Listening to Ignite the Human Mind

This week in what I’ve been reading: Time to Think by Nancy Kline

Oct 18, 2024

Hello to my new subscribers! Happy Friday, and welcome to my fortnightly reflections on what I’ve been reading. If you’re new here, it’s somewhere between book review, book recommendation (I don’t share the rubbish ones!) and something to hopefully tempt you to pick up a new book to expand your mind this weekend. Or perhaps just add to your extensive “I really should read that pile” 🙂. Either way, let’s dive in.

Sometimes you hear an idea that is so simple, yet also so profound, you wonder why it never occurred to you before. At the heart of Time to Think is just such an idea.

“Everything we do depends for its quality on the thinking we do first. Our thinking depends on the quality of our attention for each other.”

This isn’t just a book about listening well, though there’s plenty about that. It’s about how to create environments where we, and those around us, can do our best thinking. Our ability to create thinking environments can be transformational; for leaders, managers, teams, or individuals, professionally and personally.

Practical as well as insightful, this book will help you run more productive meetings, lead teams more effectively, solve problems and build stronger relationships. All through helping yourself, and others, think more effectively for yourselves.

What’s it all about then?

Time to Think is about how we create the conditions for ourselves, and those around us, to do our best thinking. Through a mixture of busyness, being in a hurry, hierarchy and our desire to help, we often create an environment which actively inhibits or discourages independent thinking. Yet, this is not only a waste of the talent and potential of those around us, but also we, our organisations and the world need high quality thinking.

The central idea is that of creating a Thinking Environment: “the set of conditions under which people can think for themselves and think well together”. Importantly, this can be created anywhere, and at any time, if we are willing to do what it takes to do so.

The two elements that stood out most to me were the quality of our attention, and the concept of the incisive question. Many of us, me included, think we listen well, yet Kline challenges us to take this to a new level through giving others quality attention: the act of listening with palpable respect and fascination. When we choose to get interested, and give that quality of attention, we make others more intelligent. We improve their thinking and help them access their own ideas and insights simply through the act of listening profoundly.

Incisive questions are those that identify and cut through the assumptions that are limiting our thinking. We all have these assumptions. Whether assuming we don’t know, or someone else knows better. Or perhaps that no one will listen to our ideas or act on them. Such assumptions limit us, and limit our thinking. Kline offers a simple, practical and powerful way to structure questions that cut through these assumptions and unlock more of our own insights.

The second section of the book explores the practical application of the Thinking Environment, in teams, when supervising or leading, as a peer or as a mentor. Kline also explores in detail the idea of a Thinking Session: a formal, disciplined discussion which systematically works to remove assumptions that limit a person’s thinking. By including both a sample conversation and detailed description of the six steps to set up a Thinking Session, Kline demonstrates how simple and powerful it can be, and leaves you with the tools to apply it yourself.

The final section looks at the Thinking Environment in society. The book explores its application and benefits in areas as diverse as healthcare, politics, schools, families and relationships. It’s a call to action on thinking better, everywhere.

What are the highlights?

Part one outlines the ten components for a Thinking Environment:

Attention: Listening with respect, interest and fascination.
Incisive Questions: Removing assumptions that limit ideas.
Equality: Treating each other as thinking peers. Giving equal turns and attention, and keeping agreements and boundaries.
Appreciation: Practising a five-to-one ratio of appreciation to criticism.
Ease: Offering freedom from rush or urgency.
Encouragement: Moving beyond competition.
Feelings: Allowing sufficient emotional release to restore thinking.
Information: Providing a full and accurate picture of reality.
Place: Creating a physical environment that says back to people, “You matter”.
Diversity: Adding quality because of the differences between us.

Kline not only outlines what each is, but why it matters, and examples of it in practice. There are no superfluous words here; she offers a clear, concise description of each, outlined in a way that makes it feel entirely possible to implement. While the examples and practical implementation in different contexts in the rest of the book was useful, this section is so clear and powerful that it stands alone.

The other part I really appreciated was the inclusion of a descriptive transcript of an example Thinking Session. Seeing how the implementation of the ideas plays out in reality, including a chapter by chapter breakdown of the six main components of a thinking session, was hugely helpful as a detailed view of what this really looks like in practice.

Anything you didn’t like?

The biggest downside for me was a whiff of hyperbole. Reading this book, you might think that the Thinking Environment is the solution to all the world’s problems. Is it an excellent concept? Yes. Would we all benefit from applying the principles? Almost certainly yes. But the solution to all our problems? Not quite.

The sections about the Thinking Environment in society were interesting, but felt more abstract. I was more interested in learning about the application of the ideas for me, and those I work with directly. Nonetheless they did highlight what might be possible by applying the concepts everywhere.

I’d also have liked a few more supporting resources, whether in the appendices or online. For example, checklists or prompt sheets for running meetings as a Thinking Environment exist within the text but could benefit from being pulled out for reference later. There is some more information, including an online assessment, on the Time to Think website.

Why should I read it?

Thinking better is access to so much untapped potential, for ourselves and others. The suggestions in this book might just unlock your thinking, and that of those around you. Who wouldn’t want that?!

What’s the one thing you’ll do differently as a result of reading this?

For me, I am refocusing on the quality of the attention I give to others when I listen. Leaving (even more) space and silence, thinking about where I’m looking and my facial expressions, and using incisive questions – of which many examples are included in the book – to unlock thinking. Even for me, for whom listening is arguably my job, there is always more to discover and practise here.

Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind

By Nancy Kline. Published by Ward Lock in 1999

Available at Amazon UK, Amazon US, or Bookshop.org . (#aff links)

Have you read Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind? I’d love to hear what you thought, so click here to add a comment or your own review:

A little something to listen to…

I recently had a great conversation with Alexis Zahner and Sally Clarke for the We Are Human Leaders podcast, talking about all things Do Sweat the Small Stuff.

In it, we explored numerous key questions for people-centred leaders, including:

💡What if some small stuff is worth sweating?

💡What if sometimes it's the micro-interactions that can lead to maximum impact in how we build relationships, foster trust, and deepen connections at work and beyond?

We got granular on the often unrecognised power of micro-interactions to impact our relationships, our leadership and the culture we create. And we discussed what it means to practice self-awareness and congruence, and how we can ensure we truly and consistently align our intentions with our impacts.

If you’d like to have a listen, you can find the episode everywhere you usually get your podcasts (search for “We Are Human Leaders” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music) or you can listen directly via this link. Enjoy!