Time to Think

I’ve written before about my young horse and how much I learnt about leadership and communication training him, but today I want to talk about my old boy, Bobby (who is approaching 28 years old) and how he literally changed my life.

You see, the idea for Trainers’ Library came to me one day back in 2003, when I was alone with Bobby on the moors where we lived (and where some of the team is still based). If it wasn’t for him, Trainers’ Library probably wouldn’t exist.

I don’t remember much about the ride, where we were or what the weather was like, but I can quite clearly remember some of the thoughts that floated through my head that day.

I remember wishing I had more time for days like that; at the time I was spending most of my week living out of suitcases in hotels. My mind wandered from that problem to Friends Reunited (for you young people, a prehistoric version of social media, invented just after paper). As we meandered on, I found myself wondering what would happen if we applied Friends Reunited to training, and my desire to be more office based.

Six weeks later, we launched the very first version of Trainers’ Library.

The connection between Trainers’ Library and Friends Reunited might not be immediately obvious but that’s the thing about thinking; when we give ourselves space, our minds can take us on wonderful journeys that sometimes lead us to remarkable moments of inspiration.

I remember once reading a story about someone who worked for Henry Ford. I have absolutely no idea if this story is true, but it goes like this:

One day Henry Ford was showing an accountant round his factory. On the tour, they passed an office and looking in the door, the accountant saw someone reclining in his chair with his feet up on the desk before him. Having an eye for the bottom line and productivity, the accountant suggested that perhaps if that person had nothing better to do with his time, Mr Ford might be better off without him. To which, the response was, “Leave him be. The last time he had an idea it saved us millions.”

As I say, I have no idea how authentic this story is, but I like it and it’s stuck with me.

I spent a lot of years working long hours and feeling guilty whenever I wasn’t at my desk. But the truth is that if reward was based entirely on contribution, I’d receive bonuses for taking a shower, going for a walk with the dog and most definitely for taking a jaunt on my horse. Because it’s in those spaces that my brain has the space to, often subconsciously, work through problems and generate ideas.

Of course, I have my own business, and to suggest I’m not at work when I’m not at my desk is rather akin to suggesting parents stop being parents when their child leaves the room.

But I do think that we tend to undervalue thinking time. With so much focus on the short term; on productivity, action, objectives and tasks, do we risk missing out on the big ideas?

There is no easy way to recognise and reward thinking time but one thing we can do is let go of limiting beliefs. You know the ones:

“He’s great; look at all the extra hours he spends sitting at his desk.”

“She’s a superstar – she never takes a lunch break.”

“He’s two minutes late back from coffee again!”

When what we should be focusing on are outputs, engagement and contribution.

There are a few modules in Trainers’ Library I’d like to highlight at this point:

In terms of Limiting Beliefs, I wrote this module for Trainers’ Library to help managers adapt to working with remote teams during the pandemic, but I’ve realised since that the lessons are important for all managers.

There are also lots of modules there to help develop creative thinking as a skill (always remembering the essential ingredient, time).

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And finally, if we want our employees to care enough to share their ideas and thoughts, these four modules written by another author are critical:

Employee Engagement 1 – What’s in It for Me?

Employee Engagement 2 – Job or Organisation?

Employee Engagement 3 – Engaging Managers

Employee Engagement 4 – Building Engagement

Until next time…