Creative Coaching

It’s Time to Think ….

His gift of time to himself, and the clarity it has afforded him throughout his career reminded me of the great thinking of Nancy Kline, the author of Time to Think and More Time to Think. She asserts that the quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first. Subsequently, the quality of our thinking is directly linked to how we treat others.  The impact of a leader’s behaviour on the ability of others to think is enormous.

Thinking Environment

Nancy Kline developed and pioneered the "Thinking Environment" a framework that helps people think for themselves. The framework consists of ten conditions that allow people to think for themselves with unmatched imagination, rigour, courage, and grace. Kline stresses how vital it is for leaders to apply these conditions to improve the quality of their interactions with others.

The conditions of the framework include: attention, appreciation, diversity, ease, encouragement, equality, feelings, incisive questions, information, and place.  Kline states that all components are powerful individually but have the greatest impact when operated as a system.

Leaders who implement the framework use effective listening to ignite their minds and those of the people they are interacting with. They manage to eradicate limiting assumptions and tap into great ideas which are followed by great actions and success. Kline believes a "Thinking Environment" is natural but rare because of the inferior ways people treat each other in day-to-day-life and working environments.

History of the Thinking Environment

Kline recalls how her idea stemmed from the way her mother treated her and her siblings. She remembers how her mother taught her the "key" to leadership by listening to her and her siblings and giving them time and space to think. She makes it clear that the book isn’t about her mother or about listening, but about what happens when you expertly listen, as her mother did.

The Thinking Environment was born out of Kline’s belief that giving people unmatched attention is an effective way of convincing them to think for themselves because it shows them that; who they are and what they think matters.

Incisive questions

Kline refers to ‘incisive questions’ which are meant to remove ‘thinking roadblocks’, allowing people to think beyond their normal thinking limits. They remove limiting assumptions and acknowledge people’s strengths and achievements. High-calibre listening and incisive questions leads to better decisions, solving problems and better communication.

Summary

The basis of Kline’s book is; leaders must improve their thinking first to be able to improve their actions. It is their responsibility to first create a thinking environment, the objective of which is to get the best from people, and this depends on getting their best thinking.  This means giving people the highest quality of attention by expressing a genuine interest in them. Kline believes that much of what we hear or see from a person in our presence is the result of our effect on them.  Thus, creating a ‘thinking environment’ is essential for good leadership and is a testament to why leaders must become masters in thinking-enhancing behaviour. It’s not about leaders finding more time to think, it’s about how they treat their team members when they are thinking. Leaders need to become masters of the ten components in the time to think framework, not masters of time itself.
 
So, when will you begin to create time to think for yourself?
 
If you’d like to know more please reach out to tania@twcreativecoaching.com.

Posted on Tue, April 17, 2018 in Leadership Organisational Development
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