Listening Projects
Hear what your organization already knows. Perceptions are the facts.
Leadership listening sessions that lead to action
A Listening Project gives owners, boards and executives a structured way to hear their organization at an inflection point: a founder or CEO transition, rapid growth, an acquisition or a sale. We sit down confidentially with your leaders, one person at a time, find the patterns across every conversation, and deliver a clear picture of what’s working, what’s in the way, and the decisions in front of you.
When leaders call us
- A new CEO needs to understand the company quickly and lead change
- A founder-led company is outgrowing the model that built it
- Several acquired businesses need to operate as one company
- A sale or exit is coming and leadership must be ready
- A board needs an independent read on leadership alignment
- Turnover, conflict or silence on the leadership team won’t resolve on its own
Owners, boards and C-suite executives at companies of every size use Listening Projects. Terri and Andi lead every project personally.
How a Listening Project works
It’s an interactive process. Every participant provides input and context, and we test what we hear before it’s shared. Six steps take you from the first conversation with the sponsor to a plan the leadership team owns.
1
Scope it with the sponsor
We agree with the owner, board sponsors or CEO on goals, participants and confidentiality.
2
Schedule every session
We handle outreach, scheduling and the participant roster, so your team doesn’t have to.
3
Listen, one person at a time
Confidential conversations in which every participant provides input and context, plus any memos or materials they choose to share.
4
Find the patterns
We separate one voice from many and keep distinct vantage points, such as founders, the CEO and the leadership team, side by side so the gaps are visible. Each hotspot is analyzed the same way: the core concern, its impact on the business, the response needed and the evidence behind it.
5
Test findings with the CEO
The CEO typically hears the results first, in a listening session of their own. Their perspective helps us kick the tires on our findings, and we go back to participants with questions or alternate viewpoints that should be tested.
6
Share and move to action
Next, the board sponsors hear the results, and then all participants. Hotspots are framed as options for focus, not mandates, with a path forward: what to do now, next and later.
What you receive
Every Listening Project ends with focused debrief decks and companion guides, built for action, with a clear list of opportunities prioritized so leaders know what to tackle now, next and later.
Every participant hears the results appropriate to their needs as a leader, with the bottom line up front: strengths and progress as well as friction, and the hotspots that matter most.
What a Listening Project is not
It isn’t an investigation, a report card or a blame document. It’s a leadership and operating-model debrief, built so leaders can face misalignments and act on them. If a specific complaint needs findings, see Workplace Investigations.
Confidentiality comes first. We customize every project to honor participants’ confidentiality while sharing the information each level of the organization needs, based on your goals and circumstances. We’re glad to talk through how you’d like it done.
For private equity sponsors
Since 2017, PointerWise has run Listening Projects for a private equity sponsor and its portfolio companies. Sponsors use them after an acquisition or add-on, when a portfolio CEO is new, or when a founder is stepping back. They test value-creation priorities against what leaders on the ground see and, ahead of an exit, surface what buyers will test.
Each project is tailored to the sponsor’s goals, with confidentiality protections for participants and the same framework across portfolio companies so the board can compare them.
Start a Listening Project
Afterward, many clients continue with Leadership Team Coaching, a leadership offsite, or focused workshops on the hotspots that surfaced. Tell us what’s happening, and we’ll suggest a scope.
Let’s Connect Tell us what’s happening in your organization, and we’ll suggest a way forward.
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