Silent Listening

Silent listening is one of the technique from Complex Facilitation.

Comparing this against Shared single note-taking, where we have multiple people speaking and one person taking notes, Silent Listening turns this format around, so that we only have 1 person speaking and multiple note-takers.

As a frequent single note-taking person, I found Silent Listening to be useful in preventing Production blocking.

As per how I have experienced it in Cynefin Basecamp Nov 2023, a spokesperson was appointed in a group, and the rest of the participants will then be asked to remain silent and take notes in a shared board. Although this was not done in the basecamp, it typically ends with The Cynefin standard questions.

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Silent listening | Cynefin Wiki (opens new window)

Silent listening is a group facilitation technique, often used to avoid reporting back and to encourage multiple perspectives to form at an early stage in conversation, as well as deeper listening and scanning for information.