🎯 What You'll Learn
- ✓ What is active listening?
- ✓ What are the three levels of listening?
- ✓ What is the difference between hearing and listening?
- ✓ What is paraphrasing and why is it useful?
- ✓ What is reflecting in active listening?
The specific behaviours that make someone feel heard - reflecting, summarising, staying quiet longer than is comfortable - separated from the vague advice usually given about listening. Core skill for coaches and managers.
Fully concentrating on what someone is saying, understanding the complete message (words, tone, and non-verbal cues), and responding in a way that shows genuine comprehension.
Level 1: Listening to self (thinking about your own response). Level 2: Listening to the speaker (focused on their words and meaning). Level 3: Global listening (attuned to energy, emotion, and what's unsaid).
Hearing is passive and automatic — sound reaching your ears. Listening is active and intentional — processing, interpreting, and making meaning from what you hear.
Restating the speaker's message in your own words to confirm understanding. It demonstrates you've heard them and reveals any miscommunications.
Mirroring back the emotional content of what someone said — e.g., "It sounds like you're feeling frustrated about this." It validates their experience.
Pulling together the key points of what someone has said to confirm your shared understanding and give them a chance to add or correct anything.
Distractions, formulating your response while they're talking, emotional reactions, assumptions, prejudging the speaker, and being fatigued.
Facial expressions, eye contact, posture, gestures, proximity, touch, and tone of voice. These often carry more emotional information than words alone.
Albert Mehrabian's research suggested that liking/feeling is communicated 7% through words, 38% through tone of voice, and 55% through body language. Context matters greatly.
Brief verbal and non-verbal cues (nodding, "mm-hmm", "I see") that signal you are engaged and encourage the speaker to continue without interrupting.
Posture that signals receptiveness: uncrossed arms, relaxed shoulders, leaning slightly forward, maintaining appropriate eye contact, and facing the speaker.
A framework for non-verbal attending: S-quarely face the client, O-pen posture, L-ean slightly forward, E-ye contact appropriate, R-elaxed manner.
Flashcards
Flip to reveal
Focus Mode
Spaced repetition
Multiple Choice
Test your knowledge
Type Answer
Active recall
Learn Mode
Multi-round mastery
Match Game
Memory challenge
Coaching skills are among the most valuable leadership competencies in today's workplace. Whether you're a certified coach building your practice, a manager developing your team, or a mentor guiding others, mastering coaching frameworks and techniques helps you unlock potential in the people around you and drive meaningful results.
Apply one coaching technique per day in your regular conversations — powerful questions and active listening work in any context.
Master established coaching frameworks like GROW, CLEAR, and OSKAR before developing your own style.
After each coaching conversation, review your flashcards to identify which techniques you used and which you could try next time.
Our coaching decks cover core competencies recognized by major coaching bodies including active listening, powerful questioning, and creating awareness.
Absolutely — coaching skills like feedback delivery, goal setting, and motivational techniques are essential for effective people management.
We cover major coaching frameworks including GROW, CLEAR, OSKAR, and Co-Active coaching models along with their practical applications.
Yes, our decks include manager-specific coaching techniques for performance conversations, development planning, and team motivation.
Our coaching flashcards align with ICF core competencies including establishing trust, active listening, powerful questioning, and creating awareness.