How Today’s Most Effective Leaders Leverage Dynamic Disruption and How You Can Too [753 Words]

The world has become a disruptive place:

• Customers demanding better, faster and more socially conscious products and services
• Employees question traditional approaches to how things get done
• Innovative competitors entering your industry with previously never imagined efficiencies
• New technologies changing the landscape and calling us to re-train
• Increased interruptions, distractions, and demands for our attention

The old guard left-brained “logical” approach to business (and life) is no longer enough to help you navigate these choppy waters.

Rather than resist this upheaval, strong leaders take a dynamic approach to disruption.

Prevailing in today’s marketplace requires innovative, whole-brained thinking.

In this article, I’m going to teach you what that is and 5 easy ways to integrate whole-brained thinking into your business.

Why is whole-brained thinking important?

Studies show that C-suite leaders adopting a whole-brain approach see a positive bottom-line impact and realize on average 22% higher revenue growth and 34% higher profitability growth.

While only 8% of C-suite leaders report actually using a whole-brain approach today in their companies, 82% say they plan to leverage a whole-brain approach in the future.*

Even if you are not a C-suite executive, the benefits of accessing your full neural potential is your key to creating extraordinary outcomes.

The different thinking functions:

Whole Brain Thinking theory divides the brain into four quadrants:

1. Analytical
Logical, Fact-Based, Quantitative and Analytical

2. Practical
Organized, Sequential, Planned and Detailed

3. Relational
InterPersonal, Feeling Based, Emotional and Kinesthetic

4. Experimental
Wholistic, Intuitive, Integrating and Synthesizing

While everybody has the potential to use all 4 quadrants, people tend to lean on them in different ratios when we approach life and problem solving.

Some of us like to think outside the box, be creative. While others just want the straight-up facts and so on.

We all have a tendency to think that everyone else should think and see the world the way we do, but the whole-brained approach teaches us to value and leverage the strengths and insights of others. It also teaches us to stretch our own horizons, tap into new ways of thinking and be more resourceful in our solo projects.

This new, more disruptive environment that we are swimming in is calling all of us to stretch our thinking into the other quadrants and expand our own resourcefulness.

We must adapt to, and take advantage of, the preferences of others to improve overall business performance, team cohesion and problem solving.

Here are my recommendations for how you and your team can leverage a whole-brained approach:

1. DISCOVER YOUR DEFAULTS

Seek to discover your own and your team’s unique thinking quadrant defaults. Most people have a primary thinking method with 1 or 2 of the other tendencies acting as follow up approaches.

Communication is easiest between people who have similar preferences. You ‘speak the same language’. It’s important to celebrate the differences and recognize that there is nothing wrong with people who lean towards a different thinking bias than your own.

2. QUESTION

Ask questions and then allow the answers to percolate. Questions hijack the brain. The moment you hear one, you literally can’t think of anything else. So this can be an excellent tool for making sure everyone focuses together to create a desirable outcome.

When we’re asked a question our whole brain is stimulated and serotonin is released. This release of serotonin causes the brain to relax and makes it most able to find answers and develop solutions. Is this perhaps one of the reasons why coaching is so powerful?

3. COLLABORATE TO CREATE BETTER QUESTIONS

Run a “questions only” brainstorming session. Set aside 4 – 5 minutes and aim to focus only on creating 15 great questions – no solutions!

This will open up new pathways to innovation and the time pressure helps participants stick to the “questions only” rule.

4. EXAMINE ISSUES FROM ALL 4 THINKING PERSPECTIVES

• What are the facts, data?—‘bottom line’ view
• What are the future, opportunities?—‘big picture’ view
• What are the details and logistics?—‘practical’ view
• What are your ‘gut’ feelings, emotions?—‘people’ view

Remember to treat each thinking perspective as a valid part of the whole picture.

5. EMBRACE THE DISRUPTION

Instead of marginalizing or demonizing the disruptive/innovative influences in your business and industry, embrace them as way-showers. When you learn to love what you resist, it transforms and makes space for acceptance. What was initially uncomfortable evolves to become the new normal.

Leveraging a whole-brained approach intentionally will expand your horizons, solve complex problems and increase valuable innovation and profitability in your business.