To think, or not to think…

Hey, slow down….is your workplace a “no thinking zone“?

When we are stressed, exhausted or distracted we resort to working in the shallow area at the front of our brains. We react, we retreat, we knee jerk, we don’t think. We lose the capacity for problem solving, visioning, compassion, moral reasoning and big picture thinking. Its crucial to slow down. to carve out precious time to stop and think. To stop acting in the moment and allow yourself time to reflect.

In a leadership context this means using your influence to create and value meaningful thinking time for your team. Why not spend some time considering the following points to convert a “no thinking zone” into a productive and inclusive thinking workplace.

• Learning : ask yourself where the thinking is happening in your organisation. Are you learning from mistakes or just repeating the same patterns?
• Caring : pay genuine and careful attention to relationships. Remember what values drive you to do your work. have you discussed this with your team?
• Wondering : stretch out of the space of safe certainty and give a pushback to bureaucracy, not in an adversarial way, but wonder about organisational and team habits. When was the last time you said “No”. What happened?
• Listening : above all, create time to pro-actively listen to your colleagues. Encourage them to talk about how they feel, not just about what they’re doing, and you do the same.

I suggest that through modelling the expectation that there should always be time to think, you can support your team to be their best whilst giving their spirits, and yours, room to breathe.