I have been reading Nancy Kline’s book – Time to Think: an international best seller it has helped hundreds of organisations develop successful environments for productive thinking across all areas of their company.
Many of her points resonate strongly with the Solution Focussed approach we use with the young people we work with. Looking at some of the areas she considers the similarities to our approach are very apparent:-
ATTENTION
Listening without interruption and with interest generates good creative thinking.
In our work we see that young people open up when we show them we believe they have an answer. Finding their own answers is key – we cannot know the right answer for someone else.
EASE
Ease creates; urgency destroys.
To give someone the opportunity to think we need to help them feel relaxed, unrushed and encouraged – pressure only restricts effective thinking.
We try to put young people at their ease by listening carefully, not judging and gently questioning to help them find the best answer for them.
APPRECIATION
There is evidence that the human mind works better when it feels appreciated. Nancy suggests that our brains need a ration of at least 5:1 Appreciation : Criticism to be able to effectively consider change and problem solving.
We certainly see this in our work – focussing on what young people are already doing to achieve their goals and showing them they have skills and strengths already is central to our approach.
ENCOURAGEMENT
As Nancy puts it :- “The brain that contains the problem also contains the Solution”.
By showing young people we believe they have their own answers we help them develop a wholehearted, unthreatened search for good ideas.
FEELINGS
Unexpressed feelings can inhibit good thinking.
We talk to young people a lot about understanding their feelings / checking in with themselves and naming the feeling as this helps them recognise / regulate and use these feelings to develop good thinking to help themselves.
QUESTIONING
Questioning will remove the untrue assumptions that often prevent good thinking. Nancy’s work supports this process describing how asking the question again prompts the brain to consider it again and look for further answers.
When mentoring young people we will repeatedly ask them to think about what they are already doing? asking What else? what else ? what else?
PLACE
The physical environment – the room, the listener, body language – should indicate clearly to participants that they matter and the listener is interested in what they have to say.
We do this by making eye contact, smiling encouragingly, showing in our attention that we expect them to have an answer.
