVF Benefits Story
When people ask me for specific examples on how listening has paid off, I share this story. A few years ago, I received a letter from a team member asking me to increase in vitro fertilization benefits. She made a very compelling case: Our coverage provided $10,000 for a single cycle of IVF, yet the actual cost is estimated to range from $15,000 to $20,000 and can exceed $30,000 if a donor egg is involved.
I dug in, worked with our HR and benefits team and expanded the benefit to $30,000. It was so satisfying to give this team member a shout-out when we announced the policy change. And to think of how many other people we helped is deeply fulfilling. In a similar vein, the network created doula benefits to support new mothers to improve maternal health outcomes—an idea that emerged from team members.
Measuring Success Through Employee Satisfaction
Hackensack Meridian was named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list this year, based on results from the Great Place to Work Trust Index Survey, with 85% of our team members saying it’s a great place to work. This recognition directly correlates with our commitment to listening-based leadership.
Fueling Innovation Through Active Listening
Breakthrough ideas often emerge from the daily work of front-line teams, not always in the C-suite. Clinicians, nurses, scientists, researchers and others often find a better way to do their job. That’s why connecting with our teams is so important for sustained innovation.
Learning from Industry Leaders
A large, prominent organization that has put this concept into practice is Nike—when the company decided to build an in-house creative studio, Icon Studios, in Shanghai. It wasn’t just decided by the board. It was shaped by a growing recognition that the most culturally resonant ideas often come from those closest to the market, not furthest from the consumer.
Applying Innovation Principles in Healthcare
This same idea can translate to healthcare organizations in powerful ways, supporting our missions in care delivery and philanthropy. For example, while Hackensack Meridian has a network foundation, we decided to maintain individual foundation boards at most of our hospitals because these leaders have very close ties to their communities and know what people are willing to invest in to strengthen healthcare that’s close to home.
Creating Innovation Pathways
Effective listening creates clear pathways for innovation by establishing trust, encouraging risk-taking, and validating employee contributions. When team members know their ideas will be heard and considered, they’re more likely to share breakthrough concepts that can transform operations and patient care.
Uncovering Blind Spots for Better Decisions
I have created an environment where I encourage people to speak candidly. I call it “Jersey direct talk” because I want to hear the unvarnished truth. When the network launched nine years ago, we realized that we had to work to create a unified culture from two health systems.
Overcoming Cultural Integration Challenges
There were some stumbles along the way, but I encouraged leaders to look closely at what we were missing and how we could improve. Nine years later, our culture is stronger than ever because we listened to feedback and adapted our approach based on real employee experiences.
Making Informed Decisions with Limited Information
It’s also important to note that you can’t make the best decisions if you don’t have as much relevant information as possible. Let me be clear, sometimes we have to make decisions with limited information. Or, as Jeff Bezos put it: “Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had.”
However, active listening helps maximize that 70% by ensuring you’re gathering diverse perspectives, understanding ground-level challenges, and considering factors that might not appear in traditional reports or metrics.
The Financial Impact of Listening
I often quote communications expert, author and pastor Andy Stanley when I remind our teams and leaders to be engaged listeners: “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” And eventually, they leave.
The True Cost of Poor Listening
That cost, as we all know, is staggering and—in many instances—unnecessary. The average cost of replacing a staff nurse is $61,110, and for physicians, that figure can climb much higher when considering lost revenue during vacancy periods and onboarding time.
ROI of Listening-Based Leadership
Organizations that prioritize listening see measurable returns through:
- Reduced turnover rates and associated replacement costs
- Increased employee engagement leading to better productivity
- Enhanced innovation resulting from bottom-up idea generation
- Improved decision-making through comprehensive information gathering
- Stronger customer satisfaction as engaged employees provide better service
Conclusion: Making Listening Your Leadership Advantage
The bottom line? Listening is a profound form of respect. It shows that you value your team’s perspective and builds a strong foundation of trust. It’s at the core of a strong culture, and that benefits everyone—from individual employees to organizational performance to bottom-line results.
In today’s competitive landscape, listening isn’t just good leadership—it’s smart business. CEOs who master this skill will find themselves leading more engaged teams, driving more innovation, and achieving more sustainable success than those who rely solely on traditional command-and-control approaches.
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