MindTime cards are a coach’s dream tool
They resonate • people get it • built on science • they provide a strong foundation
Learn how to make MindTime Cards work for you.
Private online training sessions for professional users
Resources for coaches
YouTube video library
The more knowledge and practice you have the more confident you will become about how to use the cards to help your clients. Here are two of the YouTube videos we recommend coaches watch before using MindTime Cards.
Coaching strategies
In time you will discover your own favorite strategies and ways of using the cards. To get you going, here are a few of our favorites from MindTime Cards coaches.
A quick note to help you along.
Learn how to play the cards. Read the instructions that come with them or read them here. In guiding participants through the basic game and the exercises below, you should always provide them with enough space and time for self-discovery. The cards have many levels and are very predictive, let them do their work.
The basic game is always your starting point. When you are well-practiced in that, here are a few ways you can work with a pair or group.
After the team has done the MindTime base game for themselves and had a group discussion, lead them through applying the MindTime framework to how they function as a team.
NOTE: though this is written as it applies to a professional setting, this structure can work just as well with a couple, a sports team, or any configuration of more than one person in any setting!
Example:
- The team has a good blend of all perspectives but you find out they are having issues executing projects in a way that doesn’t feel like a constant struggle
- Ask them about their process – you will likely find out that the Future thinkers on the team have an idea and tell the team to move forward on it. If the Future thinker is the manager/lead, they likely focus a lot on talking and brainstorming. Past thinkers are likely skeptical about these ideas, having not had time to research or validate them, or knowing straight out that some won’t work, but are characterized as “negative” when they try to bring it up. The Present thinkers also hate brainstorming, as they are preoccupied with trying to envision how they would execute these unverified ideas. When tasked with moving forward, the Present thinkers feel like the Past thinkers are being difficult when they raise concerns, and just want to do it and get it done. They also feel the Future thinkers are too casual about their ideas and resent having work thrown at them on a whim. Projects that are implemented often don’t perform as expected by the Future thinkers, but no one knows why, and then they move on to the next thing.
- Given that they now have a deeper insight into themselves and each other, ask them if they can think of ways to work better together. Suggest following the “cycle of innovation” where they have ideas (Future), validate those ideas (Past), and implement the ideas that have been validated (Present). Everyone can participate in all phases of innovation, but framing it this way allows them to see their and everyone else’s value in the process and more patience for when they are in a phase that may be uncomfortable to their thinking style.
- See if they can set structure to their project process. They need to come up with what will work best for their team, their company, their industry, and their projects and be open to adjusting it over time to get to something that really works for everyone.
An example of this could look like this:
- Brainstorming sessions
- 20 minutes to brainstorm
- 15 minutes to kick the tires on which might merit more review
- 15 minutes to get an idea of what it would require to implement the validated ideas
- 10 minutes to make a game plan to move forward
- Meetings in general
- Make a list of tasks and deadlines before the meeting ends
- Send a written summary of the meeting with the tasks and deadlines included to the team via email after the brainstorming session
- General workflow
- Check in with each other in small and more frequent milestones to make sure everything is on track.
- Practice understanding the value of what each team member brings to the table but also not allowing anyone to overindulge in the more extreme aspects of their thinking style. For example, Past thinkers should be empowered to express concerns and should be listened to. But, if they get too caught up in trying to make it perfect when good enough will do, the project must move on. Work with them about possibilities for minimum viable product vs enhancements that could come in future iterations, how to minimize or remove the most serious risks while accepting that no risk is not a possibility, to get to a workable solution.
After participants have completed the MindTime Cards basic game for themselves and have learned the basics about the framework. Explain to them that the motivating factors behind MindTime are very deep and primal. Ask participants to think about who they have the most conflict in their lives with, and what the conflict is usually about. Ask if they can guess what that person’s MindTime perspective might be and how it compares to their own.
Have them work through the Empathy Exercise described above while thinking of this person, to help participants get to the root of what might be motivating this person on a primal level. Ask them to explore how this might help them communicate with them more effectively, or find some measure of relief in the understanding.
Example:
- The primary source of conflict is boss
- The main source of friction is around expectations for deadlines, tasks, etc. Often work is rejected or deemed unsatisfactory after a lot of effort has been put into it and the participant considers it “done,” only to be told to redo it with very little direction.
- The participant’s perspective is Present, boss’s perspective is Future.
- The participant is driven by a need to control and have structure; the boss wants to have ideas and possibilities and feels a primal threat to their need for freedom when asked to provide a lot of detail or parameters. They also are not naturally inclined to think of these details and “just want things done.” They likely have ideas that they throw out and want to be implemented without themselves knowing exactly what it would take to achieve them.
- Can the participant see their value to their boss is to know these details need to be considered and to consider them? Can the participant think of ways in which they could do a more rapid prototyping solution, where they outline what they are thinking the boss is looking for and run it by them before doing deeper work on it? Can they check in with their boss regularly to review and refocus priorities? Can they make short lists of what they are working on and what will be delivered when to verify that that matches what the boss is thinking? Can they keep their boss updated without drowning them in details? Can they push back on their boss to ask for clearer definitions around what needs to be changed, and to enforce reasonable deadlines? Can they find a way to get a better sense of stability (and therefore, reduce anxiety) in their daily work, without also expecting their boss to be someone they are not?
