INTERPERSONAL CHANGE RESOURCES
THE POWER OF LISTENING
The Power of Listening
Unfortunately, much of organizational and interpersonal life is clouded by the bias towards voicing our opinions, advocating our points of view, sharing our ‘top three’ criteria, etc etc
Researchers have found that in most western organizations, 75% of conversations are taken up with advocating our various positions, and only 25% of our time is spent listening. And even then, most of the listening is poor quality listening designed to protect our points of view by listening for supportive commentary or simply preparing ourselves for our next opportunity to interrupt to share our viewpoint.
Productive listening is a masterful way to guide our attention to new levels of understanding, curiosity and innovation.
There are many models of listening available. Many of them differentiate between passive or defensive listening and active listening. More active listening is helpful, but is incomplete.
WAOC founder Dorian Baroni prefers a framework that is based on her colleague’s Otto Scharmer’s Found Levels of Listening framework.
The four levels of listening according to Otto Scharmer are:
Downloading: receiving information without much reflection. This listening is what most of us engage in without thinking about it. It is mostly protective of our egos and is listening for agreement with our own points of view.
Factual Listening: evaluating information based on facts. This listening is much more objective and welcomes disconfirming data as a way of expanding our knowledge base. It is mostly guided by our intellect.
Empathetic Listening: understanding emotions and perspectives of others. This listening engages the heart of the listener, allowing us to listen for the emotional reasons behind a particular point of view.
Generative Listening: connecting to the deeper purpose and potential of a situation. At this level, the listener is letting go of their agenda and is allowing themselves to listen for the possibilities, new ideas, potential in a conversation. When both parties are able to activate their Generative listening, true Dialogue and Innovation are possible.
Note: In 2022, Dorian, her creative partner Lilia Abreu Mawson and her colleague Alison Richardson are expanding on the Four Levels of Listening to consider a 5th level or dimension that is not about deepening the levels from which we listen but it is about considering the unspoken assumption inherent in most listening frameworks. The levels of power and identity associated with or assigned to the listener and the speaker. In most settings, power dynamics will be in place that will assign gendered or other identity levels of power to listener and speakers. Encouraging oneself to “listen more, advocate less” may therefore play into societally assigned roles that need to be considered. If a woman is practicing Listening more and listening at Level 3, will her leadership in a situation be enhanced or questioned because of societally assumed appropriate levels of advocating vs listening for women in general? If you are the only person of color in a meeting, will your percentage of advocating vs listening be perceived in the same manner as the way of advocating vs listening of your dominant culture colleagues? These and other considerations are worth considering when expanding one’s own listening capacity in a range of situations.