“If you don’t think I should have given the team my list of ideas before asking for their ideas, why didn’t you just say so?” Susan curtly asked.
“Would you have listened to me?” I replied. “Does your team listen to you?”
“Apparently, my team does NOT listen to me,” Susan stopped. “My team doesn’t listen to me, and I don’t listen to you. Nobody’s listening.”
“If your team is not listening to you, what could you do differently?” I smiled. “Remember, the goal is NOT to get them to listen to you (because they won’t), but to get their ideas on how to speed up daily output?”
Susan was obstinate, but the questions were breaking her down.
I continued. “If your team is not listening to YOUR ideas, whose ideas will they listen to?”
Susan was reluctant to reply, but she finally did. “I guess they will only listen to their own ideas.”
It is worth mapping who listens to whom. It is not so easy since people will not be upfront about it, but e.g. during meetings it can be observed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the influence map you draw as a result differs from your organisation map. Some difference is inevitable but a significant difference is a problem. Fortunately, both maps can change, one more quickly than the other.