Employers should examine whether meetings, messages and competing priorities leave enough room for thoughtful work, according to commentary accompanying a new survey commissioned by Ingenious Growth founder Chris Thomason.
The Transformational Thinking survey asked 3,935 UK adults about where and when they felt they did their best thinking. It ran from 3–14 September 2026.
Where respondents say ideas come
Some 33.4% selected walking, exercising or being outdoors, while 24.4% identified the moments before falling asleep or waking up. Just 2.5% selected work or volunteering.
On timing, 61.6% said their best thinking happened between 5pm and 9am. Separately, 91.1% said a useful answer or idea had come to them after they had stopped actively thinking about a problem.
These are respondents’ perceptions. The release describes a sample of adults, not specifically employees, and does not provide sampling or weighting details. The findings do not establish that time away from work causes better performance.
From constant activity to room for reflection
Thomason argues that organisations should manage how people think as deliberately as they manage technology and processes. Occupational psychologist Sarah McLellan, founder of Make It Human, said workplace cultures built around constant responsiveness could leave little space to question assumptions and connect ideas.
“The opportunity is to design cultures that give people the space, autonomy and support to think well, not just do more.”
Sarah McLellan, occupational psychologist and founder, Make It Human
Why it matters for HR
For HR teams, the practical question is whether working arrangements give people enough uninterrupted time and clear priorities. Reviewing meeting loads and expectations around response times offers a concrete starting point; the survey does not justify expecting employees to solve work problems in their own time.
Source: Transformational Thinking survey, supplied by Ingenious Growth, with commentary from Make It Human. Image: editorial illustration created for Onrec.
