According to Otto Scharmer's work, Theory U, there are four levels of listening. At level one listening I hear you through the filters of my own attitudes and beliefs. As I listen I compare what you are saying with what I already think. I seek to either accept or reject your words based on whether or not they confirm my own judgements. At level one listening, what you say to me does not fit in with what I already believe, I will reject your words and I may even reject you.
At level two listening I have stopped my internal thinking and am simply hearing what you say. Because your words aren't passing through the filter of my own attitudes, I am willing to change my mind based on what you've said. That's why Scharmer calls it the "Open Mind" phase.
At level three listening I have become emotionally hooked on what you are saying. Some how during the course of conversation I experienced an empathetic connection to the words. Now I'm not only listening with an open mind, but an open heart as well. When you're chatting with co-workers at the water cooler, and the conversation switches from football to someone's recent cancer diagnosis, the listening leaps from levels one and two to level three. You can feel the shift in the room. You'll notice that when an entire group shifts to level three, some people will even place their hands on their hearts for a moment.
Level four happens the least frequently but provides the most memorable experience of conversation and connection. When I am in a group and we are all engaged at this depth, I feel like the very forces of creativity and innovation are passing through us. I find that the words which move through me in these moments represent completely new ideas. I'm often startled at the clarity afforded in these moments of being "in the flow" with others.
As we craft our key questions we'll need some questions which specifically target each level. Here's an example:
If we trust the model and agree that the greatest learning occurs at deeper levels of listening, then it becomes strategically important to drive the group toward conflict and debate (level two) in order to reach levels three and four.
What do you think? What are the really hard questions? What sorts of debates stand between our intention and our collective learning?
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1 comment:
I'm moved by all your posts, Toni, and I find them rich... Thank you!
There are dynamics and elements of diversity that have been completely ignored by media, government, organizations, and therefore society as a whole. We are diving into some very dark corners society has chosen to turn away from. I guess I can also call it "cultural undiscussables". The deep dive could also adopt this language: like a process of making the undiscussables discussable. So, what makes the undiscussables undiscussable? One thing that might be present for any individual could be the fear of not knowing/having a guaranteed way to deliver a message without risk of blaming, judging, or hurting others. Another fear could be out of not knowing if others will meet us in the middle of "no (wo)man's land." Some difficulties could also be present because there might not be a shared understanding of common language to use, making it more difficult to communicate about it.
Skin, hair, and eye color are all "diversities" obvious to the eye. There are FAR more important diversities in people to be leveraged and I think part of the deep dive in Portland will dip into how we all process and think about things differently and how valuable it is for a group to be diverse. I think it's been proven through research that the more diverse a team is, the more effective and successful they can be. This is also a rich perspective of diversity. Someone who grew up in a low, middle, or high class rural town on a farm will have far different perspectives on an organizational process than someone who grew up in a low, middle, or high class city. Diversity of thought and values is the value, which we are recognizing and calling diversity of skin color. I wonder if these are interchangeable. I sometimes wish to stop referring to diversity as skin color... because it's just as important as the color of our eyes or hair. On the contrary, I CANNOT and WILL NOT forget what the British empire and our country has done to the natives of this land and many other lands, especially Africa, and how it has had lasting effects on our lives.
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