 Felly, rwyf wedi cyfnod hynny'n gwybod wedi bod yn bwysig o gwybod yn ymgyrch, a byw'r ddwyllgor cyfnodol yn y Llyfrgellach Fynghorredol. Oherwydd, gwybod yn ymgyrchu'r dfynol, ac yn Catherine ac yn ymgyrch, Andrew, ac yn ymgyrchlu'r ddwyllgor cyfnodol. Ond oeddwn ni'n gwybod yn ymgyrch ymgyrch ar yr hyn o'r adrwng. Ieithio ddiolog o'r ymgylchedd ymlaen, eich eithaf hefyd, mae eich dweud o gweithio'r gweithio, ac mae'n rhai gweithio'n dweud o y cwmposon, o'r 10 cwmposon o'r dweud o'r dweud o'r ddimnigol. Daerwy'n oedd yna ddim ni'n dweud o'r ddimnigol i'r dweud o'r ddimnigol o'r ddimnigol, oherwydd o'r ddimnigol at gyfnodd y cwmposon o'i dweud o'n dweud. Listen into each person's turn and the principles of the dialogue are like a thinking pair, but the time will be taken on the same topic will be short and they'll be frequent turns back and forth whilst we do our thinking. So Andrea, what do you think? I think it's really nice to have this space to do this reflection. a we've been on such a journey and we don't often stop to do this reflection on how far we've come with thinking environment and thinking cultures. I was reading back through some material we've shared previously at a conference around our initial kind of the start to our journey and it just reminded me of how we started so small just you and I Catherine, you know, really trucking away at this and taking every small win as a big win to where we are now and I think we were really brave and courageous in the start because we really believe in this practice and we know that the best thinking is done when those components are held in place and people have that space to think and we've seen that develop over the past maybe three phases now we decided to call them maybe not years yet but kind of three phase cycle of where we've got to which move from just getting people to experience it and Chloe reminded me just before we started the recording about you can read material on thinking environments but you've got to be in it to kind of feel that power of it and feel what that space is like when someone holds it and facilitates that with the 10 components in place to sort of where we are now which is really thinking about meetings culture and staff voices across the organisation and embedding that in what we do. What do you think? So I think in terms of an organisation our starting point really was that we were working quality and our vision was to embed a culture of kindness and support and the college values are kindness, humility and excellence which is a bit of a no brainer in terms of thinking environment because that just encompasses the whole ethos of those values. So I think initially when we came together we thought we were the only ones in the college that had practised in a thinking environment and I knew a lot of people external to the college in further education that were using the thinking environment and obviously through lockdown the wonderful joy of fee was born and the ideas room which anybody could go to but we wanted people in the organisation like you've just said to feel that and that's where we started really and I think we went round in big circles for a little bit what should we do where should we start it's so big the organisation is so big thinking environment so big where do we actually start and then we just said oh let's just let's just let's just stop talking about it and let's just get on with it and that was the first thing we did we we offered ideas rooms to staff to just come along that be in the space have that space to think share ideas but importantly I think learn to listen to each other it wasn't just a practice of he has a space for you to come and think but but come and listen to your colleagues come and share that space come and come and support each other to do the thinking to to do the work so I think and I mean that was that was a little while ago now and it and some weeks were successful and some weeks we just sort of got together and reflect and thought oh nobody's coming or nobody's showing any interest and and I think you said Andrea at the time well one more person's been so that's a small win and and you know that's something we need to take forward it's it's going to be a slow burner but but we are going to get um we are going to get the word out and we are going to get where we want to be with this work what do you think I think we yeah I think we bang dad rum once we got brave and we banged on about it and we talked to people about it and I mentioned it in meetings and you took it to people because we wanted people to hear about the thinking environment and the ideas room and how they could be heard and we tried lots of different strategies didn't we through ideas rooms maybe just for leaders and managers and and all and all the while it's been a bit of a learning journey for us to develop our practice and and think about our thinking environment kind of facilitation as well but we had to go at it in bits and I think it can sound like such a humongous task to develop a thinking culture and organisation but it is about exposing people to it cleverly talking about it banging the drum so remember after we'd sort of tried ideas rooms and we put lots of information out we always shared about joy ff going on in the evening and we wanted to do something big and I remember our conversation about how do we get this out there how do we get people to just know about it experiencing you've got to be in it we thought about video in an ideas room we thought well that's probably not gonna you know support the ease of a space if we're recording it um and that turning point then of really banging our drum with senior leaders and saying look this this is something where you can hear staff voices where um you know you can get their input and ideas especially if one of our values is around unity and so we were really brave and we asked for thinking rounds to be within staff conference so all the staff across the college and we knew I think didn't with it we'd set the rules of the space but that maybe we didn't have time to really go through the components and how how that should work but we went at it and we provided the rules with supported managers so they could all facilitate thinking round and some were really successful and some maybe broke the rules but what it did was let people know about that practice let people know about that work and when we got that feedback from construction how powerful that space had been and how they'd heard from staff that have never spoken up before I think that was our you know this is it now that was a real turning point was um and it was just you and I wasn't it and a couple of people in our team so that day meant that it would just switched a little light on on people's radar about thinking environment and maybe there were a couple more people starting to bang that drum because they'd experienced it what do you think I mean that yeah that was certainly a turning point and I think our initial goal for for the work was that everybody knew what it was so that if if we asked anybody you know if you heard of this they could you know they could have they could they could hazard a reply to to what it was so it so you're right the first the first sort of way was was getting the information out there getting the getting the ripples and then the second goal was for everybody to experience it and I think from that day when we'd just sort of gone for it and done it on mass that we then tried to incorporate it into everything that we did all all staff staff interactions so um from one to one staff interactions and and and holding a space for for people to think you know however briefly to supporting managers to use it in meetings and in their staff time to to hear those voices to the training that we developed using it in our professional development opportunities with with staff and just going around the college and particularly at construction you know people say what's this thinking thing or you know that thinking thing that you do and just just raising that that that curiosity about what is it how can I be involved people are talking about it and how can I be involved and we began to find more more advocates didn't we when we began to find more more people in corners that oh yeah you know I've done that I know about that and and and bringing bringing people with us and and I think then the next phase was to keep that momentum going because I think we'd gathered some momentum and to then bring leaders and managers into the into focus and because we felt we had we felt we had to buy in from senior leaders but but but more of the talk was was across you know rather than down through the organization so targeting leaders and managers and you know with the fabulous Lou mycroft who who came in and did some work with our leaders and managers and Brian Croft who did some work with myself and Andrea on the thinking partnership and through the the ETF stuff the Skylarks and the north staff programme we we sort of pushed forward with that and and at each stage I think we've had a a really good think about right what have we achieved where are we up to and when we've taken a pause like we are now it's it's it's to look back it's just you don't realise how far you've coming out and and even though it feels like we've just been chit chipping away we've made massive progress in a in a short time and I think I think now there's more talk about it more people know what it is more people have experienced it it's now about empowering others and and giving them the confidence to to take it forward which I think we're starting to see um what do you think I think we've come really far I'm really proud of us um thinking back to when we've had the kind of difficulties in in getting thinking environment to be explored or push back around thinking environment um and I remember a particular kind of workshop I was hosting and I was facilitating a discussion and I am now at the point of my practice where facilitating discussion for me means thinking round and in any meeting I mean I you know I want to hold those components in place and it frustrates me when it's not and it's just free conversation but facilitating that discussion and saying I'd like to do the thinking round and you know people people held the rule of knowing to interrupt into a point but I could see frustration in people because they weren't getting validated in their thoughts or they have to not they couldn't give their validation to others that they agreed with them or I thought of that too um and I remember coming away from that thinking you know why would people frustrated do they not have the information how do we what's the best place to start it's chicken and egg with this do we go at the information this is what it's all about this is what it means and then expose people to being in that space but you need to be in a space to experience it to appreciate it and I remember that vividly um and I think now we continue with that we continue to be brave and I felt a real shift in us from saying oh can we can we try thinking round or we'll have a go at a pair to just been brave in that and say thinking rounds in this meeting then we're going to go for a pair we'll do some fashion thinking um and I think appreciations always will more for recently has got quite embedded in what we do whereas previously that might have been that oh should we have a bit of appreciation um so I think the organisation now is at a point where they expect some facilitation of thinking environment within what we do and now like you said with the leaders and managers you know we did a piece of work where we were brought into fantastic training and development um programme for all leaders and managers in our organisation to learn the basics but also think about writing questions that um provide opportunities to explore possibility um because you know the task the day to day tasks you've got to do in FE and all across all education you just spend time doing the stuff but not thinking about the best stuff to do um and that's where it gets monotonous and hard work so we've wanted to give our leaders and managers the opportunity to be exposed to thinking environment learn how to facilitate basic building blocks of a thinking environment but also pose the right questions when they are facilitating thinking rounds um and I think that was the right next step for us and because they now have those building blocks I think they're at that stage that we were maybe at near the beginning of do our day throw a thinking round in here um you know am I able to run a thinking pair um but they'll get there with that work and it's practice isn't it and it's I guess now opportunities or maybe yours facilitating opportunities for them to practice um thinking environments within their teams with us there was um something that I wanted to mention around staff voice how we throw out surveys for staff voice and we get answers back to the questions that we want to ask but actually never maybe really hear what people think ideas suggestions solutions um and how thinking environment is that next step isn't it for that unity that really clear value that we've got and there needs to be more of that in an organization not people's feedback on a sliding scale but hearing voices footsbar for the soul I think somebody wants to describe it as in our organization to be in a thinking environment category which is lovely what do you think yeah no I think you're right and I think you just made me think about challenges because you know there has been challenges and there's been I suppose people that have felt threatened by it you know like like you said that some people initially didn't want to take their turn and why you're making me take my turn and what do you mean I can't speak when I want to speak and it is a practice and and we are I guess going into phase three and and the practice even though this is what we've introduced this is what we've introduced with kept practising we've kept the practice we've kept bringing it and and like you said you know we initially if if we suggested it people would roll their eyes and shuffle in their seat but now they yeah I'll sit back and wait for my turn because because I'm going to have that space and they almost invite and welcome that space now to to do that thinking and you know particularly only Tuesday this week I was doing some thinking pairs at construction and and the joiners and the plumbers were kind of you know what do you mean you want to sit and want to sit here and think for three minutes and I'm not asking you to talk three minutes I'm asking you to think and some of them for the whole three minutes we just had silence for three minutes and I just had listened to that how wonderful is that how wonderful is that with no noise we're all just thinking um and we can all just you know move on to what we need to move on to next so I do feel that that people are really embracing it and and I think moving forward in in in terms of saturation and momentum we do need to attack the meeting's culture and our meeting's culture is not different to to many others you know with time time is precious and we often maybe get together when an email will do it but but how could we be more effective in that space um and use that time more effectively to to hear from everyone and to generate that that best thinking so that we can move on to what we need to do and we're not rushing in and we're not jumping from one thing to another but we're taking that time to think um that quality of thinking that Nancy Klein talks about before we can do do the work Andrea what do you think all of the above I think I think next it's the meetings and I think the key thing is practice what you preach we practice it in our meetings we do rounds we set questions if it's a big thing to think about we do pairs first we come back we do freshest thinking and I think if people can you know the first step just start with that how are you round that practice of care at the beginning of a meeting and a closing round with what's live in you that's a first step on this kind of journey um to hear from everybody in the room just want to appreciate Chloe and Sheila thank you for your generative attention while we did that thinking and Andrea I appreciate you Chloe and Sheila I appreciate this space to be able to reflect on our journey and Catherine I appreciate your camaraderie in this