From theatre to teams — how a 20‑minute pause shapes how we think together.
Whenever I sit in a theatre and the lights come up for the interval, something subtle but powerful happens. For 20 minutes the audience shifts — from inward reflection on what has just unfolded, to conversations with others about what we’ve seen, what surprised us, and what might happen next. There is laughter, intrigue, shared anticipation and new questions — all in the space between acts.
That interval, simple as it is, holds a lesson for how we think, decide, and work together.
In those 20 minutes:
- We step out of the flow.
- We let the experience settle.
- We notice both subtleties and the moments that stood out.
- We share opinions and insights with others who just went through the same experience.
And then? We return — not to repeat the old act — but to shape the next one with curiosity, fresh perspective, and a sense of what matters most.
This is what I mean by Interval Thinking — and it’s at the heart of how I work with individuals and teams.
What Interval Thinking does
It creates pause.
Work and life are fast. Decisions, meetings, reactions — all pull us forward. Interval Thinking makes space to breathe between the motion, just as the theatre interval does.
It builds shared attention.
When teams reflect together — like an audience sharing the interval — a new collective awareness emerges. Patterns become visible, not because someone “told” insight to happen, but because the room noticed it, together.
It invites good questions.
You’ll often hear me quoting Nancy Kline: “The mind works best in the presence of a question.” When pause meets inquiry, thinking deepens. Questions invite curiosity, not defensiveness.
What this looks like in practice
- A leader noticing how they think before deciding what to do.
- A team noticing what patterns show up in meetings, collaboration, and decision‑making.
- A group talking about what emerged — not just what task comes next.
Preparation for richer action
Pause isn’t the absence of action — it’s preparation for richer action. Like the interval between acts, it’s the moment when we turn experience into insight.
So next time you feel rushed toward a decision or stuck in a cycle of reaction, ask yourself:
What would happen if I treated this like the interval — a short but meaningful pause before the next act?
That pause might just change not only what you decide — but how you think together. If you’d like to explore Interval Thinking in your work or with your team — discovering how pause and shared reflection can enrich insight and action — let’s talk