Team Building Activity: Active Listening

This is a great activity to demonstrate the key elements to active listening. Perfect for a group of 5 to 6 people. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes and all you will need is a marking pen.

Have the team sit in a circle. Whether your team is actively engaged in a “hot topic” or you want to use this as a learning activity, introduce this activity as a way to demonstrate “active listening.”

First, select a “hot topic” – one that is relevant and that will have some people agree and disagree (e.g., gun control, abortion, casual dress policies, or Internet use in the workplace).

Pick up a marker and state, “He or she who has the pen has the ‘floor.'”  The “speaker” will tell their teammates his/her opinion about the hot topic.

No one is to interrupt the speaker until the speaker is finished.

The ‘listeners’ are to listen, without interruption.  Before anyone else may speak, one of the listeners must paraphrase the speaker.  The speaker then decides whether the listener accurately captured his/her intent and the feeling.

• If yes, then the speaker hands the marker to the person who accurately paraphrased him/her.
• If no, then another person attempts to paraphrase the speaker.

“You will continue this process until all have had a chance to speak.”

Debrief and Summarize
After all have had a chance to participate, debrief the activity:

• What did you think about this activity?  Was it easy to do?  If not, what made it so difficult?
• From the speakers’ perspectives, what made you think you were listened to?
• From the listeners’ perspectives, what made you a better listener?
• What did your fellow team members do to help you listen more effectively?
• What did your fellow team members to do help you speak more clearly?
• What did you learn from this activity?  How might we apply these learnings to our team’s work

From your specific observations as well as the discussion, summarize the activity with the following key elements to active listening:

• Prepare to listen.  Shift your focus and attention to the person speaking.  Send a non-verbal signal (like turning your head toward the speaker) that you are giving that person your undivided attention.
• Actively listen.  Listen with the intent to understand the speaker’s words, putting aside your own agenda and immediate response.
• Listen for meaning.  Use all your senses to take in information.  Listen not only with your ears, but also with your eyes and heart.  Take in the non-verbals, the tone, the pace and feel what the other person is saying.
• Interpret the message.  As we take in all this information, focus on understanding what the speaker intends.  Put yourself in their position.  Be aware of your own values and beliefs that act as filters between the speaker’s message and our interpretation.  Resist the temptation to advise, criticize or judge when listening and asking questions.  Make a conscious effort to understand other points of view.
• Check for understanding.  Paraphrase or rephrase what was said and check for agreement.
• Draw them out.  Ask open-ended questions to get more information.
• Clarify as necessary.  Ask questions to gain a clearer understanding of what has been said, especially when you think there are differences in the way a word is used or defined.
• Test the unsaid.  Sometimes, the real issue has not been spoken.  If you sense there is something that hasn’t been said, test it out.
• Reflect the feeling.  This is the key to empathetic listening – where you seek to understand the speaker’s feeling as well as the words.

If you like this activity, check out my book, Team Energizers, for 49 other team activities!

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