2.1 Active listening

Listening sounds easy enough, yet listening properly is one of the hardest skills to master in communication. It is easy to be distracted and even overwhelmed by our work and lives. The profusion of digital technology and smartphones has only made matters worse, with demands on attention and energy never seeming to end. The upshot is that many of us can sit in meetings without really being present. Our bodies are in the room, but our minds and feelings are elsewhere.

Active listening is a form of mindfulness that demands that we remain present for what someone is saying, and try to be as responsive in these moments as possible. It is a practice rooted in respecting someone else’s feelings, opinions and particular standpoint. In conversations about lived experiences of racism, the listener can learn so much by being fully present, noting and feeling the many and sometimes subtle ways in which racism is practised. On the flip side, many people (especially white people) can live in denial because they are not truly hearing – and respecting – what someone is telling them about their experiences.