"Listening session" gets used loosely in this industry, sometimes to describe an all-hands meeting, sometimes a survey, sometimes a single conversation with a CEO over coffee. At Arise it means something specific, so here's exactly what happens, what it produces, and how long it takes.
Three conversations, not one
A Listening Session isn't a single interview. It's three distinct kinds of conversation, run over one to two weeks, each surfacing something the others can't.
The Executive Listening Session
A 2-hour session with your leadership team. This is where the big patterns get named out loud, often for the first time, because it's the first time the whole group has been asked directly rather than in the hallway.
Individual & Team Sessions
1-hour conversations with department leads and their teams. People say different things in a small room than they do in front of leadership, and both versions matter.
Document & Signals Review
A look at what your hiring, onboarding, and performance data already shows, cross-referenced against what people are actually saying. This is often where the biggest surprises live: a pattern everyone felt but nobody had put a number to.
What we're actually listening for
Every conversation is mapped against the same three pillars: Trust, Communication, and Purpose. If you haven't read it yet, this article walks through what breakdown looks like in each. A Listening Session is how we find out where your organization actually sits against that framework, not where you'd guess it sits.
What you get when it's done
Two things, both handed to your leadership team together, not buried in a report you read alone.
- A Culture Breakdown: a scored diagnostic across Trust, Communication, and Purpose, backed by the evidence and quotes that produced each score, so the findings are traceable rather than abstract.
- A prioritized Action Plan: a short list of next steps with named owners, built so the team leaves in agreement on what happens next instead of a document to interpret on their own.
Timeline and fit
Most engagements run one to two weeks from kickoff to findings, scheduled around your team's availability rather than a fixed calendar. It's flat-rate for teams up to 15 people; larger teams are scoped individually. Current pricing and details are always on the Work Together page.
See if a Listening Session is the right starting point.
A 20-minute call, no pitch. If it's the right fit, we'll get it scheduled. If not, I'll point you somewhere better.
Book a free discovery call