In today’s fast moving environment we hardly have time to think or even breathe! Decisions can be made quickly with very little discussion, deliberation or debate. However decisions that have a big impact and long term consequences need more space for consideration, intentionality and purposefulness. Mindfulness demonstrates the importance, in fact the necessity of slowing down to speed up.
Nancy Kline’s work aptly called ‘Time to think’ provides a valuable framework to create a thinking environment. . I had the opportunity of spending three days with Nancy Kline practising the skills required for the thinking partnership and sharing experiences of approaches that work. Consider the meeting you would not want to miss it. People listen to each other without interrupting, attention is 100%, information is shared, diversity is honoured, people feel appreciated, encouraged and valued. There is a palpable sense of ease in a place that says to everyone, ‘you matter’. In the thinking environment, there is space for resolving differences should they arise. In this environment, everyone wins!