Proactive Listening
What your result means
At the proactive stage, your practices are likely to be:
Voice
Diverse and inclusive
Understanding
Deep thematic analysis and triangulation of data
Action
Stakeholders generate solutions, growing participation
Communication
Clear, transparent updates
3 steps to move from Proactive Listening to Embedded Listening
At this stage, listening is intentional, inclusive, and increasingly strategic.
Organisations move beyond simply collecting data to analysing patterns and themes in depth, including across stakeholder groups. Leaders model emotional intelligence and create psychologically safe spaces where staff, pupils, and parents feel respected and encouraged to contribute.
Feedback informs organisational planning, with stakeholders involved in shaping solutions rather than passively receiving decisions. Communication is more transparent, showing both where change is possible and why some issues cannot be addressed.
Trust builds as people see a visible link between their input and organisational action.
To reach the Embedded stage, listening must move from being a “strategic initiative” to a natural, constant feature of your culture. The goal is to move from stakeholders simply participating in the process to stakeholders genuinely co-owning the outcomes.
To move towards Embedded Listening, organisations typically focus on:
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#1 Co-creating and co-owning solutions
Move beyond simply asking for ideas and begin delegating the authority and resources to staff, pupils, and parents to lead the implementation of changes. When stakeholders take the lead on executing solutions, they transition from being “users” of the system to being “architects” of the school’s future.
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#2 Embed listening into trust-wide strategy
Integrate voice data into your highest-level decision-making processes, ensuring it is a standing item at board meetings and a central pillar of your long-term improvement plans.
By cross-referencing insights from all three stakeholder groups, you can ensure that your trust-wide strategy is truly responsive to the needs of the whole community.
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#3 Reinforce listening as a leadership behaviour
Formalise listening as a core competency for all leaders, ensuring that the habits of openness, empathy, and responsiveness are modelled from the top down. This makes listening an institutional constant that survives changes in personnel, rather than a “project” that ends when a specific leader moves on.