ABSTRACT
How does good listening make a difference in coaching? This chapter considers the question, ‘Why listen?’. It argues that listening is the single most important skill for the coach because it guides their response to the speaker and helps create the conditions within which the work gets done. Both call on the coach’s presence, intention and skill as a listener.
This chapter explains how listening is widely understood within the coaching literature to occur at a number of levels. The lowest level is typified by the listener mainly focusing their attention on themselves. Listeners improve by attending to the content of what the speaker says, improve further by actively listening, and reach the pinnacle of listening when they are empathetic and fully engaged. Descriptions of the highest level of listening are however bedevilled by abstract concepts that make it hard to pin down.
Understanding the benefits and impact of listening is an essential foundation for understanding the nature of high quality listening. This chapter argues that the speaker benefits emotionally, cognitively, physically and spiritually from being heard. Listening also has a significant impact on the coaching relationship and the coach.
