Time To Think//
Nancy Kline//
Published by Cassell : ISBN0-7063-7745-1

“Most people think they listen well, but they rarely do – not at this level. Listening this way is a radical act”

Not an NLP book, but one that I feel is extremely worthwhile reading for all those involved in the ‘listening’ walks of life. It is a surprisingly simple book that demonstrates how to set up ‘Thinking Environments’ ™ and how to ask Incisive Questions. Anyone NLP trained will like to think that they can ask incisive questions – that is after all what the meta model is all about, however this is a simple direct approach that rather than challenging the client/friend/business partner on their deletions gets them to form their own questions and fires it back to them.
Having seen this demonstrated and used it myself in a variety of situations the power of it is remarkable. Want to see someone actively doing a transderivational search then using this incisive question will lead to that.

But this book is about more than that, this book is about giving people the time to think, about not filing in the gaps and pauses, indeed not even looking for them. Giving someone this verbal time to think is often when they will yield the best thinking and make huge leaps forward. Rather than jumping two feet first in with meta model challenges you sit, wait and watch and attentively listen. It’s powerful stuff.

Some quotes from the start of the book: (Some presuppositions if you will)
Everything we do depends for its quality on the thinking we do first.
Our thinking depends on the quality of our (attention)i for each other

Thinking at its best is not just a cool act of cerebration. It is also a thing of the heart

A Thinking Environment is the set of ten conditions under which human beings can (think for themselves)i – with rigour, imagination, courage and grace

Listening of this calibre ignites the human mind

Between you and a wellspring of good ideas is a limiting assumption. The assumption can be removed with an incisive question.

Incisive Questions increase the functional intelligence of human beings

A Thinking Environment is natural, but rare. It has been squeezed out of our lives and organisations by inferior ways of treating each other.

(This book is easy to read, practically jargon free and is full of good examples)i