Leading with Your Brain

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It’s tough to keep people engaged and productive during these trying economic times. They’re being asked to do more, all the while worrying about the recession, their personal finances, and even their jobs. Strong Leaders can make a huge difference.
With that in mind, I recently conducted a workshop sponsored by the American Leadership Academy. The participants were Foundation Executive Directors of fraternities and sororities from around the U.S. They were looking for new ways to keep their small (and often remote) staffs, and board members productive and upbeat, in a challenging fund raising environment.
Assessing Brain Strengths
Attendees completed the BRAIN MODE® power assessment online prior to the workshop. This groundbreaking tool uses the proven concepts of Neuroscience to help leaders identify how they learn and perform best. It shows people how they prefer to take in and process information. Participants received a detailed report of their “brain strengths." Some of them found they were primarily visual, while others found they learn and perform best in a kinesthetic fashion, by moving and doing. A smaller percentage of the group was auditory -- they need to hear and discuss with others in order to get meaning from a situation. In addition, the BRAIN MODE® power tool identified each individual as a sequential (“left-brain"), global (“right-brain") or integrated thinker.

Understanding Yourself Helps You Understand Others

Armed with these new insights, the participants were assigned to groups with similar thinking modes and were asked three questions:

What’s the best way to communicate with your thinking mode style?
What hits your hot buttons and drives you crazy?
What’s the best working and learning environment for your brain mode?

During each group’s report out, other participants experienced “ah-has" about the best ways to communicate with their staff and board members who think differently than they do. For example, it may be better to make a phone call, rather than send an e-mail to an “auditory" person, even if you have to leave a voicemail message. The visual-sequential group was very clear about needing to see a logical, written plan before they can make a decision. The kinesthetic group said they work best in an environment where they can walk around the room interacting with others and jotting ideas on a white board.

Learning Outcomes

Overall, the participants in this Leadership Program reported 3 ways to use what they learned:

Save time and improve communication with team members, vendors, and donors by understanding and adapting to their BRAIN MODES®.
Accelerate the selection and “on-boarding" process for new hires.
Build more productive teams by designing work environments that fit each BRAIN MODE®.

Each participant continues to learn practical tips for applying their learning with the weekly BRAIN MODE® Builder follow-up e-mails (for 14 weeks).
Click here to learn how your organization can benefit from BRAIN MODE® power.

InterAction's BRAIN MODE� power Blog

Leading with Your Brain