Free Active Listening Training Activity

Page Updated on February 4, 2023

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Benefits of This Active Listening Training Activity Exercise

We provide below a free active listening training activity exercise that you can use during your training courses.

The idea that we have only one mouth but two ears and that is because we should listen twice as much as we speak, holds true. We are often so anxious to speak that we do not actively listen.

This is a simple free active listening training activity to run that is useful with any communications training, team building training, or management training.

Length of Active Listening Activity

For this listening skills activity, we would suggest 15 minutes

Cost

Please feel free to re-use this activity as you wish in your own training.

Getting the Activity Started

Ask participants to form groups of up to 4 people per group.

Then give each group a sheet of A1 paper from a flipchart and some colored markers.

Ask each group to brainstorm and come up with a list of things that can stop us from listening and write the list on the A1 sheet of paper.

If it helps them, ask participants to think of a time when they were not listened to or when they realized they were not listening to someone. Why did they think that happened?

Give them 5 minutes to brainstorm and write the list down.

After 5 minutes, ask the groups to share their answer with the rest of the class and start a discussion, which should last about 10 minutes.

Class Discussion for the Active Listening Activity

During or after the discussion, show the bullet points on the list shown on the Active Listening PPT PowerPoint slide below, to compare them with the answers that participants gave and to comment.

Teacher Notes for the Discussion on Active Listening

Lack of focus (due to external distractions or internal ones, such as being hungry, cold or upset)

There are many distractions that can stop us from listening, including checking our phones while we talk with someone or internal distractions such as being hungry, tired, or worried about something.

Making assumptions

Sometimes we think we know what somebody will say even before they have said it, so we do not listen properly because we think we know what they are going to say.

This can lead to making wrong assumptions and to us not listening to anything that does NOT fit with those assumptions.

Being in a hurry

If we are in a hurry, we cannot focus on what is being said. So, it is better to set time aside if we need to speak to somebody about something important.

Having to be right

Sometimes, our main priority is to prove we are right. We’ve all been there at one time, right?

As a result, we are not prepared to listen to anything that does not fit our agenda.

Trying to do too many things at once

Multitasking is a myth. A person cannot focus properly on more than one thing at the same time.

We can switch between tasks fairly quickly, but this reduces the efficiency with which we are able to focus.

Being more worried about what you are going to say next than about what you are hearing

Sometimes, especially during arguments or when we are under stress, we are more worried about what we are going to say next than about what the person in front of us is saying.

This means that we miss large parts of what the other person says.

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Why Is Effective Listening Important?

Effective listening skills are important for a number of reasons, so, having given you the activity above, I thought that I would also just go through the reasons why it’s important.

Helps deepen relationships

Active listening helps you focus on a person and find out things about them that you would have not known otherwise. The more you listen, the deeper your relationships will be.

Also, the other person will open up to you more and they will be more likely to trust you and be your friends, rather than just acquaintances.

Encourages collaboration

If you listen better to other people, you will be able to develop better collaborations.

For example, at work, you and your colleagues will be able to listen to each other and learn about each other’s ideas and develop possible projects.

Increases productivity

When people listen to each other, this decreases the risk of miscommunication, which is often one of the major causes of delays (as errors caused by miscommunication need to be rectified).

Increases empathy

Empathy refers to the ability to understand another person and share their feelings. If you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, this helps you understand where other people are coming from.

Helps you understand what motivates people

By listening to people effectively, you will understand what makes them tick. So, you will be able to motivate them. This is a good skill to have if you are a manager, for example, or if you are dealing with customers or negotiating with someone.

Reduces the frequency of conflicts and helps find win-win solutions

When two people listen to each other, they are more likely to understand each other’s motivations and to empathize. As a result, they are more likely to either not to start a conflict or, if they do, they will be more likely to find a win-win solution to the conflict.

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Dr Valeria (Lo Iacono) Symonds

Valeria has been involved with education for over 16 years. She has taught in the UK at the University of Bath and Cardiff Metropolitan University (where she got her PhD), in addition to working as a researcher at Exeter University. Valeria additionally has several years of experience of also working with Ofsted and Cardiff University in management roles & is she is the founder of Symonds Training.