Others’
As a listener operating at this level you are focusing totally on the speaker, listening to their words, tone of voice and body language and are not distracted by your own thoughts and feelings. As a good coach you will be using this level of listening in your coaching sessions where the purpose of gathering information is solely for the benefit of your client rather than you. By listening for understanding, you can get a real understanding of where the coachee is ‘coming from’, the client will feel understood and the coach’s own thoughts will not influence the coaching session.