Word from the Wise
Why listening matters in building an intentional community
At the beginning of the semester, I walked into my first class of graduate school already assuming I knew what my community needed. I had decided before the semester started that I would be partnering with Wire the Wise, a program that creates intergenerational technology meetups between senior citizens and young professionals. In the beginning, the answer seemed simple: seniors need technology, and I would be the person to help build on that idea in an effort to grow the program and the amount of seniors learning to use technology. While that is still very much a part of my work, I walked out of my first class of the semester with one goal: to listen and to listen well.
Over the course of the semester, I put listening at the forefront of every action I took within my community. At the first Wire the Wise event I attended, I intentionally paired myself with a senior and I spent the entire hour and a half listening. Sure, there was some technology learning in the process, but for the most part I wanted to hear directly from the senior I was working with about her fears with technology, what she struggles learning, as well as what could be done to best help her in that process. I learned that she likes to write instructions down, and learns better by studying those steps and repeating them over and over. I learned that she is very passionate about learning technology, but does not want to be consumed by it. I learned that coming to an event like Wire the Wise was something that took so much courage because seeking help for something you know very little about can sometimes be embarrassing. I learned that she used to own an animal circus. And this was all from one afternoon of listening to one person in my community.
Listening continued to be a recurring theme throughout the first semester as we began experimenting with different tools in our communities. Through our work with design thinking, Hearken, and GroundSource we were able to not only experiment with different ways to connect with our community, but also different ways in which we could listen. Additionally, we had an entire assignment devoted to listening by taking a step back and intensely observing our communities. In that process in particular, I learned how important it is to first listen before acting.
In each of these different phases, listening has been a critical part of the process and has proven to be the most powerful tool in my work so far. Listening has made me a better storyteller and has allowed me to not only understand the wants and needs of those in my community, but it has also taught me that the individuals in my community have a story to tell. And I’m more than happy to listen.
