Episode 63 – Lessons in leadership

In episode 63 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay meets Mike Roe, who had a 28-year career in the police force and is now CEO of Tensense, a data insights company. Tensense has built a diagnostic tool that generates business insights for leadership teams by asking their employees a few carefully crafted questions throughout the year. The result is a dashboard of organisational health, which moves organisations beyond customer or employee experience – what often gets called CX and EX – and instead gives a picture of OX – organisational experience. In this expansive and insightful discussion, Mike talks about the essential components and challenges of truly authentic listening, and explains how he learned to ask powerful questions that help drive solutions. He suggests the strategies for communication in the police force, with suspects and criminals, isn’t vastly different from the way we communicate more generally with our colleagues and stakeholders. Then and now, preparation is important, purpose is key, listening is essential, but so is the power of silence – asking a question and letting silence do the heavy lifting. Mike talks Katie through the ins and outs of Tensense, how it delivers intuitive insights to support business leaders by getting to the heart of employee thinking, and shares his advice for strategic decision-making.