“Is There Anything More?”: The Transformative Power of Deep Listening in Leadership

by Liina Fadaee, Executive Coach | Founder, Consult For Growth

I have come to see listening not as a courtesy or a soft skill, but as a fundamental leadership discipline.

Listening at its best is not about gathering information to respond or advise. It is about creating the conditions for another person to think for themselves with clarity, courage, and rigour.

This realisation did not come easily to me. Like many professionals, I once prided myself on the speed of my thinking, the energy I brought to conversation, and the ideas I could offer in the moment. My enthusiasm often translated into interrupting, not from disrespect but from genuine investment in the discussion.

It was Nancy Kline’s Time to Think model that offered me the most powerful mirror on this habit. She posed a deceptively simple question:

“Imagine how much more you would learn if you didn’t interrupt.”

I remember reading that line and feeling it land hard.

Interrupting wasn’t about efficiency or contribution. It signaled that I valued my thinking over someone else’s. It closed down the space where their thinking might have gone.

From Advisor to Coach: Learning to Hold Back

This shift in understanding was particularly significant as I transitioned from roles like Employment Consultant, Advisor, and Manager into professional coaching.

In those earlier roles, people often expected me to have answers. Delivering solutions quickly felt like adding value. It felt responsible, even caring.

But coaching demanded something different. I had to unlearn the instinct to solve and replace it with the discipline of holding space.

I had to practise letting the silence do its work. Trusting that others could arrive at their own answers, often better and more meaningful ones, if I gave them the time and respect to think.

Deep Listening as a Discipline, Not a Technique

Kline’s work taught me that deep listening is not about performing attentiveness, nodding along, or waiting politely for my turn. It is about creating what she calls a

Thinking Environment: a deliberate set of conditions that enables others to do their best thinking.

That environment is built on foundations such as:

• Attention: Undivided, respectful focus without interruption.

  
  

• Equality: Valuing the other person’s thinking as equally important to my own.

  
  

• Ease: Removing the pressure of haste or judgement so new ideas can emerge.

  
  

• Incisive Questions: Gently challenging limiting assumptions and encouraging deeper exploration.

But at the heart of it all is attention, the kind that refuses to interrupt.

Practising the Pause

One of the simplest, most profound tools from Time to Think is the question:

“Is there anything more you think about this?”

It seems almost naive in its simplicity. But in practice, it is transformative.

When I began deliberately using this question, not just with clients but in every important conversation, I noticed something remarkable. People almost always had more. More detail. More truth. More courage to say what they really thought.

And with that came more trust, more clarity, and often, better solutions.

Holding Space for Thinking

There have been coaching sessions where I asked only a handful of questions.

I simply held the space, giving my full attention without interruption or rush.

In that quiet, people thought more deeply than they expected. They arrived at insights that had eluded them for weeks.

I have seen executives, under constant pressure and noise, use that space to clear away cluttered thinking and focus intensely on what truly matters.

It is not magic. It is the product of removing the usual interruptions, both external and internal, that limit our capacity to think well.

Unlearning the Urge to Solve

This approach required me to confront my own professional habits. I had to notice the impulse to jump in with analysis, to complete someone’s thought, or to offer ready-made solutions.

It meant accepting that my role was not to be the thinker, but to support the thinking.

And I found that when I did, the people I worked with did not just answer my questions. They answered their own.

Leadership Beyond Words

What I appreciate most about Kline’s philosophy is that it is not about adopting a set of listening techniques. It is about adopting a way of being.

It asks us to see others as inherently capable of thinking well for themselves, provided we offer them the respect and the space to do so. It challenges the leader’s ego, which so often wants to be the source of answers. It insists on humility.

Why It Matters Now

In today’s leadership landscape, marked by complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change, the ability to create space for others to think clearly is not optional.

Teams do not need leaders who always have the answer. They need leaders who can facilitate better collective thinking.

They need leaders who know when to hold back. Who can resist the rush to solve. Who understand that their attention is the most powerful signal of respect they can offer.

This is not about slowing progress. It is about ensuring the progress is thoughtful, inclusive, and sustainable.

An Ongoing Practice

I do not claim to have mastered this. Interrupting was once second nature to me, and in moments of stress or excitement, it can still reappear. But I have learned to notice it. To pause. To invite more.

I believe leadership at its best is an ongoing practice of creating the conditions in which others can do their best thinking, and holding ourselves accountable for the ways we might get in their way.

“Is there anything more?”

It is the simplest question. And perhaps the most powerful one we can ask.

References

• Nancy Kline (1999). Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind. Cassell Illustrated.

• Nancy Kline (2014). More Time to Think: The Power of Independent Thinking. Fisher King Publishing.