How to run a listening tour as a new Chief of Staff
By Alice Huang, Chief of Staff and operator
Run a Chief of Staff listening tour with consistent questions, careful notes and a synthesis that separates facts, interpretations and open questions.
Before you redesign the way a company works, learn what the people doing the work can already tell you.
a16z recommends a listening tour during Chief of Staff onboarding to understand miscommunication and conflict across teams. This suggested structure keeps the conversations focused without treating every complaint as a confirmed problem.
Agree on the purpose
Tell the founder what you want to learn and who you plan to meet. Clarify how notes will be used and what can be shared. Do not promise confidentiality you cannot keep.
Include people who work across the handoffs, not only leaders with the loudest calendars. Ask each team where work arrives, where it goes next and what tends to get stuck.
Use a few consistent questions
- What are you responsible for?
- What is working well?
- Where does work slow down or return for rework?
- Which decision do you keep waiting on?
- What do you wish another team understood?
- What would be worth fixing first?
These are suggested prompts, not a formal assessment. Follow a useful detail when it appears. Ask for an example, then check any material facts before repeating them.
Separate observation from interpretation
In your notes, distinguish a reported experience, supporting evidence, your hypothesis and an unanswered question. "The team says approvals are slow" is different from a measured approval delay.
Look for recurring handoffs and different accounts of the same responsibility. Atlassian's roles exercise gives teams a way to discuss those gaps rather than silently assigning blame.
Close the loop
Summarize what you heard at the level appropriate to the agreed audience. Avoid turning private remarks into public quotations. Check the proposed problem statement with the people closest to the work.
Bring the founder a short set of findings, what is verified, what still needs checking and a proposed next step. Do not arrive with a complete reorganization because several conversations felt convincing.
A listening tour is useful when it improves the next decision. The deliverable is a clearer picture of the work, not a stack of interviews nobody uses.