Active Listening
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt from progressing as a Scrum Master is how to be a better servant leader. When I first started acting in the role of Scrum Master I had a natural tendency towards being prescriptive in my approach to teams and team members. It’s been a few years now since I started my journey as a Scrum Master and I’ve been pleasantly surprised on a number of occasions to find that some of the Scrum Master concepts and practices can be similar, and in fact deepened, by some ‘new age’ concepts and practices. One prime example is the act of active listening.

I’ve found one of the greatest skills to learn in progressing to become a more effective servant leader has been the practice of active listening. “Listening”…. sounds easy right? Just listen. I’ve read a lot from various authors that describe the art of listening and how to practice this art. In Agile speak this is referred to as Active Listening.
Active Listening is about understanding what the other person is trying to convey, by genuinely listening. It creates a mutual trust and respect.
The key attributes for Active Listening are:
- Listen attentively without interrupting
- Be genuine and don’t judge
- Show empathy and understanding of the other persons perspective
- Don’t jump in with a fix-it solution

I’ve found that last point about not jumping in with a solution to be something I’ve worked on a lot over the years. It’s far more important to ask ‘powerful’ questions to help lead the other person to come to their own conclusion than it is for me to voice my version of it. Quite often when I’ve been actively listening, the other person has said something like “oh of course that’s the answer, I’ve answered my own question, thank you”. All I had to do was listen to the other person and allowed them to answer their own question.
One of my favourite authors is Eckhart Tolle. I especially like his version of listening which is to be in a state of awareness. This can be aided by being aware of one’s own breathing whilst listening to another.
Far more important than what you are listening to is the act of listening itself, the space of conscious presence that arises as you listen. That space is a unifying field of awareness in which you meet the other person without the separative barriers created by conceptual thinking. And now the other person is no longer “other.” In that space, you are joined together as one awareness, one consciousness.
Eckhart Tolle (Stillness Speak)
Whilst this may sound a little woo woo, I think it gives some idea of the potential that Active Listening can bring to your relationship with others.
Being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment — the key to all inner transformation. Whenever you are conscious of the breath, you are absolutely present.
Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth)

I haven’t read any Agile literature recommending what Tolle calls conscious breathing but I’ve found this type of listening and being to be very effective during Sprint Retrospectives and coaching sessions. In fact any interaction in which you’d like to deepen the sense of stillness to give people space to voice their ideas is a worthy place to adopt these practices.
It doesn’t take a lot of time to learn, it just takes a willingness to try something new. I recommend starting with interactions in which you find it easier to stay attentive, and then over time allow this practice to gradually spread out into your other interactions.
Try it out and see if you get good results.

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