design strategy & inclusivity

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1. Listening Deeply

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Recordings + Live Group Sessions

10:30am San Francisco time
5:30pm San Francisco time

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About this course

Summary

Listening deeply is a powerful skill. Most people don’t realize they are listening at the surface, so the experience doesn’t seem to shift anything. This course teaches depth.

Do you know how to get past the surface to listen at depth?

Listening has so many applications: developing relationships, forming rapport, connecting with people, seeing new perspectives. While these may sound too mystical to apply in your org, any hope of improving support for people, teamwork, or leadership is rooted in being able to shape relationships. Listening is the foundation for inclusivity, new market opportunities, and powerful team efficiency. I make sure professionals have the skills to wield the empathetic mindset when they are feeling confronted by someone who has different values. If a professional has the awareness to recognize then they are reacting, judging, or being triggered, they can hit the mental pause button and decide what to do next.

The empathetic mindset does not mean you have to feel warmth for another person. The words “understand” and “comprehend” do not mean “adopt” or “agree with.”

It may seem counter-intuitive to take time to listen when you want to solve, but it’s foundational. In product & service design, listening deeply allows you to learn other people’s thinking and approaches to the purposes your organization intends to support. It is the path to discovering whole new markets and opportunities. To this point, listening deeply is the way to create a mental model diagram or thinking styles. These let you consider how well you are helping people achieve their purpose using an approach matched to them. Listening is the key.

You will learn how to:

  • Identify the ways you already listen
  • Discern surface from depth when you are listening
  • Start a listening session & recognize when it’s over
  • Develop rapport & trust with the speaker
  • Get past the surface to depth
  • Prepare for formal research studies
  • Deal with uncooperative or aggressive speakers

Course Features:

  • Downloadable diagrams & learning tools
  • Exercises and practice during the live group sessions
  • Counts toward Certficate of Problem Space Research
  • Slack workspace membership

Looking for the Demo Listening Sessions? Click here!

Prerequisites

  • none

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Who is this for?

If you are a researcher, a listening session is very different than an interview. Learn how to let the participant direct the conversation and how to encourage the participant to uncover a trio of concept types that provide the richness of understanding you need in your data.

If you are a leader or team member, listening deeply is how you build relationships, giving other people the gift of feeling heard. By understanding their guiding principles, you are able to collaborate more effectively, with less strife and misunderstanding.

Learning paths for different roles

Sign up

Recordings + Live Group Sessions

Group A: 18 places left

Group B: 18 places left

Which group is right for my schedule?

Regular

When your organization will cover the cost, e.g. your employer is paying

Price per individual: US $776.00

Choose your group:

Group A

10:30am San Francisco time

Group B

5:30pm San Francisco time

Govt / Military / Non-profit

When a government, military, or non-profit organization is covering your education cost

Price per individual: US $582.00

Choose your group:

Group A

10:30am San Francisco time

Group B

5:30pm San Francisco time

Out-of-Pocket

When you will NOT be reimbursed for the cost by anyone

Price per individual: US $388.00

Choose your group:

Group A

10:30am San Francisco time

Group B

5:30pm San Francisco time

Extreme Currency Exchange

Not in the US? When your purchasing power is at an extreme disadvantage to the US dollar, we offer much bigger discounts. We want to include folks in Brazil, India, Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, etc.

Price per individual: US $80.00

Choose your group:

Group A

10:30am San Francisco time

Group B

5:30pm San Francisco time

Pricing for Teams

Discounts from the Regular price level are available for groups/teams attending the class together.

Contact us to enroll your team:

Contact Us

There is no better person than Indi to teach you how to go beyond generalities with people and really understand their perspectives.
– Sonja - Oct-2018
Practicing the lessons taught in the course is hard, but practice is important. It is so valuable considering how well I'm able to connect with people now.
– anonymous - Oct-2018
Unlike most online courses, Indi's classes are very in depth and she gives practical advice on its applications.
– anonymous - Aug-2019
We can do with more empathy because so often we're loaded with our own assumptions in all the conversations we come to.
– Pei Ling Chin - Aug-2019
This course helped me to be more aware of my own judgements, assumptions, and allows me to filter in my mind, what I should say (or not say) before speaking so that I can be a better, deeper listener.
– Pei Ling Chin - Aug-2019
If you really want to understand what listening is and a safe place to practice, take this course.
– Francesca Barrientos - Aug-2019
Do it. It's incredibly useful regardless of your experience. Classes feel personal because the groups are small and there is plenty of opportunity for practical work to help you understand it better.
– Debbie Sit - Oct-2018
You'll learn really deep foundational kinds of research techniques and even get to practice them via the exercises and while talking to people in real life.
– Raghav Agrawal - Oct-2018
The course is a great way to practice the skills you learn from the book. And you get real time feedback from Indi and everyone attending the course!
– anonymous - Oct-2018
Everyone in Design especially should sign up - from writers to editors to researchers to designers to design leads - because we can all learn from listening deeper!
– Pei Ling Chin - Aug-2019
You're gonna love it. The group format really helps. People bring interesting questions you'd never think of and Indi answers each of them. The discussions that follow are invaluable and rare online.
– Raghav Agrawal - Oct-2018
Listening sessions are unlike user interviews. It has more in common with ethnography or therapy. But that shouldn't scare you away. It's challenging and at the same time truly worthwhile.
– Sonja - Oct-2018
Be prepared to have your preconceptions challenged and your definition of research modified and expanded. But you'll emerge wanting to do problem space research and deep listening all the time.
– Amy Silvers - Oct-2020
It's important and beyond what most people in this industry do when they do research. It's an actual methodology to practice and improve upon. It's not just stenography.
– Steve Grieshaber - Oct-2020
It was an absolute treat to have such an intimate and informative learning space. Just like the Listening Sessions themselves, Indi created a safe space for learning about each other and ourselves.
– Sasha Abram - Oct-2018
Whether your purpose is to work through a challenge with a colleague or to deepen your understanding of people your company is supposed to serve, there is no better course.
– Sonja - Oct-2018
The Listening Session series was a joy to be part of. Indi was so accommodating and accessible, even via zoom, across the globe.
– Sasha Abram - Oct-2018
These skills help you connect better with other humans in every scenario.
– Raul - Aug-2019
Listening sessions are a great way to learn skills doe strong techniques on developing empathy. Indi has written a book about listening sessions, which is great too! I highly recommend both!
– anonymous - Oct-2018
I already had read the books and some articles, so watching these sessions motivated me to practice and see what I can get done with the listening sessions.
– Renato Caliari - Apr-2018
Definitely do it. It's excellent to improve your skillset in design and in life
– Bibiana Nunes - Aug-2019
Just do it! It is awesome! The content is academic and practical at the same time, and it pushed me out from my comfort zone.
– Amyris Fernandez - Oct-2020
There is no other training like this for user researchers that want to learn how to listen, understand and empathize with people.
– Maria P. Arrilucea - Oct-2018
Prepare to reevaluate how you have been listening to people you want to learn from as you are preparing for - and executing on - creating experiences.
– Lija Hogan - Oct-2020
I attended the listening sessions in hope to improve how things are done at work, and I'm thoroughly surprised on how these skills apply to every aspect of my life.
– anonymous - Oct-2018
Indi's listening session approach is a great learning opportunity if you are already practicing user research and want to refine your skills and expand your perspective on research.
– Raffaella Roviglioni - Oct-2020
The courses have a lot of information and provide good value for the time commitment.
– David Bixby - Aug-2019
Really great course with good interaction. Make sure you dont have anything booked during the 4 live classes. I missed a class and watched the backup recording once, which wasn't quite the same.
– anonymous - Aug-2019
Although I watched the recordings, it was inspiring to listen to tips, watch live exercises among the people, and listen to questions about the topics. I feel like I know the people in each session.
– Renato Caliari - Apr-2018
Good use of time - active sessions and very worthwhile. The sessions are delivered well. Indi is an expert and its a great opportunity to learn.
– Jane Cockburn - Oct-2018
You'll not feel rushed and left out. Indi makes sure every participant feels heard via the live exercises she does and homework review.
– Raghav Agrawal - Oct-2018
Don't expect that you'll magically be able to apply these techniques at your fast-paced workplace immediately. It will take a year for the skills to internalize, as Indi herself mentions.
– Raghav Agrawal - Oct-2018
Stop thinking, start registering! You'll definitely learn things that you can directly use at your work.
– anonymous - Aug-2019
A Listening Session is more than a research method. It's a practice that makes you notice how people speak and how you listen to them.
– Raul - Aug-2019
Great course for learning how to connect at a deeper level with a person before conducting a formal user interview.
– Susan B - Aug-2019
Consider a group discount to get training with other people in the company so you can discuss the sessions and practice listening homework together.
– Maria P. Arrilucea - Oct-2018
Be sure to make enough time to see the recordings, which are each 2 hours in length. Plan to watch them twice to make sure everything is well understood.
– Maria P. Arrilucea - Oct-2018

Other Languages

Take this course in Chinese through UXOffer:

Take this course in Spanish with Bibiana Nunes:

Take this course in Portuguese with Amyris Fernandez:

Previous start dates

6-Apr-22 | 28-Oct-20 | 31-Jul-19 | 10-Oct-18 | 6-Jun-18

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6. Framing Your Study
1. Listening Deeply
2. Concepts & Summaries (analysis part one)