It started with a question. I was, yet again, bewildered by the fact that we teach and teach and teach analysis in our schools and universities, whereas in today’s world, specifically with complex issues like sustainable development to deal with, we need synthesis skills at least as much, if not more. And we don’t teach synthesis.

“So how would you teach synthesis?” was the question. A good one. A colleague and I debated, searched, thought, and settled on a document that was several thousand years old, from the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the scrolls, a tribe or sect called the Essenes documented, among many other things, some simple rules for living a good life. We saw how we could use those rules to benefit leaders wanting to learn how to synthesize better how to make better decisions in situations of rapid change and complex challenges.

In the scrolls, a tribe or sect called the Essenes documented, among many other things, some simple rules for living a good life.

Why synthesis is important

Synthesis is about pattern recognition and sense-making. Analysis is important when it comes to collecting data, as long as the reasons for collecting it are clear and clearly relevant.

But how do we know that? How can we be sure that we have collected all the most relevant data? With an analytical approach, it is possible to include ‘what-if’ questions about trends, whether by extrapolation or exaggeration; but what about the disrupters, trend-breakers, and ‘black swans’?

And not least, what about people’s reactions to what happens?

The one thing we know for certain about people is that they will surprise us, as an anonymous psychologist noted!

And then. How to make sense of the data? This is a universal stumbling block encountered as frequently in academia as in business. Unless the data is really unequivocal, there is a risk that the original idea or hypothesis used to design the data collection is simply reformulated as the conclusion. See, the data confirmed what we suspected all along!

Sense-making, the province of synthesis rather than analysis, relies heavily on the skill of listening in the broadest possible sense. Listening first makes it possible to improve data collection and then to enable better sense-making.

Key questions: Who do we listen to? When? And how do we listen?

The Dead Sea keys to synthesis

From the above, it is clear that successful synthesis builds on successful relationships. If we listen, but people only tell us what they think we want to hear and not what they truly feel or think, then we might as well not bother.

This is where the Essenes come in. There are nine Essene guidelines: seven of them related to relationships and sense-making, neatly bookended by two related to peace of mind.

A mindset for outstanding leadership

The bookends are tranquility and serenity.

These two bookends express something central to good leadership: the ability to observe without judging. Being non-judgmental is not the same as being uncritical. Compare the following two sentences:

‘Last week, the number of product returns was nearly 100% above average. Has a reason for this been identified?’

Really listening, which means also hearing what is said and what is left unsaid, without distractions, judgement, or other filters.

‘The number of product returns is entirely unacceptable! Who is responsible for the increase?’

Inspired by the Essenes, we can add one more of their guidelines, ‘Joy in mistakes’, to describe a mindset: outstanding leadership characterized by a mindset of tranquil service and continuous learning.

Using our senses

Probably the single most important skill that a leader can cultivate is that of listening. Really listening, which means also hearing what is said and what is left unsaid, without distractions, without judgment or other filters.

Through such focused listening, much information and wisdom can be gathered that is not accessible to conventional data collection. Three more Essene guidelines help with this.

Deep listening is both new and very old. It is about hearing the other (or yourself) without the kind of censorship exercised by experience, expectations, and preconceived opinions.

These three tenets are useful not only for knowledge-gathering but also, not coincidentally, for building outstanding relationships. They also point to a journey of self-discovery. I listen to my own inner wisdom in order to identify my own needs, to recognize the positive in myself, and to craft my own perspective and values.

This kind of listening, deep listening to oneself as well as to others, is a skill that can be taught, is easy to learn, and is hard to perfect. To paraphrase, “Minutes to learn, a lifetime to master”. Practicing Deep listening is an excellent source of material for ‘Joy in Mistakes’!

Sensing

Parking

An important element of deep listening is the ability to ‘park’ all the things that get in the way. When listening ‘normally’, we tend to filter everything we hear through a mesh of beliefs, values, knowledge, and feelings, and experience-including the immediate experience of the environment with its sounds, colors, aromas, comfort or discomfort.

The only good reason for a listener to speak is when they have a ‘compelling question’ that needs clarification in order for them to understand.

It comes as a surprise to many that our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings can be safely parked until needed. We do not have to allow them to drive us endlessly around and around the same circuit.

Why should we want to park?

Well, just take a look at feelings. Emotions, like money and many other things in life, are magnificent servants and tyrannical masters. My feelings tell me that something is going on and can help me understand and empathize with other people. They can also give me energy or steal it.

Any situation can trigger feelings, positive or negative. They come in waves: first emotional response to the actual situation, then a wave of fossil feelings (“This has happened to me before”), then often feelings about the feelings (“Darn, now I got upset again, why do I do that?”).

It is not only our feelings that can block deep listening. There is a whole chorus of voices inside us clamoring for attention. For instance, our history (‘Something JUST like that happened to me, once’), our situation (‘Is it today I’m supposed to pick the kids up from football?’), our knowledge (‘No that can’t be right’), our beliefs and values (‘Not sure I like where this is going’), or just our surroundings (‘I wonder if there’s any coffee left?’).

Park them all. It doesn’t mean they are irrelevant, just that this is not the time.

Deep Listening

It’s easy to listen - we do it all the time!

We listen but how do we listen? The quality of our listening has a great impact on the quality of our relationships, and thus of our meetings, whether formal or informal.

Deep Listening is both new and very old. It is about hearing the other (or yourself) without the kind of censorship exercised by experience, expectations, and preconceived opinions.

When listening to another person, the first rule is to ‘BE silence’: to quieten or park your own inner dialogue in order to pay full attention to the speaker. By extension this also means being silent, most of the time. The originator of Deep Listening, Warren Ziegler, found that the only good reason for a listener to speak is when they have a ‘compelling question’ that needs clarification in order for them to understand.

The second rule is perhaps counterintuitive: no eye contact. In fact, we recommend sitting (or walking) so that you avoid seeing each other. When you give the listener no feedback of any kind (not even a smile!), there is a better chance that they will stop trying to please you, and say what they really need to say.

Listening to yourself is a bit like interviewing yourself; you start by formulating the question. For example, “How do I really feel about the conflict between A and B? Do I feel able to trust either of them?”

You are, in fact, interrogating your intuition, or tacit knowledge. We all know that we have it. We talk, for instance, about ' sleeping on’ a question.

Once the question is clear, the first step is the same as when listening to another person: quieten your own inner dialogue, including parking all your knowledge and beliefs, ask the question, and listen.

Whose voice?

So then new questions arise: when I listen to myself, who am I listening to? If this is meant to access the voice of 196 ANCIENT WISDOM, MODERN LEADERSHIP my intuition: how do I know that is what I am hearing, and not just my hopes or fears?

Ziegler gave some hints. The voice of your intuition, or deeper wisdom, is never judgmental, he said. So if you see or hear something telling you how stupid or bad you are, stay with the question, because you are not there yet. The same goes for positive judgments. Maybe you are indeed a wonderful person, leader, or parent… that is fine, but keep listening.

He also said that the voice is never aggressive. I would add that it is never just repeating what you have been saying/thinking to yourself for weeks or months. There is an element of novelty - and often, humour.

Does it always work? No. For most people, it takes some practice—not least the ‘parking’. And occasionally, that inner voice seems to have nothing to say. But it is always worth asking the question!

Speak, or remain silent?

When Deep listening to another person, the general principle is to remain silent. But there can be exceptions, in particular for ‘compelling questions’.

It may also happen that the speaker asks you to say something. Treat it as an invitation; you are not obliged to say anything. In many cases, it can be best to respond with, ‘Please say more - I’m listening.’ If you nonetheless feel you would like to say something, have a quick check against the Essene principles. Do I want to say this in order to help them clarify their needs (The supporter), show their best qualities (The good eye), or clarify where they stand in a question with multiple stakeholders? Or do I perhaps rather want to say this for my own benefit?

The compelling question

Sometimes, when listening, we come up against a comprehension barrier. Did they mean this, or that? Such questions can be difficult to ask because they can make it difficult to understand what is said afterward. So, respectfully, we can interrupt to ask.

The ‘I-message’

When speaking to another person or group, whether you are in Deep Listening mode or not it is always useful to start with an ‘I-message’. Indeed, most communications are improved when they start with ‘I’ rather than ‘you’.

For instance, “I’m having difficulty reconciling what you say about

x and what you say about yyy, can you explain?” is more helpful than “You’re contradicting yourself; it doesn’t make sense!”

Marshall Rosenburg, author of Non-Violent Communication, called this ‘giraffe language’: being willing to stick your neck out.

Sense-making

The continuous process of listening enables the synthetical leader to discern perspectives, risks, and opportunities that were not part of the original question, gaining a broader, more nuanced knowledge base.

Now we can add the last of the Essenes’ guidelines, ‘Fairness for all’: a principle that is enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals but not yet well defined or applied. This joins the ‘holistic view, stakeholder perspective’ as a major tool for sense-making naturally, together with ‘Joy in mistakes’!

Culture at work

This is about you, the leader. But not only about you.

Or, it is about your ability to develop a working culture that permits everyone to grow into this space of right relationships and discernment to create space for genuine co-creation of new insights and opportunities. It starts but does not stop, with your own ability to deep-listen.

Meetings matter

It is easy to slip into habitual ways of organizing meetings. There are, however, alternatives that promote the kind of listening recommended by the Essenes: ways that, to begin with, engage all participants in setting the agenda. Several are documented in the online Facilitating Transformation Toolbox.

Transparency matters

If you listen, and consult, and listen some more; and then simply announce your decision with no hint of what influenced you, there may be some backlash. It does not mean that everything needs to be explained at every stage, but that you share enough of your decision-making process to engender trust in whoever is affected: employees, customers, civil society, etc.

Ethics, or good sense?

It is easy to frame the Essenes’ guidance as ‘good ethics’. And there is more to it than that. There is that question of engendering trust, which has been shown to be highly operational:

“When trust is instilled in an organization, tasks get accomplished with less difficulty because people are more likely to collaborate and communicate with each other in productive ways. As a result, outcomes tend to be more successful,” writes Abbey Lewis at Harvard Business Publishing, who continues:

“According to a study in Harvard Business Review, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout than people at low-trust companies.” Trust the ancient wisdom of the Essenes. And yourself.