Are You Listening to Me? A Listening Exercise for Management Students

Students often believe they listen well, yet their bosses, colleagues, or employees may feel differently. This experiential exercise reframes listening as a highly contextualized capability rather than a set of universal behaviors. Grounded in Kriz et al. (2021), students are prompted to reflect on their own experiences of listening and then observe a conversation in a public setting and analyze how listeners responses align (or misalign) with speaker needs. This exercise is applicable to undergraduate, graduate, and executive education.