The Walk and Talk Process

The power of Walk and Talk lies in the effectiveness of the listening process. Each participant on a Walk and Talk undertakes the role of both the Talker, and of the Listener, on separate occassions. The listening process is outlined below:
The word 'listening' does convey the idea that we are there at the service of the speaker, and it does avoid any sense that our role is to debate or suggest. Our role is primarily to listen, and to reflect, and to empathise with the speaker by building up a complete understanding of their situation with regard to the issue they have introduced.
To the more activist of us, this might sound too passive, and yet our experience is that listening in the right way (being there wholeheartedly with the speaker) is very powerful: It encourages clarity of the problem, its context, its implications and its logic; It unearths blindspots, inconsistencies, narrowness, and thereby new opportunities; It provides recalibration and thereby increased confidence and pragmatism; It builds new resolve (and a degree of accountability for delivering on it).

Steps to listening

	Start by simply listening to what the person being listened to wants to say and explain
	Listen actively (encouraging nods & responses etc.) but try not to disrupt or interrupt the flow
	Ask for clarification of things that you are not clear about, and which are threatening to confuse or derail the picture you are trying to develop in your own mind
	Summarise if there is any danger of you getting lost, and (carefully and sensitively) reflect back things that strike you as strange or interesting or appear to be at odds with the picture
	Be sympathetic and humble in both tone and style: "Sorry, I'm struggling to make sense of what you have just said?" is likely to be more helpful to the flow than a challenge like "That makes no sense!"
	When the narrative falters, use questions that have arisen in your own mind to encourage it further, but do not be afraid of long silences, particularly after you have asked a question
	Avoid making suggestions. Instead turn it into a question: 'Have you considered…?' Then before you ask it check whether the question could be asked more broadly/openly: 'What have you …'

Developing the complete picture
As you listen, and gently ask appropriate questions, your own thinking processes and logic are likely to ensure that the most important avenues are explored, assumptions are tested, and gaps are identified so the best advice in encouraging the narrative is to (gently and sensitively) 'follow your nose'.
However, this isn't foolproof, and you may be left with a nagging doubt that you have missed something somewhere. If this is the case you might find the following helpful in identifying any potentially fruitful ground that you have ignored. It can be remembered by the acronym 'PROBE' (for some people an unfortunate phrase more reminiscent of inquisition).
It isn't intended to be followed slavishly, but is there as an aide-memoir if the narrative gets bogged down or dries up (other than in reflective silence).

Mnemonic	Rational / Left Brain	Emotional / Right Brain
Profile	How they know they have a problem? The importance and implications?	What it feels like; how it affects them? What would success look/feel like?
Root Cause	What lies at the root of their problem? How they concluded this (evidence)?	What tensions exist for them? Why they feel responsibility? (Values?)
Options	What options they have considered? How comprehensive are their sources?	How they feel about the options? What would a 'magical' solution be?
Balance	How they chose which options to take? What are the implications of the choice?	What they feel like doing? What they feel about doing it?
Evaluation	How they will evaluate whether they have been successful?	How they feel about it all (in summary), after thinking it through with you?

Explicitly agreeing the process for listening
All of the above is simply a suggested process that I hope will be productive for you. But you might have your own ideas, or more importantly the person you are listening to may have theirs. Feel free to agree a different process between you if you wish, and if it suits you both.
This may be done at the start of the walk, or in the middle, or at any point when the process you are using isn't working for the person being listened to.
On this point, it is a good idea to check about half way through the walk how well the process is working, even if things appear to be fine. Simply taking a second to ask "How is this working for us?" should do the trick
At the end of the walk, take a moment to reflect back on your effectiveness as a listener (remember part of this time is about developing our skills in this area. Discussing the following reflective questions with your partner may help you to do this:

	How well can you articulate the problem and identify with the person you were listening to?
	What of your questions/approach/attitude was helpful to the person you were listening to?
	What of your questions/approach/attitude hindered the person you were listening to?