The Role of an Insight Thought Partner
It’s enormously helpful to have another person present – someone who does not think about and see the problem or issue in the way you do.
Notice the Thinking
Insight Thinking is simple, but it is also subtle. It is very challenging for the individual mind to try to observe itself and can be equally difficult for a team to discover its thinking, as it is so often obscured by “group think,” habits, and norms. Our experience in organizations and our colleagues’ years of experience in psychological counseling indicate that, while not a requirement, it’s enormously helpful to have another person present – someone who does not think about and see the problem or issue in the way you do, and who is not constrained by existing thought patterns. It’s even better when that person knows, and is experienced with, seeking the state of mind associated with insight.Why? It is natural for people to get lost in thought and for its quality to deteriorate. When this happens, those involved in the conversation are least likely to notice it. They’re engrossed, to the point of distraction, in the subject of their discussion. Their thought quality has become low, so their awareness of their feelings is muted and strategies for recovery are weak. This is compounded in teams with established norms and habits. In the face of all this, the Insight Thinking facilitators do two basic things. First, they act as sentinels; vigilant for the quality of thought occurring in whatever conversation they are assisting. Second, they are present – listening with nothing on their minds, and waiting for an occasional question or comment to occur via insight (which may either take the conversation in a new direction, or cause recovery of an elevated mood.)
These tasks are actually much less likely to get done if helpers are connected with the thought content. After all, it is as natural for facilitators as for anyone else to get lost in thought. Unlike classical management consulting experts, Insight Thinking helpers don’t have the answers; it actually works against them if they know about the subject under discussion. And unlike process consultation, whose practitioners are expert in improving social processes, Insight Thinking helpers improve social processes, but not by managing them better. The Insight Thinking practitioner is actually expert at two things: being in touch with the feeling of high-quality thought, and being in a “not-knowing” state awaiting an insight. In a team setting it is certainly possible for team member to perform this function, but generally more difficult in early stages of learning ITM, or when the subject becomes heated.
So far our experience indicates that while uncommon, both of the above-mentioned skills are quickly and easily learned. They develop rapidly with practice, with no apparent end in depth and don’t seem to depend heavily on the latent characteristics of the practitioner. One way we know this is because of the thousands of people, trained by our counseling colleagues over the past 30 years, who are producing similar results one-on-one with clients. Our experience confirms that ordinary managers latch on to this stuff very quickly.
