I hate crabgrass.
Crabgrass just doesn’t look good in a lawn, it spreads everywhere, and is extremely tough to weed.
Every year we’ve applied a chemical in our backyard that helps kill crabgrass before it has a chance to take root. For various reasons, earlier this year we chose not to apply the treatment. Like clockwork, the crabgrass took root and spread throughout our back lawn. GRR!
Interestingly enough, something else happened because of this decision.
A new family of rabbits moved in and are eating the crabgrass. Who knew.
As many of you know, our backyard is filled with native plants that provide a natural habitat for butterflies, bees, birds, deer, and rabbits!
Our new family of rabbits reminded me of one of the principles of the humble inquiry and Process Consulting approach…every action is an intervention.
As a Process Consultant, when you walk alongside a Client you must be aware that everything you do is an intervention within the Client’s organization. Just the fact that you are in the room with the Client is an intervention. Every action, no matter how small, even if perceived as inconsequential, is an intervention in the Client’s larger transformational process.
It is for this very reason why at the Society for Process Consulting we train leaders on how to become excellent listeners.
All of us can become better listeners.
As leaders, strengthening our listening skills helps us stay curious, ask better questions, build more open and trusting relationships, and go deeper in our understanding of what someone is trying to share with us.
These same listening skills can easily regress when pressure builds, when fear takes hold, and when our power gets challenged. Listening can turn into telling faster than snapping your fingers.
Take notice to what happens to your listening the next time one of the above three things happen.
Whether you are a department head leading a team, a CEO charting a new course for your organization, or a Process Consultant seeking to walk alongside a Client, remember every action you take is an intervention no matter how small.
Your reading of this blog on listening is an action that will have an intervention.
What intervention do you hope better listening will take hold of in your organization?
Mind how you go,
Lon
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Lon L. Swartzentruber
Design Group International
Co-CEO & Senior Design Partner
P.S. For those considering developing your listening skills – please consider learning more about these four listening competencies.
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Listening Competency |
Definition |
Helpful Resource |
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Actively and Comprehensively |
Listening toward comprehensive comprehension of what someone is saying to you. |
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Conceptually and Contextually |
Listening for what the person means conceptually and within whose context. |
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Architecturally |
Listening for what someone is willing to do, not just what they want or need to do. Listening at this level creates the ability to design a process with them to move from where they are toward where they want to go. |
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Adaptively |
Listening to clarify and document a person’s adaptations, fostering someone’s ability to learn, grow, and adapt. |
P.S.S - Sign up today to attend the Culture Change Leadership workshop! Held on 10 and 11 October 2025 at the Prince Conference Center, this workshop promises to be an excellent opportunity to learn more about how to evolve your organization's culture.
Along with a notebook and my favorite fountain pen, what’s in my backpack?
Teaming, by Amy Edmondson
Almost finished Humble Inquiry, 3rd Edition by Peter and Ed Schein
Rereading The Essentials of Theory U, by C. Otto Scharmer
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