“Real help is different. Real help, professionally or personally, consists of listening to people, of paying respectful attention to people so that they can access their own ideas first.”
― Nancy Kline, Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind
When people share a problem with you, how do you respond?
Do you respond with your own opinion of how it should be solved? Your own story? Your own thoughts?
Did you know that’s not usually very helpful?
I’m on a new course about ‘how to ignite thinking’ based on Nancy Kline’s book Time to Think.
It’s brilliant, but also mind blowing!
It’s all about how we help each create space to think - so that we get the best out of the room.
I’m hoping to start training it to organisations this year - but it’s challenging! Because everything that we are pre-programmed to do almost goes against helping others to have space to think.
We want to rescue, offer a solution, win the conversation, be heard - we make other people’s problems instantly about us.
When really, most of the time, people can be really helped when we offer them time to think.
The next time someone is sharing a problem with you - notice how you respond. And challenge yourself if it was really that helpful!
eleanor
»> If you are interested in hearing more about creating Time to Think at your work drop me a note. It’s a brilliant experience which might completely change your team’s connection.
I (genuinely) thought that gender differences existed in this area (?)
I.e. men are much worse at not giving space / ‘rushing to a solution / answer’ (& wanting a solution / answer, rather than wanting to just be heard) - than women (?)