Pathways for Individuals

A three-day program which provides the knowledge and skills to become a Thinking Partner

What is a Thinking Partner?

A Thinking Partner is someone who, through the quality of the attention they offer, helps to catalyse another’s thinking. This attention is generative in nature, and enables the Thinker to access their most creative, bold, independent and courageous thinking. Our innate ability to think for ourselves is often eroded by parental and educational messaging which results in us letting others think for us. A Thinking Partner’s quality of listening enables others to want to think for themselves, more than they want others to think for them.

Who should attend?

• Leaders who recognise that their primary objective is to facilitate leadership in those around them, and who wish to build Thinking Partnerships and the Thinking Environment approach into their lives and organisations

• Anyone interested in developing others on a one-to-one basis, including parents, teachers, medical practitioners, coaches, mentors, psychologists, and counsellors

• Anyone who is needing time to think about issues which matter profoundly to them

The Thinking Partnership Session is a step-by step 1:1 process for liberating the human mind to think for itself with unprecedented clarity, originality and rigour. It produces breakthrough independent thinking. This highly participatory course teaches this process in depth. You will participate both as Thinker - considering topics of your choice - and as Thinking Partner practising this expertise. Along the way you will explore all Ten Components of a Thinking Environment.

You can expect to:

- Learn about the Thinking Environment theory and the 1: 1 Thinking Partnership process that underlies this powerful approach to listening

-      Participate in Thinking Partnership demonstrations, to experience how we as human beings think, and feel, in waves and pauses

- Discover how the mind thinks brilliantly for itself, and how far it can go, before any input from the thinking partner

- Discover the power of crafting incisive questions that remove limiting assumptions, unleashing clarity, creativity and courage

-       Explore current personal or professional challenges

-       Initiate a lifelong practice of exchanging 1: 1 listening sessions with the global thinking partner network

The Thinking Environment’s contribution to the work of Coaching

The Thinking Environment is one of the finest ways in which coaches can hone their ability to provide generative attention: attention which catalyses the thinker’s thinking.
Given the commitment and promise of coaching to provide a place in which clients can access their own best solutions to the issues they bring to their coaching sessions, coaches who train themselves to be Thinking Partners can reliably manage the perennial pitfalls of transference and unconscious infantilisation that so often trip up the best-intentioned helping professionals.
The Thinking Partnership Program therefore forms the basis of the Coaching Course and is a pre-requisite for becoming an accredited Time To Think Coach.

A two-day day learning journey into the application of the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment to groups & 1:1’s

·      Do you need a structured, enlivening way to enable yourself and others to think afresh, while building relatedness?

·      Are you striving for innovation, productivity, connection and inclusion but lacking a process that reliably makes these concepts a reality rather than remaining values on a wall?

· Do you need time to think about topics that matter to you, personally and professionally?

Who should attend?

Business and community leaders, consultants, facilitators, HR practitioners, and anyone whose job requires them to create spaces in which people can access their most creative and courageous thinking and action.

You will learn to:

-  Transform 1:1 and group interactions, including meetings, in simple yet profound ways, to achieve optimal personal and professional results

-  Access your own best, innovative, freshest thinking

-  Tap into the collective wisdom of a generous peer group

- Present in a way which unlocks exceptional new insights for your audience

The Foundation Course introduces you to the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment and their many applications. You will explore Thinking Pairs, Dialogue, Rounds, Open Discussion, Meetings, the Time To Think Council, Presentations and Facilitation. Any of these applications will help you turn groups and organisations into Thinking Environments.

This course is a prerequisite for the Facilitator Qualifying Course.

Maximum number of participants: 10

Can it be that thinking for yourself produces your finest coaching outcomes?

As Time To Think Coaches we act as a potent Thinking Partner who offers Generative Attention: attention which helps to catalyse the most creative, bold, independent and courageous thinking in another.

Given the commitment and promise of coaching to provide a place in which clients can access their own best solutions to the issues they bring to their coaching sessions, as coaches trained to be Thinking Partners we can reliably manage the perennial pitfalls of transference and unconscious infantilisation that so often trip up the best-intentioned helping professionals.

We offer coaching to individuals as well as to organizations.