CDP Resource: Listening & Learning with "I" Statements

This resource is an accompaniment to our podcast, “I” Statements, where people with different identities come together to share their own beliefs, experiences, and perspectives, demonstrating both the power and the possibility inherent in communicating across difference.

Episode transcript

Episode Overview

In this episode, Natasha, Rachel, and Stephen talk about their experiences learning to listen, connecting to others through listening, and asking themselves questions about who they listen to and why.

Discussion Questions

• What is your experience with learning to listen? What makes it easy for you to actively listen to others and what makes it challenging?
• Thinking about a context in which you’ve spent a lot of time (e.g., a classroom, a workplace, your family unit), how would you describe the way that listening shows up there? Is listening prioritized? Do people reciprocate listening to each other, or do some people dominate? Are the perspectives being shared typically similar to each other, or are there often disagreements?
• When you actively listen to others, what kind of message does that convey to them? What kind of message do you receive when others actively listen to you?

Writing Prompt

How do you see the relationship between listening and social identities? You can think about this in your own life (e.g., who you listen you, who listens to you) or at a broader level (who is heard in society, who is expected to listen)?

Related Readings

• The right to listen (Taylor, 2020)
• Five ways to have better conversations across difference (Green, 2019)
• Listening to the people who we think are wrong (Kramer, 2019)
• ‘Active listening’: The key to strong workplace relationships, productivity, and personal empowerment (Kaplan, 2018)