Listening is crucial to authentic communication and effective co-construction. An essential cross-disciplinary skill, it encourages empathy and commitment, which in turn helps to improve collaboration.
This method can be used to improve active listening in group and one-on-one situations, with a view to reaching a shared outcome that is more meaningful for all.
It could be used, for example, when introducing a meeting or seminar in order to increase the quality of the participants’ listening.
Ask the participants to form a circle and stand in the middle of it.
Begin the story with an introductory phrase. E.g.: “An employee has their last day in the office before retiring, when…”
In no particular order, each participant must repeat what the previous person has said word for word, and then add something new. They take a step forward so that it’s easy to see who has spoken or not.
At the end of the exercise, suggest a 5- to 10-minute group debriefing session to discuss what everyone has learned about listening. Examples of questions to ask: How did you find that experience? What did you find easy or difficult? What did it teach you about listening? Were you focused on what was being said or on what you wanted to say? Did everyone have the chance to speak?
You can also try this exercise face to face in groups of two:
Split the participants into pairs.
In each pair, the first person (A) listens whilst the other person (B) tells them about a particularly memorable trip. [3 to 5 minutes]
A is not allowed to take notes or express anything either verbally or non-verbally (no nodding, interacting, etc.). But don’t panic, the time goes very quickly!
3. A must then tell B everything they can remember [2 mins].
4. They then switch roles: B listens to A and then recounts what they have managed to memorise.
5. Following the exercise, you can suggest a group debriefing session just like in the first option [5 to 10 minutes].
If you have a group of more than 10 people, form multiple smaller circles (but get them to listen to the instructions all at once).
Encourage the participants to take their time, to accept silence and to welcome ideas that are different from theirs: if they aren’t listening effectively, the story is often negative and nonsensical.
The instructions can be adjusted to suit the group’s level of collective intelligence. For example, you could go round the circle in order, rather than randomly.