Start creating the space for the reflections and conversations of today: you can ask the audience if they are paying attention to the ways they have been listening.
Then highlight that listening is a super underrated leadership skill. However, it is a super important skill, because the way we listen and pay attention in a conversation can profoundly shift the quality and depth of that conversation, and the quality of relationship we are able to build to one another.
By listening deeply and actively, we are able to connect and make sense of each other, it helps us gain a deeper understanding of different perspectives, allowing individuals and groups to connect to each other in a way that is more inclusive, open and respecting potential differences. Changing the way we listen changes the way we experience and build relationships.
Comment that improving our listening takes practice and that we will try that later, but first it is important to look at interesting inputs on listening levels before we collectively brainstorm what active listening is composed of.
- Explain that you will show today “The 4 levels of listening”. This model is part of the Theory U process, developed by Otto Scharmer from the Presencing Institute at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). According to Otto Scharmer , “Listening is probably the most underrated leadership capacity today, but listening is really at the source of all great leadership. When we see leadership failures, and today we have many opportunities to see that, very often at the source of these failures is a lack of listening. A lack of connection to what is really going on in reality right now.
- Explain the model:
The 1st Level of listening is called Downloading.
This first level of listening is characterized by when we listen from our habits, from what we already know. We are just reconfirming what we already know, nothing new can come to us, because we just stay in our bubble, not focused or interested on what other people have to say, but maybe more interested on what we will say next. So basically we “download” and project our assumptions into the present situation, hence we also listen to what we already know.The result of this kind of listening is that we only reconfirm our existing opinions and judgements. Now in some situations this can be a very helpful way of attending to the world outside. If we think for instance of an apple, we know from experience that it is a healthy and tasty item to eat, so it saves us time if we can use our previous assumptions about apples so that we don't need to reevaluate every single time if an apple is healthy or potentially poisonous. Nevertheless in human interaction this level of listening blocks us from understanding other perspectives and opening our mind to new possibilities, and makes dialogue and collaboration impossible.
The 2nd Level of listening is called Factual.
When listening from level two we are starting to open our mind.
We notice disconfirming information/data, what the other says start to penetrate our own bubble. We actually focus on what the other person says, that is, we start to pay attention to what is different from how we thought it is. This level of listening is embedded in our scientific paradigm, all good science teaches to pay attention to disconfirming data as it is the source of innovation. The main driver of this kind of listening is curiosity.
The 3rd Level of listening is called Empathic.
Empathic listening is where we start to see the world through another person's eyes. It is only from this level of listening that our center of attention starts to move “outside of us” or beyond what we know. When I engage in downloading, my center of attention is within me, not noticing what is going on outside. Level two is still centered within me, but I am starting to pay attention to what is going on outside and I notice the differences to what I assumed to be true from my own experience. At this level, we see situations through the eyes of others, turning to the other person’s point of view. When practicing empathic listening with an open heart, the center of attention is focused on the experience of the other person(s). In fact, this allows us to gather much more information about the situation than what we might think. When seeing a situation from another person's perspective and experience we may experience feelings and thoughts we would otherwise not have connected with. It is through experiencing those feelings and perspectives that a deeper connection can unfold as the other person will start to feel heard, understood and seen as who he/she is.
- The 4th Level of listening is called Generative.
This fourth level of listening is something we don’t usually experience on a daily basis in our interactions with others. The key difference here is that there is something happening with the center of attention. It is no longer located in one specific person, rather the center, or source, from where the listening happens has no specific perspective anymore. It is somewhat “between '' people. It is in these moments when something really new can emerge, as we let go of our own sense of Self and together engage in a conversation where we let come what we don’t yet know, together. It holds space for something new to be born, listening with openness to what is unknown and what wants to emerge. Here we open our will to be changed by the conversation. We start to see reality with fresh eyes, and welcome yet unknown aspects. In generative listening we connect with one another and with an emerging future potential.
Comment that great leaders are able to sense what type of listening is needed at the moment and can adjust the quality of listening to the situation.
Explain that this model helps us to gain an idea about how diverse and complex listening can be. Maybe in future conversations, you can gain the awareness about what type of listening you are engaging in at the moment and what type of listening would be appropriate.
You can raise these questions for people to reflect and comment to the group (if you have enough time): Do these match? In general, where do you spend most of your own listening time? Can you actively try to practice the appropriate type of listening? How does your conversation change by doing so?