In the coaching session which opened the year, staff engaged in role-play exercises, to explore the impact a listener’s behaviours can have on the emotions of people who are sharing important information. Staff worked in pairs, where they took it in turns to speak to each other about their morning routine. In the first instance, the listeners were asked to deliberately not show positive listening skills. Looking around the room, there were staff who were turning away whilst their partner was talking, or picking up their phones to look at their text messages. After the exercise, staff explained how it had made them feel unvalued; as one member of staff expressed it, "I felt like an inconvenience.” I thought, “She doesn't care, why am I here?”

When the exercise was repeated and staff gave their partner positive body language, facing them, nodding their head, asking questions and focussing on the speaker, the change in emotions was stark. Staff described how different it made them feel – happy and valued, trusting that they were being listened to and mattered.