The Thinking Partnerships Course
The Thinking Partnerships Programme is a 2+1 day programme that teaches you the Thinking Partnership Session®, a uniquely powerful process for liberating the human mind. Through generative attention and the building of Incisive Questions, you’ll learn the precise discipline that enables breakthrough, independent thinking in one-to-one conversations, team meetings, and across your organisation.
You’ll participate both as Thinker (considering topics of your choice) and as Thinking Partner (practising this elegant expertise).
Along the way you will explore all Ten Components of a Thinking Environment.
- How to listen in a way that generates thinking in others
- The Ten Components and how they work in dynamic balance with each other
- The Three Streams of Attention and how to balance them in real-time
- Four Building Block Applications: Thinking Pairs, Dialogue, Rounds, and Open Discussion
- How to identify and remove limiting assumptions that block breakthrough thinking
This isn’t theory. It’s intensive practice. You’ll experience what it feels like to receive truly generative attention, something most leaders have never experienced. You’ll practise offering it to others. You’ll witness the transformation in real-time.
This programme is for you if…
You’re an HR professional responsible for leadership development or culture change
You lead a team where a few voices dominate whilst others stay silent
You want to develop coaching capability in your leadership team
You’re implementing culture change and know that new policies aren’t enough
You recognise that in an AI-saturated world, your people’s thinking is your competitive advantage.
This programme fundamentally transforms how you…
Listen: Move from conventional “good” listening to the rarified level of attention that actually generates thinking in others, learning to recognise and eliminate the subtle interruptions you didn’t even know you were making
Assess your current practice: Develop honest awareness of the gap between how well you think you listen and what generative listening actually requires
Lead meetings: Create consistent excellence in group thinking through Pairs, Rounds, Dialogue, and Open Discussion, not just discussion management
Coach and develop others: Help people think through their challenges rather than solving problems for them or inadvertently shutting down their thinking process
Build teams: Foster psychological safety that produces tangible performance improvements by ensuring everyone’s thinking truly matters
Lead change: Implement culture shifts that stick because they’re embedded in how people think together, not just what they do
More fundamentally, you’ll develop a practice of creating Thinking Environments, in one-to-one conversations, team meetings, and across your organisation, that honours what makes us most human: our ability to think, to question, to discover, and to grow.
A good place to begin…
You’ll leave with both humility (recognising how much room there is to improve your listening) and capability (possessing the specific skills to reach that higher level). Most importantly, you’ll have experienced what it feels like when someone truly listens to you without interruption, and you’ll understand viscerally why this matters so profoundly.
So many of our interactions with others are one to one, both at work and in other parts of our lives. If we can be a Thinking Partner to the people we connect with, we can support them to think for themselves, to feel heard and valued for who they are as human beings, and potentially cause them to experience work and life differently, fuelled by their own independent thinking. This has huge implications in the workplace, and in our lives.
The Thinking Partnerships Programme is a standalone programme for people who want to listen differently and impact others, but it’s also the precursor to the Time To Think Coach qualifying course.
You may also be interested in the Time To Think Foundation, a 2 day programme that is ideal for facilitators, those who chair or run meetings or training events, team leaders and supervisors, who want to get groups to think well together. This precedes the Facilitator qualifying course.
Reserve your place using the registration link and we’ll be in touch to discuss the details. You’ll see all the upcoming programme dates when you click the register button. More are added throughout the year. We can also work to a bespoke timetable if the scheduled dates don’t work for you.
Register Here
We’re excited to be able to do this work, and hopeful for the change it can make in the lives of those who take part; it’s been a long time in the making. We’ve experienced the impact of listening and thinking this way for a number of years, and continue to practice weekly with people who are brand new to this way of being as well as those who are expert. It’s woven into every aspect of our work at Clear Thinking, and sharing it this way, to create more Thinking Partners in the world, is a real privilege.
“I have had the privilege of taking part in the Thinking Partnership Programme – and it’s left me feeling inspired! The experience reminded me how powerful it is to give space for thinking, to listen deeply, and to ask the right questions rather than supplying answers.
I really want to express my appreciation to Bev Holden as the host. I valued your warmth, your ability to create a safe and open environment, and the way you guided us through each exercise with clarity, energy, and encouragement. Your approach made it easy to engage fully, reflect honestly, and feel supported while experimenting with new ways of thinking. This programme has left me thinking differently about conversations, collaboration, and leadership. It’s a reminder that creating space for others – and for ourselves – to think clearly and freely can transform the way we work.” Amy Brailsford
Forthcoming dates…
We have a series of dates throughout the year, combining in-person and online teaching. It’s vital that you can commit to all 3 dates for your chosen cohort and be fully present from 9.30am till 5.00pm on the in-person days and from 9.30am till 3.00pm on the online day.
January Cohort | 6th & 7th January 2026 and 10th February 2026
February Cohort | 3rd & 4th February 2026 and 10th March 2026
March Cohort | 3rd & 4th March 2026 and 14th April 2026
The programme is hosted near Blackpool on Lancashire’s Fylde Coast. We have access to several inspiring local venues and choose exactly which one will be hosting us nearer the time. ‘Place’ is one of the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment, and we chose our locations very carefully.
The Course has a limit of 4 – 6 participants. The fee is currently £975.00 + VAT per person and includes programme materials, food and refreshments during the in person part of the programme, an open invitation to join a complimentary Practice Group on completion of the programme, where you can meet and think with other Thinking Partners in our growing network AND we’ll send you a deck of Cards for Clear Thinking to support and encourage your independent thinking.
✨Bev Holden is accredited by Time To Think
You can read more about our adventures in the Thinking Environment on Substack.
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