Tips for listening respectfully to others

Here’s some tips for listening and engaging respectfully others when you are a Community Voice Partner. These were written by Community Voice Partners themselves!

Dos Don’ts

• Respect that people communicate in different ways • Understand that verbal and non-verbal behaviours can vary • Listen actively • Be attentive to your own emotions, reactions, and assumptions • Allow space to for others to finish speaking • Be appreciative of and positively affirm courage • Offer support and give time • Check in afterwards • Show care • Slow down and think before speaking • Focus on the person, not the task • Ask respectfully curious questions • Clarify and check your understanding • Be intentional with body language • Give verbal or non-verbal acknowledgements of what is being said • Show empathy • Show you have heard and thank them for sharing • Turn away • Get distracted by your phone, laptop, etc. • Interrupt the speaker • Rush • Generalise too much • Dismiss what is being shared • Express perspectives which might be based on bias

I come from the multicultural community. The Community Voices Program was a learning opportunity between organisations and Community Partners. It gave me the opportunity to express my ideas and opinions in a supportive environment. I learned a lot, like the importance of selfevaluation and self-awareness in life situations, and made positive ongoing inclusive contributions to wider Tasmanian communities.

— TasCOSS Community Voice Partner