In a world of instant answers, the radical advantage we still have is that of independent thinking. It pulses ease and care… It calls on life.
When I first came across Nancy Kline’s Time To Think Coaching and Facilitation approach back in 2008, I found an aesthetic and imaginative practice that develops our capacity to think independently, rigorously, and for ourselves: without interruption, limiting assumptions, rush, or evaluation.
Almost 20 years later, I also see this practice as a way to free ourselves in turbulent times.
Over time, I’ve seen how the ecology of the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment enlivens individuals, relationships, teams, and systems. It’s organic, vibrant, and connected.
What is emerging now feels like both maturation and expansion: a deeper commitment to independent thinking, and a widening of the spaces where it can thrive, which is everywhere where transformation calls.
Again and again, I see how Time to Think offers a gentle yet radical framework for courage, creativity, and belonging, especially in uncertain times.
An example where this work and philosophy of communication is pertinent at the moment is conflict and relationships management in a polarised, short-fused world (I don’t like the word “management” but I couldn’t find anything else. Suggestions welcome 😅).
Timely, right?
We can say that in a world of fast and polarised answers, independent thinking is a quiet advantage. It restores ease, care, and possibility.
And what does this mean?
Well, you can use this approach to support people to
– create conditions that build trust across institutions and communities.
– hold ambiguity without rushing to premature certainty.
– make better collective decisions under pressure.
– balance power, accountability, and shared purpose.
– create spaces where local context and lived experience shape capital/work/business/campaign design and conversation
Emergent Faculty
Last month, I became Time to Think Emergent Faculty. Which means I can now accompany coaches, facilitators and teachers all the way into qualification.
If you’ve ever wanted to go deeper into this work, to really learn how to hold the conditions where someone else’s thinking can seed and help them feel they matter and belong, then I’d love to explore that with you.
If you have completed the Time To Think Foundation or Thinking Partnership Courses, we can now schedule qualifying Coaching and Facilitation programmes, from September onwards.
Check the Time to Think Coaching qualification and the Time to Think Facilitator qualification.
And if you are at the beginning of your Time to Think journey, we can co-design a pathway that suits you. Get in touch!
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Hi! I‘m Servane 😊 . I help teams of funders and impact investors create the conditions for better collective thinking, so they can build trust, align around purpose, and design capital that is more thoughtful, inclusive, and effective.
