StretchLearn Course

Stop Hearing. Start Listening.

Build the communication skill leaders say matters most — and almost nobody is taught.

Beginner9 hrSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Most professionals hear but rarely listen — they plan their reply while the other person is still talking, miss emotional cues, and confuse acknowledgment with understanding. Active Listening gives you a structured, research-grounded framework drawn from Carl Rogers' person-centred therapy, motivational interviewing, and neuroscience of attention. Across four modules you will practise attentive presence, diagnostic questioning, paraphrasing, and the handling of difficult conversations — skills that directly reduce rework, improve team cohesion, and increase client retention.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Describe the three-layer model of listening (content, emotion, intent) and apply it in real conversations

Use SOLER body-language and attentional techniques to signal and sustain full presence

Ask open, probing, and clarifying questions that surface hidden meaning without interrogating

Paraphrase and summarise with enough precision that speakers confirm accuracy before moving on

Recognise and interrupt your own cognitive biases — confirmation bias, halo effect, and selective attention — in real time

Apply a structured protocol for listening in high-stakes, emotionally charged, or conflict-heavy exchanges

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: The Anatomy of Real Listening

Understand why most listening fails and build a three-layer model — content, emotion, and intent — that reveals what speakers actually mean.

3 lessons

Why Smart People Are Often Poor ListenersContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

The Three-Layer Listening ModelContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Attention as a Skill: Training Your FocusContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: The Art of Asking Powerful Questions

Learn how to ask open, probing, and clarifying questions that surface real meaning, correct assumptions, and invite the speaker to think more deeply.

3 lessons

The Question Hierarchy: From Closed to TransformationalContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Socratic Probing Without InterrogatingContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Calibrating Questions to ContextContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Reflecting, Paraphrasing, and Summarising

Build the precision techniques that let you mirror understanding back to a speaker so accurately they feel genuinely heard — and verify you have actually understood.

3 lessons

Paraphrasing: The Accuracy TestContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Emotional Reflection: Naming What You HearContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Summarising to Create Shared UnderstandingContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Listening in Difficult Conversations

Apply active listening under pressure — in conflict, in high-stakes negotiations, and when your own biases are most likely to distort what you hear.

3 lessons

Your Listening Biases: What Distorts What You HearContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Listening in Conflict and Under Emotional PressureContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Building a Listening Practice: Systems for Sustained ImprovementContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

active listeningcommunicationempathyquestioning techniquesparaphrasingconflict communicationprofessional development