8 tips to make your listening session a success
Written by niki juhasz
Maybe you just joined a new district or organization and want to do a communications audit. Perhaps you’re considering a big change that affects students. Or you simply want to build better communication with the families you serve through your nonprofit or foundation.
No matter the reason, there’s one critical piece to all successful communications work: listening.
Today, we’re sharing tips for before, during and after your listening sessions.
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Before You Listen
So you know you want to gather feedback from your community. Now what? Here are some of the factors we consider when we plan community listening sessions on behalf of our clients:
Think through how to engage all the members of your community. For example, families have different work schedules. Ensure you’re offering multiple times during the day and several day options to give feedback. This may look like an early morning session before families go to work, a lunch session and an evening session after traditional work hours. Weekends are on the table, too!
Offer feedback opportunities in all the major languages spoken in your community. For example, if 15 percent of your district’s or stakeholder families speak Vietnamese, ensure your invite, additional information and then the way you gather feedback are all inclusive of this population. You may choose to offer a separate feedback session spoken in that language, or provide an interpreter during all of the feedback sessions. Don't forget your community members who may be deaf or hard of hearing, either.
Remember that your invitation matters. Make sure families have plenty of time to plan to attend a session or share feedback. Tell them why you’re asking for feedback and what you’ll do with it. Offer them a way to learn more, too.
Now that you have a good invite – be intentional about how you invite your families. For example, don’t just post about your opportunity on your website. Share it on social, text families, send out postcards. Ensure you’re reaching families both with and without internet access. Make sure you’re thinking about both push and pull communications.
While You Listen
One of the most important parts of community listening is making your feedback opportunities accessible.
Ask yourself, “what may stop families from attending?” Then, overcome those barriers! For example, make sure families have transportation to and from the feedback sessions. Include food at the event. Finally, offer child care. In our experience, something like not having anyone to watch children can stop families from sharing valuable insights.
Offer multiple ways to share feedback. During the sessions themselves, you can ask people to volunteer feedback out loud and give families ways they can share feedback without speaking in front of the entire group, too. For example, giving them sticky notes they can write on can be a great way to gather feedback. We recommend offering surveys – including online options – as well.
After You LISTEN
Once you’ve completed your listening sessions, it’s important to close the loop with families and community members.
Say thank you. Tell participants how much you appreciate their time and thoughtful feedback! Again, make sure you’re sharing this appreciation in multiple ways, from your website to flyers you send home with your students.
Share what you found. Did you establish a major trend? Are you making changes based on what you heard? Let your community know! We recommend reporting out how many people you gathered feedback from and what they had to say. Including quotes can be helpful, too. (Don't forget to get consent, of course). This type of sharing shows that you’re being strategic when you ask for community feedback and that what they think matters. Oh, and of course, remember to translate your materials to involve all families.
Listening to your community is an important way to build trust. We know you’ll be better prepared to meet your community's needs after gathering this feedback.
