Otto Scharmer's 4 Levels of Listening - Be A Better Listener - The World of Work Project

7/24/23, 12:09 PM Otto Scharmer's 4 Levels of Listening: Be a Better Listener - The World of Work Project
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Otto Scharmer’s 4 Levels of
Listening are a simple, positive  Strategy
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way to help you get better at
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listening. They’re slightly different  Stress, wellbeing & re
to some other levels of listening.  Diversity & Inclusion
The four levels are: Downloading,  Team Building
Factual, Empathic and  Emotional Intelligenc
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Generative.
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Listening and Generative Listening. They are
similar to other levels of listening in that as you
Contact Us progress, you pay more attention to the  Personality
speaker and are more aligned to them and
their goals.  Podcasts
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Level 1 –  Podcasts
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The first of Otto Scharmer’s 4 levels of listening
Communication
is Downloading.
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At this level of listening all we are doing is
looking for information to confirm what we  Strategy
already know or expect. It’s like we’re skimming
Solving
the news to confirm our beliefs, or skimming  Stress, wellbeing & re
some instructions to confirm we know what  Diversity & Inclusion
we’re doing.  Team Building
We’re not really present at level 1. Our minds  Thinking and Beliefs
are occupied elsewhere. And this shows. The  Facilitation & Meeting
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people we are speaking to can tell that we’re  Organizational Impac
Our Podcast
not really with them. This isn’t a nice way for
Our Online Seminars them to feel. They’ll feel slightly ignored and
 Our Thinking
perhaps disrespected.
Not only this, we’re also unlikely to actually
learn much or have a productive conversation
if were listening at this level.  Podcasts
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Level 2 – Factual  Podcasts
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The second of Otto Scharmer’s 4 levels of  Podcasts

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listening is Factual Listening.
Communication
At this stage we’re no longer just listening for
the things we already know. Instead, we’re  Podcasts
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focused on learning the facts we don’t already
 Strategy
know. We’re keen to broaden our knowledge.
We’re focused, inquiring and paying attention Solving
 Stress, wellbeing & re
to the content of the conversation.
 Team Building
This level of listening can be very helpful, but
it’s potentially somewhat inhuman. In some  Thinking and Beliefs
ways we are separating the facts in the  Facilitation & Meeting
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conversation from the human being wePrivacy
having the conversation with. We are not  Feedback

paying attention to their feelings or emotions,
or the nuance of the conversation.
This may be fine, but it may not be a great  Leadership

conversation for the speaker. We may also
miss important information that’s not
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embodied in facts. We might miss clues as to  Motivation
Our Thinking what is really happening, or how people feel
about what’s being discussed.  Organizational Impac
Our Podcast
 Our Thinking
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Level 3 – Empathic
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Listening  Personal Effectivenes
The third of Otto Scharmer’s 4 levels of
listening is Empathic Listening.
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By the time we reach this level we are starting
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to connect with the person we are speaking to,
not just the facts they bring. We’re moving  Podcasts
Change – 2020
beyond black and white statements, and
starting to explore nuance, feelings and  Podcasts
Coaching – 2021
emotions related to them. Or even related to
Communication
the wider circumstances we are in.
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We achieve this in part through our mindset, in
part through observation and in part through
 Strategy
questioning. If we open our frame of thinking
Solving
to include emotions, we can start to connect  Stress, wellbeing & re
with the speaker on a more emotional level.  Diversity & Inclusion
We can put ourselves in their shoes and start  Team Building
to see things from their perspective. We should  Emotional Intelligenc
also align to their perspectives, while keeping
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the ability to provide friendly, constructive
challenge.
When we do this we are using empathic
listening. This gives us greater clarity over the  Podcasts
situation. It also helps them feel understood, Categories
really listened to connected with us. In this  Podcasts
Careers – 2019
space of safety, we can see increases in sharing
and increasing insight and confidence to try  Podcasts
Change – 2020
new things.
 Podcasts
Coaching – 2021
At this level the experiences of both the
Communication
speaker and the listener are improved.
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Level 4 – Generative
 Strategy
Listening Solving
The fourth of Otto Scharmer’s 4 levels of
listening is Generative Listening. This is where  Team Building
Otto goes further than many levels of listening,  Emotional Intelligenc
and brings greater clarity to what makes an  Thinking and Beliefs
excellent conversation.  Facilitation & Meeting
At this stage the listener moves beyond  Feedback

connecting with the speaker. They start to
connect with the core ideas of the conversation
and their potential futures. They are fully
 Leadership
focused on helping to bring the best possible
Improvingfuture
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being, andPeople
their ego and
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barriers they normally carry are dropped.
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 Motivation
Our Thinking When speakers and listeners can align like this,
in such a safe, optimistic, forward looking way,  Organizational Impac
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great things can be imagined. It’s possible to
Our Online Seminars generate new ideas, and to find the energy and
 Our Thinking
enthusiasm to start to bring them into reality.  Personal Effectivenes

Our Newsletter
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Learning More
 Strategy
Listening and communication more broadly Solving
are interesting topics, and hugely important in
the world of work. You might also enjoy the six  Team Building
facets of effective listening, the six levels of  Emotional Intelligenc
listening or this brief guide on how to be a  Thinking and Beliefs
better listener.  Facilitation & Meeting
When it comes to body language, you might  Feedback

find Mehrabian’s work interesting. We also
think the 7 C’s of communication are a helpful,
simple tool.
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A lot of what’s actually covered here crosses
over with emotional intelligence. Of course,
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while it builds trust, really focusing like this can  Motivation
Our Thinking require some emotional labor.
Our Podcast You might enjoy our podcast on emotional
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30- Emotional
E002 00:00:00 / Intelligence
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There is a lot of advice on listening out there. And
there are also many different versions of “levels of  Podcasts – 2022
Communication
listening”. In all honesty, most of them are pretty
basic. A lot of this boils down to having the  Podcasts
Culture &–Groups
2023
discipline to actually pay attention and be on
 Strategy
someone else’s agenda. When we’re at our best,
Solving
most of us find it pretty easy to do this.  Stress, wellbeing & re
Unfortunately, in the real world, we’re often run
down, busy and thinking about other things.  Team Building
In our view, one of the best ways to get better at  Thinking and Beliefs
listening is to actually focus on improving your  Facilitation & Meeting
space and wellbeing. It’s great to have a toolkit to  Feedback

follow, but if you don’t have the mental space and
energy to follow it, then it’s pretty useless.
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Want to Learn More?   Motivation

Our Thinking
Our Podcast
Our Podcast.
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 Our Thinking
Our Podcast is a great way to learn more about
Our Newsletter hundreds of fascinating topics from around the  Personal Effectivenes
world of work.
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7/24/23, 12:09 PM Otto Scharmer's 4 Levels of Listening: Be a Better Listener - The World of Work Project

 Improvement & Lear

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Our Online Seminars

Our Newsletter  Personal Effectivenes

Summary by The World of Work  Feedback

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Want to Learn More? The 4 Levels of

 Diversity & Inclusion

management development  Feedback

Want to Learn More? human-focused way.

Our Newsletter  Personal Effectivenes

 Improvement & Lear

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Want to Learn More?

The second of Otto Scharmer’s 4 levels of  Podcasts

having the conversation with. We are not  Feedback

This may be fine, but it may not be a great  Leadership

 Improvement & Lear

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Want to Learn More?

Our Online Seminars

At this stage the listener moves beyond  Feedback

enthusiasm to start to bring them into reality.  Personal Effectivenes

When it comes to body language, you might  Feedback

Our Newsletter  Personal Effectivenes

Project View  Podcasts

space and wellbeing. It’s great to have a toolkit to  Feedback

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Want to Learn More?   Motivation

Related Posts  Feedback

 Improvement & Lear

Improving Culture Developing People Free Resources Management

Want to Learn More?

Our Online Seminars

Our Newsletter  Personal Effectivenes

Culture & Ways of Working | Training & Development | Resources | – 2020

Copyright 2018 - 2023 | World of Work Project CIC 

 Stress, wellbeing & re

 Thinking and Beliefs

Privacy & Cookies Policy 

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