Developing Generous Listening Skills: Authentic Relating Practice in the Classroom

Keywords: Active Listening, experiential learning, relationships

Abstract: Authentic Relating is a practice of focusing attention and acceptance within a small group (Bénéteau, 2021). The ability to listen compassionately to develop rich relationships is key to a successful life and career. However, students can find compassionate listening difficult, especially in the midst of conflicts. How can courses provide experiences to help students develop generous listening skills?

I’ll discuss an Authentic Relating exercise I used as part of an experiential undergraduate course in Organization Development. I’ll describe reactions and we’ll engage in brief practice sessions with feedback to provide a sense of how it works.