Levels of Listening

Typology

Sara Silva et al.:

Level 1 – Downloading

"This is the most immediate and accessible way of listening as we are just absorbing information and while doing so we are just looking for information that confirms what we already know or expect. Oftentimes we are not fully present because of this.

Level 2 – Factual Listening

On this level we are invited to go beyond what we already know. We are now invited to focus on facts we don’t know. It is an invitation to expand our understanding and pay more attention. This is still a place where we miss important details, especially the way the speaker is feeling or coming from since our focus is more to make sense of information we didn’t expect to know. a sector they don’t normally collaborate with. Here we invite the practice of empathy, the capacity to understand and share the feelings of the other person.

Level 3 – Empathic Listening

Here we are starting to connect to the person speaking as we go beyond the facts they shared. We begin to see beyond what we know and what we don’t know and allow more context to offer better understanding, especially on the person’s emotions and feelings. This is where we start imagining ourselves in the other person’s shoes through our empathy. At this stage, our listening becomes deeper and the conversation offers more possibilities in contrast with when we were listening only to what we know and what we don’t know.

Level 4 – Generative Listening

Generative listening is an invitation to go further than empathic listening. It goes beyond the speaker and the listener. The listener is now more focused on the potential of how the conversation contributes to an emerging future they can shape together."

(https://ecolise.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bioregional-Governance-Training-Guide.pdf?)