Busyness or business?

“Our research suggests that individuals have difficulty appreciating just how engaging thinking can be. That could explain why people prefer keeping themselves busy with devices and other distractions, rather than taking a moment for reflection and imagination in daily life.”
 
So states an academic study revealing that sitting and thinking is more satisfying than people expect.  I wonder how many of you spend time sitting and thinking?  Not enough I’m sure. 
 
The findings of Nancy Kline which led to the development of the Thinking Environment and Time to Think over 30 years ago revealed the power of spending time sitting and thinking.  Importantly it’s the aspect of someone else that pays attention to the thinker, that doesn't interrupt, which makes thinking so powerful.
 
Leaders give themselves thinking time
Leaders across a host of industries are waking up to the power of uninterrupted thinking.  Shirley Edwards from Xerox acknowledged that, “The Thinking Environment is not just a set of techniques. It is a way of being in the world” whilst a UK comms director said, “Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this process. It will unleash the power of your whole organisation.”  CEOS of major corporations regularly give themselves space to think.
 
What I liked from the academic study was the comment about people keeping themselves busy.  We know what it’s like in organisations, particularly during Covid and now with the multiple crisis engulfing the UK, that ‘keeping busy’, not having enough ‘time’, being overwhelmed and stressed is quickly becoming the norm.  The workplace is busy being automated, whilst our personal lives are also automated shaped by our phones and ipads, notifications from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.  We never give ourselves the space to reflect.
 
Can we reclaim the human in automation?
As leaders we know that the best resource we have is our people, and their thinking, their creativity to solve issues when they arise.  Why then do we insist on ‘keeping busy’ when true thinking, the creativity we need is restricted through ‘busy-ness’. That’s not good business.
 
How do we move from automation to the human?
 
Actually it’s very simple.  We give ourselves, our colleagues, time to think.  It can be as little as 2 minutes or as long as an hour.  We ask the question, what do you think?  And then we pay attention.  We do not interrupt.  We remain intensely curious about their thinking and where it might take them.  Where the thinking might take us.
 
It gives breathing space to both the extroverts and the introverts.  It enables the reflectors a psychologically safe space to express their thoughts.  The key is to value everyone’s thinking.  Others’ thinking is as good as our own.  Different yes and it’s that diversity which brings creativity and solutions to problems.  Give people the time and the space to express their diversity.  Diverse thinking brings enormous rewards.  Leaders, tap into the diverse thinking that surrounds you.
 
In time, if we encourage everyone to think uninterrupted then perhaps the researchers will be able to say that everyone appreciates how engaging thinking can be.