What does it take to create an environment where truly great thinking happens? In a world full of distractions, time to think is more valuable than ever.
Professor Peter Hopkins from our School of Geography, Politics and Sociology reflects on collaborative work with colleagues and students to enable them to do their very best thinking.
Creating space for thinking
Universities are often celebrated as environments that inspire. They are the source of innovative thoughts, places that foster meticulously considered ideas, and contexts where the very best thinking happens. However, constant distractions such as email, mobile phone notifications, and frequent interruptions from others can create environments that prevent clarity of thought.
The ‘Time to Think’ leadership and coaching approach enables people to develop their own independent thinking, for themselves. Supported by the University’s Enhancing Research Culture Fund, I participated in a Thinking Partnership Foundation Programme in 2022 and later trained as a ‘Time to Think’ Coach under the supervision of Andrew Scott. This qualification has transformed how I work to generate ‘thinking environments’ with my colleagues and students.
Time to Think
Nancy Kline is the author of Time to Think – along with two further books called More Time to Think and The Promise That Changes Everything. She observed that the quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first, and that the quality of our thinking depends on the way we treat each other while we are thinking.
Nancy Kline proposed that ten components are needed to create a ‘thinking environment’ where the very best quality thinking happens:
- Attention: listening with respect and without interruption with a genuine interest in where the thinker is going with their thoughts;
- Equality: regarding each other as thinking peers and having an equality as thinkers;
- Ease: removing urgency to create the best conditions for fresh thinking;
- Appreciation: noticing the good and saying it, as the mind works best when appreciated;
- Encouragement: removing competition so that the thinker has the courage to explore new ideas;
- Feelings: welcoming the expression of emotion so that thinking is not inhibited;
- Information: absorbing all relevant facts, as accurate information ensures clarity of thought;
- Difference: removing assumptions that drive prejudice;
- Incisive questions: questioning false and limiting assumptions;
- Place: being in a context where the room and the person say ‘you matter’.
There are different ways of creating thinking environments and one of these is to form a ‘thinking partnership’. These ten components are essential for building a successful thinking partnership.
What is a thinking partnership?
A ‘thinking partnership’ session involves one person thinking aloud (sometimes for up to 40 minutes!) while the other listens attentively without interrupting. The thinking partner’s undivided attention helps the thinker explore ideas freely, leading to their best and freshest thinking.
Thinking often happens in waves. The thinker may fall silent after considering one issue before another wave of thought emerges. The attention of the thinking partner can enable new waves of thinking to continue. It is often only after a few waves that a more considered outcome – and a deeper level of thought – can surface.
Only when the person falls quiet and seems to have nothing more to add does the thinking partner ask: ‘What more do you think or feel or want to say?’. This process repeats until the thinker has nothing more to say. The session ends with mutual appreciation, as the human mind works best when appreciated rather than when criticised.
Factors that enhance or hinder thinking. Source: The Thinking Environment in doctoral supervision session, scribed by Nifty Fox.
Listening without interruption
One of the most common forms of interruption is finishing someone’s sentences. This is a display of power, suggesting that the thinker’s thoughts and ideas are less valuable or that the interrupter knows best. Interruptions can also be infantilising and can generate a lack of clarity for the person being interrupted.
Interruptions are all around us. For example, email notifications pop up on our computer screens and our phones ring, vibrate, or light up - pulling our attention away. These constant distractions can make deep thinking harder to achieve.
One of the most surprising things about training to be a Time to Think Coach was that it was one of the few times that I felt that I had genuinely been listened to in a long time. There was a real power in uninterrupted attention and being able to explore issues in my own way with the attention, ease, and encouragement of a thinking partner. The Thinking Environment approach relies on the power of this deep, intentional listening and the idea that silence can be productive.
Transforming doctoral supervision
A group of colleagues at Newcastle University have been trained to create thinking environments with their doctoral research students. We’re exploring the benefits of this approach, how it can enhance the thinking of doctoral students, and have integrated it into our Doctoral College training for postgraduate supervisors.
The approach involves the student having around 20 minutes to think out loud with one of the supervisors being the thinking partner. Following mutual appreciation, the student then has around 10 minutes to ask questions or seek feedback from the supervisory team. Next, one of the supervisors thinks aloud for about 15 minutes whilst the student acts as the thinking partner. The supervision ends with a 10-minute discussion and a plan of action for the next meeting.
The power of silence
Genuine thinking environments can enable fresh ideas to emerge as confusion dissipates and creativity explodes. The surprising point here is that not saying a word is one of the most effective things you can do.
Find out more
- watch the animation about Thinking Environments (animated by Stacy Bias)
- listen to Nancy Kline discussing different aspects of the Thinking Environment
- learn more about Peter Hopkins, Professor of Social Geography
- learn more about Time to Think
- learn about Andrew Scott’s training courses about Time to Think
- read more about the thinking environment approach to coaching
- explore how we’re committed at Newcastle University to building a welcoming and empowering research culture
Credits
Images: by Nifty Fox Creative
Thinking Environments Animation:
- Scripting: Peter Hopkins, Newcastle University
- Animation and illustration: Stacy Bias
- Funded by Newcastle University Doctoral College as part of an Enhancing Research Culture project (led by Peter Hopkins, Jen Bagelman, Rosalind Beaumont and Gail de Blaquiere)
