This proposal is outside the traditional settings of the ILA. I am proposing a combination of entertainment and a discussion of listening skills. It's a method to improve listening via the arts. A 5-character one-act play entitled "All in Good Time" will be performed. The performers will be ILA member volunteers in attendance. It will be done in the style of a script-in-hand readers theater event. Each attendee will be assigned a character to monitor during the performance and will keep in mind these two questions:
What listening habits/practices should your character continue in order to be a highly effective listener?
How can your character improve his or her listening practice in order to grow into the most effective listener possible?
The play runs about 35 minutes with perhaps another 5 minutes with someone reading the stage directions. This could be combined with a discussion of any length.
For the last several years, we have watched politicians give very little evidence of listening to each other or wanting to work together. Executive orders, threats of government shut-downs, Covid-1 restrictions, tensions surrounding several issues (the southern border, financing for the war in Ukraine, funding police, the Israel/Hamas war) that threaten democracy. I plan to draw on scholarly sources which describe the problems for our form of government presented by the lack of open listening, for example, Steven Levitsky and David Zimblatt (How Democracies Die), Naomi Wolf (Facing the Beast), Ed Brodow, (Tyranny of the Minority), and more. I plan to look at both political sides in controversies, especially indicating how particular use of language tends to shut down conversation. Furthermore, there seems to be a refusal by some to even examine some problems.
The situation is similar in the media where programs that are “fair and balanced” are hard to find. I will provide several instances the media landscape—both liberal and conservative. For example, one does not need to listen to “The Five” on Fox News channel very long to see that only one political is presented (or 4 on side and 1 on the other). MSNBC’s perspective is not only opposite of Fox News, and seems to be even more strident in its tone as it presents its perspective. One can predict that CNN will carry stories about the troubles of Donald J. Trump nearly every day apparently ignoring the challenges facing President Biden. Just the opposite is true in Fox News. It appears to me that there is less balance of news in the evening programs compared to the daytime presentation of news.
If time permits, I would like briefly to examine how universities shut down listening, particularly after seeing the political point-of-view challenges since the beginning of the Hamas/Israel war that began October 7, 2023.
After describing the problems, I hope to present some signs of hope—of people who listen and how they do it. We can find a few examples of politicians who I believe listen to people who hold different positions. I will point them out and examine their practices. I want to look at groups which aim for reconciliation, for example, Musalaha which has been working for several years to bring Palestinians and Israelis together.
One of the questions I want to deal with is this: How can and should we listen to those who are shouting? I raised that issue at the Dublin convention, and it has not been resolved. I believe there is an issue of narcissism that pervades our society and solving that will require some strenuous work. Perhaps John Gottman’s “5 to 1” rule for marriage (on positive versus negative messages) might be another starting point. My point will be that we need to be creative in not only looking at successful techniques for listening that have been used in the past but also in trying new things that will help break patterns of turning backs on one another.
In an attempt to gain insight into how the state of organizational listening and response to customers may have changed, we conducted in-depth interviews with ten (10) subject matter experts representing both academic and practitioner communities.
This paper presents detailed findings from our interviews with these organizational listening thought leaders and subject matter experts regarding where organizations are having success – and where they continue to struggle – when it comes to capturing and leveraging the “voice of the customer,” and more generally, listening and responding to external stakeholders.
In the current age of anxiety, with mental disorders and suicides happening in all ages from children as young as 14 to men and women in the prime of their life, the candle of mental peace and clarity is dimming by the hour.
We need to listen to the sound of silence (Simon and Garfunkel lyric) and cultivate the art of thinking and observing our thoughts in this noisy world.
I practice being a good listener when no one is talking, except the silence of the nature and the universe.
The basic premise is this: We the humans, the nature and the universe are one.
The little man sitting in my head tells me that I am separate from the source energy and the universe, but I know better. I am not separate from the persons around me nor from the planets and everything else in the universe.
There is art, poetry and music in the patterns of nature. The rhythms and rhymes of sea waves, the winds blowing over the forests, the birds singing in the forests and the clouds towering over the mountains and valleys are talking to me, only if I can become quiet and learn to be still.
My thoughts are influenced by the sages and the saints, the thinkers and philosophers, poets and prophets, musicians and artists, scientists and physicians and the technology innovators.
I am inspired by the writings and research of Alan Watts who has travelled extensively in the East and presented his research in the wisdom of silence and the puzzle of consciousness in an easy-to-understand words for the chaotic modern world and suffering humanity.
This panel discusses the generative possibilities and potential pinch points for listening research collaborations across differing institutional affiliations, professions, rank and role in academia, time zones, and many other identities. Creating a dialogic space that explores questions and experiences related to multiple modes of academic inquiry and expression (e.g., article and book writing, professional seminars, collaborative classroom teaching, journal editorship teamwork, and podcast creation), we discuss communication processes and technology that can aid in the creation of diverse and equitable research teams that promotes listening interdisciplinarity and success across in-person, hybrid, and digital contexts.
High-quality listening is characterized by an absence of listener judgment and curated listener curiosity. This is easier said than done, especially when you have a stake in the conversation outcome. Chic Thompson notes people are more likely to respond with “killer phrases” than “empowering phrases." Come play with language during this experiential workshop. Discover how to move beyond judgment and “killer phrases” to curious questions and empowering phrases that demonstrate respect and support speakers, and enhance relationships while addressing underlying concerns. Whether you listen at home or in the workplace, classroom, or during civic discourse, this workshop is for you.
This is a listening session moderated by the new International Journal of Listening editor (Elizabeth S. Parks) and associate editor (Michael Humphrey). In this session, we aim to create space through which ILA members and convention attendees can offer their insight, ideas, and questions related to how best to advance the ends and promote the ongoing success of the IJL in future years.
