If you’ve never practiced active listening before, it can be a bit confusing to try out yourself. Below, we’ll walk you through an example dialogue between two people, one of whom is supporting their coworker by actively listening. Before we dive into an example, here are some key dialogue elements to use when you’re listening to understand:
- “Tell me more about…”
- “I see.”
- “What happened next?”
- “So what you’re saying is…”
- “How did you feel after that?”
- “What would you like to do about…”
- “What can I do to help?”
- “Thank you for taking the time to speak to me.”
Example dialogue to practice your active listening skills
Your team member has been tasked with presenting a new initiative to the broader team. Before they do so, they want to run the idea by you for your thoughts. By using active listening skills during this conversation, you can best support your team member and connect with their ideas. Here’s an example of how that might go:
Coworker: “For this initiative, we’ll feature different customers on our company Instagram. Each month, we will align the featured customer with the month’s broader theme. For example, we could feature a female creator during Women’s History Month in February, or a Black creator during Black History Month in October.”
To practice active listening in this conversation, start by paraphrasing what you heard:
You: “So what I’m hearing you say is you want to feature a different customer on our Instagram each month, and align that program with a larger monthly theme, like Women’s History Month…”
Then, ask an open-ended question to dig deeper into the topic:
You: “What would these posts be like?”
Coworker: “I’m thinking they could each do an Instagram takeover for a day. This way we can amplify their voice, as well as show off the work they create.”
Affirm that you’re hearing what they have to say:
You: “I see, this sounds really cool…”
Then, dig into specifics to demonstrate interest:
You: “Tell me more about how you’d source these creators.”
Coworker: “Well next month is Pride month, so if I get the go-ahead from our manager, I’m thinking about reaching out to an openly queer woman I’ve already spoken to on Twitter and seeing if she’d be interested.”
Affirm that you’re hearing what they said:
You: “Reaching out to an openly queer woman on Twitter sounds awesome!”
Then, ask an open-ended question:
You: “What can I do to help?”
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