Listening

I was halfway through writing a different blog when I picked up Andrew McMaster’s new book, Listening Without Agenda. It’s a cold Sunday afternoon on a weekend framed by the Inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The emotional liminality of this weekend makes Andrew’s wisdom resonate even more deeply with me. It feels fitting to spend time with this book.

Before diving into my reflections, let me say this: Listening Without Agenda is excellent. Andrew shares practical tips rooted in research and stories, designed to help us grow both personally and professionally. Andrew is a phenomenal teacher, trainer, and speaker—you can learn more about him on his website.

Andrew shares three ideas in Listening Without Agenda that have particularly caught my attention.

Saccades

I didn’t know there was a word for how our eyes move from one fixed point to another. Imagine being on a train with scenery scrolling past. Your eyes fix on a tree, then a house, then a light pole, missing the details in between. Andrew explains that listening is similar—we hear isolated pieces of information while often missing the gaps in between.

There are lessons in saccades for both speakers and listeners. Andrew invites us to fully commit to being listeners, fully present and paying attention to what’s happening in the gaps—the emotions, context, or subtle details that connect the speaker’s ideas.

I also think about how leaders and teachers can use this awareness of saccades to be better communicators. We can slow down to give people time to process what we are saying. We can name and summarize key points, essentially leaning into saccades and giving people memorable words or images.

Once you learn a new word, it is hard to forget it. I’m eager to put my new awareness of this word to action in conversations and classes. How might you use saccades in how you listen?

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Sounding board, solver, or sympathizer

I appreciate Andrew’s invitation to think about why we are listening. He’s right—too often we listen to solve. Whether we’re Executive Directors talking with staff or teachers leading a webinar, we’re ready to jump in with answers.

Andrew shares two other reasons to listen:

• Being a sounding board to create space for someone to hear themselves. This allows them to think through their own solutions.
• Being a sympathizer to connect us to their emotions. As Andrew explains, listening for emotion helps deepen connection. Emotions are central to motivation, making this type of listening especially impactful.

I’m reflecting on how a shift in our listening mode can lead to better long-term outcomes. How can we better listen to empower others with their own solutions? How can we listen towards strengthening our relationships with them?

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Scripts vs. improv

Andrew writes, “A paradox of acting is the concept of memorization of scripts. Actors memorize a script so when they are onstage, they can forget it.”

“In improv, actors practice the skills so much, when they get on stage it simply happens.”

This distinction captures the balance between what and how that every leader or teacher navigates. We master domain knowledge to deliver our lines – share information — with such ease that it seems effortless. We need to know our stuff! We also need to practice the skills of leadership and teaching, like inviting interaction and managing conflict. It takes practice to confidently facilitate conversation.

Maybe I’ve been sitting through too many webinars lately, but it feels like we overemphasize scripted content. Too often speakers push through information. We spend less time in the improvisational ambiguity that comes from dialogue and, ultimately, listening.

This has me reflecting on how we can balance scripted and unscripted time. How can we grow more confident in listening “without agenda,” to use Andrew’s term? How can we get better at the improvising responses that reflect what they said, not what we were thinking at the time? 

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Towards the end of the book, Andrew shares an exercise about listening for values. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my values as a teacher and how they show up in my lessons and interactions. Valuing listening is a value unto itself, it seems. Andrew reminds us that beneath every word spoken lies something deeper—what people care about most. By listening with intention, we can uncover those values, build stronger connections, and create space for meaningful dialogue.