Listening: From Words to Understanding & Responsive Action

The evening was thick with anticipation as I prepared to be sworn in as a commissioned officer before a judge, the final step to formally assume the superintendency.

For months, I had served as acting superintendent, this moment would confirm my appointment. As I entered the Board Room, I was met with less than full celebration, some community members felt their voices had been silenced. They desired a leader who represented the majority racial and ethnic background of their students and families.

After years of serving predominantly Latino districts, I felt undervalued. Yet I chose to move beyond hurt feelings and defensiveness and sought understanding. Drawing on extensive executive coaching training, I leaned into a discipline that continues to shape my practice: deep, intentional listening.

Listening at a Different Level

Many of us believe we listen well.

We attend meetings, conduct surveys, and hold forums. Workdays are a series of conversations.  But there is a profound difference between listening and truly taking on another person’s explicit message, a distinction made clear by the ideas defined as “Levels of Listening."[1]

• Level I is internal and reactive, we hear others through the filter of our thoughts and emotional responses. We are often listening so that we can respond. My initial reaction that evening was to feel rejected and defensive, focusing on my own thoughts and feelings.

• Level II shifts beyond our own filters and is focused on what the speaker is actually saying.  A Level II Listener is focused on the exact words and immediate meaning of the speaker.  By placing the focus on the speaker’s explicit meaning, it is a more generous form of listening than Level I.   

• Level III centers intensively on the speaker, but it expands the field of attention.  At this level, the listener is not only listening to what is being said but also to what is not being said explicitly.  The listener seeks to understand the deeper message, the unspoken and the emotional undercurrents, in historical and cultural context.

Listening to understand and taking responsive action is at the heart of leadership.

Through Level III Listening, I realized the community’s desire for representation was not a rejection of me personally, but a powerful call: for cultural affirmation. They were speaking to a generational history of being ignored, misunderstood, and underserved.

Insight To Action

My response was guided by what I heard beneath their words. I focused on understanding their needs by taking appropriate action. I commissioned an independent, comprehensive review to examine whether our practices truly provided access for all students.

We designed a dual language immersion academy, something previously nonexistent, to honor and celebrate our students’ cultural and linguistic heritage. We also expanded world languages and instituted a Seal of Biliteracy to recognize multilingual achievement.

We translated attentive listening to creative practice through Passport to Puerto Rico, an animated documentary created by students in grades 3-5. Guided by industry professionals, the children researched Puerto Rican History, wrote scripts, and voiced the characters themselves. More than a film, it became a moment of cultural pride and empowerment, showing how a district can honor lived experiences and make students and families feel truly seen.

Listening becomes like tending a garden: presence waters the soil, responsiveness nurtures the roots, and over time, trust begins to bloom.

The Importance of Listening for Deep Understanding

Throughout my years of leadership and numerous conversations with students, staff, and families, I have stumbled upon a few truths: What is said is not always what is meant. Beneath anger is often hurt. Beneath silence is often fear. Beneath resistance is often a yearning to be seen. Whether it is a caregiver advocating for their child's needs, a teacher expressing frustration with new initiatives, or a community demanding representation, the core message remains consistent, people want to belong to something larger than themselves and trust that their voices will shape the decisions that affect their lives.

In 2011, the late Richard Elmore, a renowned scholar of educational leadership and improvement, wrote a series of essays entitled I Used to Think; And Now I Think, in which he explored the evolution of his own thinking throughout his career.  The simple framework that gave rise to the book’s title helps clarify my own thinking.  

I Used to think listening was a perfunctory interlude before the substantive work of leadership; Now I understand that listening is the substantive work, listening to understand and taking responsive action is at the heart of leadership.  

This understanding has changed how I approach every interaction. Listening becomes like tending a garden: presence waters the soil, responsiveness nurtures the roots, and over time, trust begins to bloom. Listening is not a detour from leadership's course, it is the course itself.

[1] Whitworth, L., Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-House, K., & Sandahl, P. (2018). Co-active coaching: The proven framework for transformative conversations at work and in life (4th ed.). Nicholas Brealey Publishing.