How to create inclusive meetings the Nancy Kline way – and come to the best decisions ever
Oh no! Not Another Meeting
I have sat in hundreds – and hundreds – of meetings in my time. It is despairing to think of all those hours of my life spent that way. Far too often, my experience has variously been:
· Asking myself: “Why am I here?” “Am I just making up the numbers/quota?”
· Doubting I know enough to say anything about the agenda items.
· Thinking that no-one will be interested in my thoughts.
· Wondering how on earth I am going to get a word in. Some people seem to speak without taking a breath.
· Getting irritated when I am interrupted so much and can’t finish a sentence, let alone a thought.
· Feeling cold – or too hot – in an uncomfortable room and desperate for a cup of tea.
· Boredom. The agenda is far too long. The meeting is far too long. People talk for far too long. There never seems to be any decisions being made.
I have also chaired far too many meetings than I care to remember. And, safe to say, I probably contributed to those thoughts for others through my chairing skills.
Enter Nancy Kline
It wasn’t until quite late in my career that I had a chance encounter with a chap who has since become my coaching supervisor - Andrew Scott. Andrew is a Nancy Kline accredited trainer. I have him to thank for introducing me to her work and helping me develop some Nancy Kline “Thinking Environment” skills.[1]
Nancy’s fundamental premise is that:
“The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first.
The quality of our thinking depends on the way we treat each other while we are thinking.”
So, how do we treat each other whilst we are thinking? In meetings at least:
· we interrupt.
· we talk at length.
· we allow some people to be silenced.
· we silence some people.
· we ignore the contributions of some people
· we foreclose discussion by lobbying ahead of time to get our way.
It is, for these reasons, that I always describe meetings as performative. Their function is - yes certainly to tick governance boxes. It is also to position yourself as being any or all of: a strategic thinker; a knower; a facilitator; a good person; a “player”; a leader, or a future leader; and so on.
The Ten Components of a Thinking Environment
So how might we organise our meetings to create good decisions?
It is here that we need to turn to Nancy’s ten behaviours that, when in place, generate what she describes as “the finest independent thinking”. These are called the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment®.
These are:
· “ATTENTION: Listening without interruption and with interest in where the person will go next in their thinking.
· EQUALITY: Regarding each other as thinking peers, giving equal time to think.
· EASE: Discarding internal urgency.
· APPRECIATION: Noticing what is good and saying it.
· ENCOURAGEMENT: Giving courage to go to the unexplored edge of thinking by ceasing competition as thinkers
· FEELINGS: Welcoming the release of emotion
· INFORMATION: Absorbing all the relevant facts
· DIFFERENCE: Committing to freedom from untrue assumptions driving prejudice
· INCISIVE QUESTIONS(Trade Marked): Freeing the human mind of untrue assumptions lived as true
· PLACE: Producing a physical environment – the room, the listener, your body – that says, ‘You matter’”
An inclusive approach
Nancy indicates that when these ten components are in place “people think for themselves with rigour, imagination, courage and grace”.[2]
I would also add that these components create the most inclusive meeting environments because:
· Providing equal time for all participants and treating everyone as equal in their thinking immediately mitigates against powerful and dominant voices. It offers respect to everyone in the room – not just the few.
· Knowing you are going to be listened to, without interruption, enables you when you speak to really focus on what you want to say without feeling hurried or at risk of someone jumping in and stopping your stream of thought.
· Committing to removing stereotypes and prejudices from our responses to others opens us up to being free of our assumptions – especially when we are listening to others. Let’s, for example, take the phenomenon of mansplaining – the assumption that women are not experienced or knowledgeable enough to know a core issue. In such circumstances, classically a man in a meeting feels it important to explain a key point to a woman, even when she probably knows far more than him.
· Embracing the component of “Difference” means that we commit to ‘interrupting’ - to use Joan Williams’ phrase - any bias in our thinking of others. By keeping our own minds open, we enhance the quality of thinking for everyone.
Five Steps You Can Try Immediately
So how might you begin your practice here? I offer you five steps:
1. Start all meetings with an invitation to say something positive. For example, ask: “What has gone well recently?” Neuroscientific and positive psychology research indicates that creating a positive mindset at the outset has a ripple effect for the rest of the meeting. You can read more about this here: Five Minutes to Great Meetings.
a. Just to add, starting with the positive can be counter-cultural. Many people at work are used to focussing on problems and challenges so can feel a bit nonplussed when asked to start with successes and triumphs.
b. Be prepared to sit out any ensuing silence as colleagues search their heads for something to say. Eventually one brave soul will say something – it might be personal or work-related. Others follow.
c. Once you have institutionalised this – ie you start every meeting with the positive – the silence diminishes.
2. Set out the primary ground rule that no-one is to interrupt someone when they are speaking. Again, this can be counter-cultural – and counter to advice a lot of people receive that they have to get noticed in meetings to be sure they are seen as future leaders. This is why “no interrupting” needs saying at the outset and reinforcing if necessary during the meeting. At a stroke, this rule will iron out the very common gendered phenomenon of manterrupting.
3. Start the meeting with what are called “Rounds”. Everyone is invited to speak on an agenda item. Again, no-one is to interrupt the speaker.
a. You can do a round by going round the room clockwise or anti-clockwise.
b. People can pass if they have nothing they wish to contribute but at least everyone has been given the opportunity to speak without having to try and jump in as best they can.
c. To prevent people from talking at length and to help finish the meeting in a timely way, set a time for each person to speak during rounds.
4. You can repeat rounds with each agenda item.
5. End with appreciation. What has gone well? Doing so demonstrates the value of the meeting and continues to create a positive meeting culture.
Interested to know more?
If this taster has whetted your appetite for more of Nancy Kline’s approach, do check out these sources. I think you will be glad that you did.
The most obvious place to start is Nancy’s website: https://www.timetothink.com/nancy-kline/.
There are two particular pages on this site you might like to visit:
An online assessment of your current practices for listening and asking questions: https://www.timetothink.com/online-assessment/
A bibliography of responses to her work. Just browse and dip in to whatever takes your attention: https://www.timetothink.com/thinking-environment/articles/.
If you have more time, this YouTube video is also a very helpful introduction:
What is the Thinking Environment, and why it’s helpful for leaders by Gulcan Telci and Hazel Morley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoD4N3qUTn8
More generally, there is a great CIPD evidence-based review of what makes an effective meeting. Their core findings indicate that: leader behaviour, goal clarity, focussed communication, positive climate and punctuality are key.
Wishing you happy meetings!
Christina
Christina Hughes is Founder and CEO of Women-Space Leadership Limited.
After a long career in executive roles in universities, and as a Professor of Women and Gender, Christina is committed to enabling women to flourish in their careers. You can contact her here.
You can watch Christina here talking about this approach at the IWD2024 celebration of The IC Global Partnership.
[1] I should say that Andrew bears no responsibility whatsoever for how I have translated Nancy’s work here or for any errors, misunderstandings or omissions!
[2] Research by Emily Havers supports these contentions. A study of whether, and how meetings held in a Thinking Environment® impact organisational life