Time To Think
I recently attended a three day ‘Thinking Partnership’ course where we took part in ‘thinking sessions’. Each thinking session had a thinker and a thinking partner lasting approximately 30 minutes.
Nancy Kline wrote Time To Think in 1999 and has built an incredible leadership development and coaching company of the same name, which is home to The Thinking Environment. I first read Time To Think a couple of years ago and it had a profound effect on the way I coach and the way I am with others.
It would be a challenge to capture the depths of Nancys’ work into a short blog post so here are three things I come back to time and time again.
We are all capable of fully independent thinking
From birth we are constantly told what to think and how to behave which limits our ability to truly think for ourselves. Our lives are hectic, fast paced and our attention span continues to dwindle. Slowing things down allows us to truly think for ourselves and is fundamental to progress.
We are all fully resourceful. The mind that created the question or challenge is the same mind that can find the answer or solution. We simply need an environment in which to think for ourselves. Nancy has developed 10 components of a Thinking Environment to help us create this.
Trust that not speaking is the most effective way to support someone do their finest thinking
We often listen with the intent to respond, to help, to offer advice or opinions. What would happen if we didn’t act on these impulses and truly listened with no intention to respond?
When we stay silent the thinker continues with their thinking. The thinker goes beyond their scripts, their awareness increases, they gain a deeper insight. Being truly present for someone as they think is a great gift and key component of The Thinking Environment - Generative Attention.
Whatever is stopping you from living your fullest life is the result of an untrue assumption
When you examine what holds you back from living your fullest most authentic life, lurking beneath you will find a number of assumptions. Many of these will be untrue and even those you consider to be true will have at least one untrue assumption behind them. The ninth component, Incisive Questions helps you to identify and remove these untrue assumptions that limit your ability to think for yourself and live fully. An incisive question invites you to think of a true and liberating assumption that removes your thinking blocks and opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
I find thinking sessions to be incredibly valuable and witnessing clients think fully for themselves is a fascinating privilege. If you would like to know more about The Thinking Environment and how it can help you to live your fullest most authentic life I wholeheartedly recommend reading or listening to Time to Think, Nancy Kline.
