What is the Thinking Environment?

At the heart of the approach or way of being known as the “Thinking Environment®” are Nancy Kline’s observations that 

“the quality of everything we do depends upon the quality of the thinking we do first”, and that

“what helps us do our best thinking is how we are treated by others when we are thinking”.

In her profound work, Nancy Kline (the founder of Time To Think Ltd.) has identified a way for people to think with courage, with imagination, with rigour and with grace; a way to create a culture of independent thinking, of fresh thinking, for ourselves and for others.

For leaders, this offers a way to encourage creativity and problem solving in their teams and organisations, a way to build leadership capacity and to transform how people interact.

To get the best from people, in any interaction or meeting, means getting their best thinking. Nancy Kline has identified the ideal conditions where that can be enabled and encouraged. Known as the Ten Components™, the conditions or behaviours that help people think at their best are:

Attention, Equality, Ease, Appreciation, Encouragement, Feelings, Information, Difference, Incisive Questions, and Place.

While each of these components can make a difference individually, it is the presence of all ten together that gives this approach its transformative effect.

What are the Ten Components?

The ten conditions or behaviours (known as The Ten Components of a Thinking Environment) that generate the finest thinking are:

Attention, Equality, Ease, Appreciation, Encouragement, Feelings, Information, Difference, Incisive Questions, and Place.

Attention:

The quality of our attention as we listen determines the quality of other people’s thinking. When we truly pay attention, when we listen to inspire not to respond or reply, not to solve or to judge, we help each other to think well. Attention is powerful, it can ignite thinking. Paying attention with respect and interest in where people will go with their thinking, is the foundation of a Thinking Environment.  

Equality:

Even in a hierarchy, we can create a space where people are valued equally as thinkers. When people regard each other as thinking peers, it can generate high quality ideas and decisions. When we give each other equal uninterrupted time to express our thoughts, it benefits both the person being heard and the listener. As a listener, knowing that you will have your own turn to speak, makes your attention more genuine and relaxed.

Committing to equal time improves how people listen to each other and it can also make their speaking more succinct and more focussed. This commitment to equality can keep the talkative people from silencing the quiet ones. And it can encourage the quieter ones to contribute their own thinking.

Ease:

An internal state that is free from rush or urgency creates the best conditions for thinking. Knowing that you will have your turn, that you won’t be interrupted as you think and speak, knowing that others are paying attention and are interested in what you have to say, all help to bring ease.

By discarding internal urgency, we can help people to think well. Creating equality and ease in meetings leads to more structured, focussed and effective meetings.

Appreciation:

The human mind works best in the presence of appreciation. By valuing and respecting each other, by noticing what is good and saying it, we can help people to think at their best.

Encouragement:

If we compete as thinkers, we see each other as rivals, and miss out on the huge potential for everyone to think independently and courageously for themselves. When we cease competing as thinkers, we give courage to others to go to the unexplored edge of their thinking. By creating a Thinking Environment, it can prevent internal competition among colleagues, replacing it with attention that offers courage to the thinker.

Feelings:

Unexpressed feelings can inhibit good thinking. Thinking stops when we are upset. But if we express feelings just enough, thinking can re-start. By welcoming the appropriate release of emotion, when people show signs of feelings, we can help good thinking to resume.

Information:

We base our decisions on information all of the time. Having accurate and full information provides the path to good independent thinking. When the information is incorrect or limited, the quality of our thinking suffers. This may include the need to face something we have been denying, or to challenge what may be holding us back or limiting us.

Difference:

The greater the diversity of the group, and the more welcoming of different points of view, the greater the chance of accurate, cutting-edge thinking. Welcoming and valuing difference helps generate the best thinking of everyone and can spark creativity and innovation.

Incisive Questions™:

Sometimes high-quality independent thinking is blocked because of a limiting assumption. We may be assuming something that is untrue yet we live it as true. To free the mind of this, we need to know how to construct an Incisive Question. An incisive question can help to free the mind of untrue assumptions lived as true.

Place:

A Thinking Environment is a place that says to people, ‘You matter.’ People think at their best when the “place” reflects their value to the people there and to the event or meeting they are part of.

Whether people are meeting in real life or online, it is through this sense of place that our importance is affirmed, which helps us think more clearly. Creating an environment that says “you matter” helps people think at their best.

What are the Building Blocks of the Thinking Environment?

To create a thinking environment in interactions and meetings, Nancy Kline has developed tools known as “Building Blocks” that give people the opportunity to think well and to listen well, in pairs or as a group.  

These are practical ways to apply this approach and to give you the opportunity to think well and to listen well together, using the ten components. The four tools are: Thinking Pairs, Dialogue, Rounds and Open Discussion. You can learn about and experience these tools on the Thinking Environment Foundation Programme and the Transforming Meetings Programme, and they are also used in customised Faciliation and Workshops.

What is a Thinking Environment “for”?

When people think well individually and collectively, it opens up a way of working and collaborating that is more dynamic and leads to better outcomes.

Whether your team meeting or interaction is held in-person or online, creating an environment that says “you matter” helps people think at their best. It can give people courage and confidence, it can connect and engage them.

Developing skills for independent thinking builds leadership capacity and adaptibility, and drives innovation.

By creating a Thinking Environment in your team or organisation, you can build a culture that is collaborative and creative, where you can make change happen.

How can I create a Thinking Environment for my team or in my organisation?

To find out more about the benefits of creating a Thinking Environment, book a discovery call with me to discuss how I can help, or sign up for a Programme.