ACTIVE LISTENING

Active listening requires the involvement of two people where both body and mind are focused on creating a shared future. They are both seeking to trust and commit to what they can agree by adopting the language, a mood state, and energy level that focuses on creating a shared reality.

Conversation is the medium through which each person’s sensory information is filtered before it’s received. The two processes involved are structural determinism and structural coupling. Both processes are involved in making sense and choosing what actions to take. This is the way two independent and autonomous living systems share a worldview. There is no directly imposed thought or feeling, it is filtered through the medium of languaging, emotioning, presencing and relating.  See the concept of Autopoiesis.

Good listening requires more than just paying attention to another person’s words. The meaning and intention behind the words can be observed in the way emotions, moods, energy and body movement are interpreted. For example, a mood can be energising, neutral or de-energising and is reinforced by a body posture and the words used. Words can be interpreted as a command, invitation, threat or plea, depending on voice pitch and tonation.

In active listening, you are looking for coherence or incoherence in the whole body as the words are spoken. A leader or coach is taking in the whole ‘way of being’ to sense any unspoken concerns that might be revealed in a lack of coherence. For example, words of commitment are not reinforced by a confident body posture or a bright voice tone. Learning to observe and listen to the way comments are interpreted will affect the level of connection and any assessment of trust.