Helena’s question, three conversations and Kaizen: how I learn to be a better host

Helena Ojala raised a question in our conversation: how can a podcast guest become better at being interviewed? A good question. But it stayed with me for another reason: if a guest can learn, what can I do as a host to help their thinking truly shine?

I love the moment when a conversation produces something neither of us knew beforehand. A guest says one sentence, I ask a question, and suddenly the listener sees an old problem from a new angle. That is why I sit down behind a microphone. Helena's question made me ask how to create more of those moments deliberately.

Read our conversation: Helena Ojala and Mikk Orglaan on recruitment and leadership culture.

Three conversations, three different mirrors

I revisited all three conversations I had hosted so far. In the VKG episode, I interviewed a large industrial company on behalf of Äripäev, stepping into the role of a curious outsider. With Birgit Arus, I could explore sales as someone who has built it and struggled with it himself. With Helena, we reached questions connecting recruitment, a leader's decisions and the work a person actually does.

I was not looking for a grade. I looked for moments when an honest question helped a guest say something genuinely useful. What did I do to bring that thought into view? What could the listener take away? And which of my own strengths could I use more consciously next time?

That was the most exciting insight: growth does not start with writing myself a new personality. It starts with noticing when I am most myself and giving that energy a better rhythm.

What drives me as a host?

First, real curiosity. When a leader says people are a company's most important asset, I want to ask: which decision shows it? When someone talks about great sales, I want to know what happened on an actual customer call. I do not want only a beautiful sentence. I want to see how it works in real life.

Second, I see connections. Strategy, processes and people do not live on separate shelves in my head. One decision changes another, and I enjoy discovering that with a guest. Third, I am willing to bring in my own experience and challenge an idea when needed. Often the most interesting conversation begins where two experiences meet.

And I enjoy learning. Not politely nodding, but actually changing my view when a guest shows me something I had not seen. These are the strengths I want to put to even better use for listeners in future episodes.

Kaizen is not a slogan on a wall

The idea behind Japanese Kaizen is simple: notice an opportunity, make a small improvement, see what happens and learn what to do next. For me, each episode is a chance to do one thing more consciously than before. Not a perfect revolution, but the next small step that I actually take.

Before the next recording, for example, I can decide to follow one guest story through the situation, the decision and the result. Afterwards, I ask whether the listener really got that story. If so, I have something to repeat. If not, I have a question for the next episode. Learning becomes part of the work rather than a vague promise to improve.

Kaizen gives me another kind of freedom: I can remain the curious, energetic Mikk who connects different worlds. I do not need to make that part of myself smaller. I can learn when my question, experience or challenge does the most to carry the guest's thought forward.

Why might this actually work?

Feedback researchers Avraham Kluger and Angelo DeNisi found that feedback can improve performance, but its effect depends on where attention goes. Asking “did the listener hear the guest's decision and result?” helps me more than calling myself a “good” or “bad” host. A concrete action gives me something to try differently next time. [1]

Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran's research on if–then plans helps explain why wanting to improve is not enough. If I have decided in advance, “when a guest begins an important story, I will first ask what happened next,” I have a better chance of acting on that intention in a real conversation. That is one way to turn insight into action. [2]

Phillippa Lally and colleagues' research on habits reminds us that repeated action in a familiar context helps new behavior grow, and that people differ in how quickly this happens. Hosting is similar: one good episode is a start, but a routine grows when the same conscious choice returns in the next conversation and the one after that. [3]

When change takes more energy

People do not all manage attention and inner tension in the same way. Some have ten interesting ideas at once. Others find it hard to leave something open before checking it thoroughly. From outside, one may look impatient and the other rigid. It is easy to call this “bad character” when the person may actually be working much harder inside.

I have not been clinically assessed for ADHD or OCD, and I do not claim to have either. These are different conditions; OCD is not simply thoroughness or high standards. If someone does live with related difficulties, change may require more support and a deliberately designed environment. That does not remove responsibility for how our behavior affects others. It helps us find a way to make good intentions visible in action. [4, 5]

For me the question is simple: which small agreement with myself helps me use my energy so that a guest can finish their thought? A note on paper. One question at a time. A moment to listen. Not to silence myself, but to create a better conversation.

A new routine begins with noticing

This is not only about podcasts. A leader, founder, salesperson, parent or colleague can use the same cycle in their work.

Helena's question gave me a chance to see my previous conversations with fresh eyes. Perhaps the best outcome is that I do not enter the next episode trying to prove I am already finished. I enter with curiosity, take the next conscious step and listen to what it teaches me.

Sources

[1] Kluger & DeNisi (1996), meta-analysis of feedback and performance: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.254

[2] Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006), meta-analysis of if–then plans: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1

[3] Lally et al. (2010), study of habit formation: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674

[4] National Institute of Mental Health, ADHD in adults: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/adhd-what-you-need-to-know

[5] National Institute of Mental Health, OCD: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-when-unwanted-thoughts-or-repetitive-behaviors-take-over