Nov/110
The Four Things You Need to Know about The Neurobiology of Leadership Assessments
For more learning and insights on thinking, mindsets and brain science, check out my full video report from the 2011 Neuroleadership Summit.
In our presentation on the Neurobiology of Leadership Assessments at the Neuroleadership Summit last week, Mark Schar from Stanford and I concluded that in this early stage of this field of research, there are four points we have to pay attention to.
We need to define leadership: The clarity of the research on this is cloudy at best. It seems obvious that if we want to assess leadership, we need to have some clear definition of what it is and what we are trying to measure.
Two differing perspectives can be found in the business and academic worlds. Business tends to look at leadership as a vital key to organization success, often citing guru CEOs like Jack Welch: “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
Academia however, is much more skeptical, perceiving leadership as poorly defined, difficult to measure and situational, better represented by a Casey Stengel quote: “The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.”
Defining what it is and what we intend to measure is critical the evaluation of a leadership assessment. In a pilot study we conducted for the session, it was clear the assessments known and most used by business were not the same as those known and used by the academic community. Their reasons for using assessments are also different: Business uses them to make better decisions; academia is typically looking to make a discovery.
We learn about leadership from assessments: Be clear on what YOU want to learn. The hundreds of thousands of assessments processed each year would seem to indicate that we are learning something. Our pilot study showed that those in business had a range of application arenas, as shown below.
Whatever the application, one helpful way to differentiate between assessments is to look at the construct each instrument is based on. The 16 assessments in our pilot study were equally divided between these four construct clusters:
Personality: Individual, intrinsic motivation
Behavioral: Individual behaviors as perceived by others
Talent/Interest: Individual skills and interests
Cognitive: Individual preferences in processing and problem solving
We focused on the cognitive construct to address our next question.
Neuroscience might measure leadership: What do your learners need to know and why? Did I mention this was a huge topic? Assuming we can all agree on the definition of what we are measuring as leadership, our initial scan of the research uncovered two assessments where there is a neurological research connection.
The research on the Neo Five Factor showed a relationship between brain volume and several of the factors. The research on the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument’s (HBDI®) revealed neurological data that related to each of the four factors of the Whole Brain® Model. The real question then emerges: What does this tell us? How do we decide what constitutes “validity?”
We asked the audience to select what was most important for them in the selection of an assessment:
A. Statistical validity, research basis and pedigree.
B. Reliability, administration, practicality, longitudinal studies and references.
C. User’s perceived value and experience, ease of applicability and face validity.
D. Observed insights, visual appeal, discovery/aha’s and conceptual framework validity.
Our audience then split into four groups based on their answer to the above question and discussed what was most important to measure—and how that differed for business and academia. Members of each group* vehemently defended their point of view.
What is yours? How about your learners? What do they need to know and why? How does that impact your selection process?
Academia and business should converge to advance research on the neurobiology of leadership assessments. There is a great opportunity to further pursue research in this domain. We need more research! If the worlds (you might even call them tribes) of business and academia came together we could take this research to the next level.
A special interest group emerged at the conference on this topic. Let me know if you are interested in the conversation or if would to learn more about our findings. Email me at ann@hbdi.com, and post your thoughts in the comments below.
*discreetly sorted based on the four quadrants of the Whole Brain® Model
Nov/110
Sales Leadership White Paper Provides Framework for Better Results
Last year the McKinsey article Getting More From Your Training Programs made an interesting point about sales training and how organizations are investing their time and resources to optimize their sales organizations:
The content of the training itself is not the biggest issue…The most significant improvements lie in rethinking the mindsets that employees and their leaders bring to training, as well as the environment they come back to afterward.
Why are thinking and mindsets so important, particularly in the sales arena?
- Thinking is at the core of everything we do. We can’t change behavior and make it stick without first addressing the thinking that drives behavior (and results).
- Sales leaders today are faced with a near constant stream of diverse mental tasks. If they can’t nimbly and effectively adjust their thinking to the situation, they won’t be able to get ahead of the “fire drills” and start planning and creating the future.
- Speed matters now more than ever. Whether the issue is performance improvement through coaching, time to job mastery, or process efficiency, speed has never been more important to filling the pipeline, gaining a competitive foothold and maintaining customer loyalty. To grease the wheels, you have to align mindsets.
Our newest white paper explores how sales leaders can develop their Whole Brain® Thinking skills and organize current processes and people development strategies around a common set of tools and methods derived from what we know about thinking preferences and performance.
It lays out an easy-to-apply framework that will save sales leaders time, money and energy while delivering the increased speed, skills and productivity necessary to close deals faster and generate more revenue.
Download the free white paper, The Mind of Successful Sales Leadership.
Sep/110
Q & A on Whole Brain® Thinking
The Whole Brain® Model (shown above), based on 30 years of research, is a validated metaphor for how we think, providing a useful framework to diagnose and describe the different types of thinking involved in any organization. It divides thinking into four quadrants, two on the “left brain” side and two on the “right brain” side. All four of the different thinking modes are in use and available to all of us, but we tend to prefer certain types over others.
In what kinds of situations can Whole Brain® Thinking be used?
Any situation that requires thinking that goes beyond a given quadrant’s specialized mode can benefit from Whole Brain® Thinking. To insure that each quadrant has been explored in a given process, an approach called a Walk-Around™ is used. (The Walk-Around™ pad is a great tool for facilitating this.)
Here are four examples of frequently used applications of Whole Brain® Thinking:
Decision Making
Most decisions benefit from a thought process that includes the review of multiple options and perspectives. A typical example is the purchase of a car. Quadrant A thinkers look at information on the actual performance of the vehicle. Quadrant B thinkers read a consumer report to gather research on the reliability and practical features (trunk size, safety records, etc.) of the vehicle. Quadrant C thinkers test drive the car to see if it “feels” right. And Quadrant D focuses on the aesthetics, color, styling and innovations of each model.
Using Whole Brain® Thinking—the thinking of all quadrants—contributes to a better choice and avoids unpleasant surprises. Overlooking even one quadrant can result in a less than ideal outcome.
Problem Solving
Every problem situation can benefit from a Quadrant A review of the data and facts, as well as an analysis of the real problem at hand; the Quadrant D “big-picture” context and possible creative ideas; Quadrant C viewpoint of the “customer” of the problem and how the problem affects others; and Quadrant B step-by-step process to solve the problem and implement the solution.
Improving team interactions and performance
Most teams are formed to make the most of the differences among team members. But very often those differences stand in the way of the team living up to its potential. Whole Brain® Thinking can help a team to acknowledge the differences among team members and then use those differences to make the most of the ideas of each team member. In addition, once a team knows its preferences it can use that knowledge to enhance its communication with other teams and work groups which may have thinking preferences that are quite different.
Communication
The objective of most communication is to convey an idea, transfer information or persuade someone. How many times have you experienced the frustration of delivering a message only to realize that the other person “just didn’t get it.” In order to communicate effectively, it’s important to understand the “language” and mindset of the person(s) you are communicating with. A diagnosis of the thinking preferences of the audience can provide the critical planning information you need to tailor your language and presentation to the audience. When the audience’s preferences are in doubt, taking a Whole Brain® approach to communication ensures that you’ve covered all the “languages.” This reduces the possibility of miscommunication and improves the chance that your message will be successfully received by the audience.
This guest post was contributed by Herrmann International Asia.
In addition to the thinking preferences of people, we can also use the Whole Brain® Model to diagnose processes, organizational cultures, vision and value statements, and a host of other systems we engage with on a daily basis. How are you applying Whole Brain® Thinking to get better results?
Jul/110
Is Information Overload Hindering Today’s Thinkers?
In today’s always-connected world, it seems as if we’re all constantly being bombarded with information. It’s one of the reasons clients have been telling us that their leaders need to build their nimble thinking skills. Living in an age of smartphones, social media and overflowing email inboxes means that having the ability to manage our thinking so we can focus with intention, even if only for a few minutes at a time, is critical.
We know that more and more of us are engaging in “hyper-thinking.” And we know that multi-tasking doesn’t work. New research and discussions pop up every day (naturally!) showing how our brains are being affected by this data deluge.
A recent article by Tim Harford of the Financial Times makes a compelling point that this proliferation of knowledge is getting in the way of our thinking to such a degree that we may never see another Leonardo da Vinci. According to Harford, today’s thinkers have the brainpower but not the bandwidth to process so much information and see the big picture.
As this post on the MarketingProfs website explains:
With so much knowledge available, and more produced every day, Harford questions whether there will ever be another person with the ability to learn, understand, and then forge the necessary connections to produce new insights. In short, he claims there will never be another Leonardo, not because the individuals alive today are sans the requisite brainpower, but instead because there just aren’t enough hours in the day to acquire the knowledge necessary to make significant—i.e. non-incremental—contributions.
What’s your take? Is Harford overreacting? Can we take steps to refocus our thinking to avoid this?
And how is information overload affecting you? Are you using the Whole Brain® Model to help manage the data deluge? Share your comments below.
In the meantime, here are some Whole Brain® Tips for helping your brain become more time literate and a few suggestions for taking control of your thinking.
If social networking is taking too much of your attention, check out the post Managing Your Attention Makes Social Networking More Manageable for a free downloadable article that discusses how you can put what we know about the brain and thinking styles to work to better manage your attention.
Jul/110
The Brain and Behavior
How closely are our biology and our behavior linked?
As we learn more about the brain’s role in decision making, advances in neuroscience are leading some to question the foundations of our criminal justice system.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman examines the topic in a thought-provoking article in Atlantic Magazine, “The Brain on Trial.”
According to Eagleman, “a forward-thinking legal system informed by scientific insights into the brain will enable us to stop treating prison as a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Eagleman’s article is generating a lively discussion on the Atlantic’s website. What’s your take on the subject? Will the legal system have to change “as we become more skilled at specifying how behavior results from the microscopic details of the brain”?
Mar/110
Brain Awareness Week is March 14-20
Brain Awareness Week is March 14-20
Next week is Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a global campaign sponsored by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.
The Dana Alliance’s website provides a number of brain-related activities and puzzles that promise to give your brain a workout, as well as reports, educational information and other resources from participating organizations and experts around the world.
Brain Awareness Week happens only once a year, but if you’re looking for ways to exercise your Whole Brain® Thinking skills throughout the year, be sure to check out our job aids and tools.
As Adrian Hall recently commented on Twitter:
“I need my @herrmannintl Red Bear today. For those who have done the HBDI®, they will understand!”
Oct/100
Can Your Brain Be Time Literate? Only If You Use Your Whole Brain®!
Karen Leland’s recent article in Chief Learning Office Magazine entitled The Time-Literate Organization is relevant to anyone who touches digital media today. In previous posts I have described how multi-tasking is actually a brain productivity killer. As a serial processing system, the brain is not designed to do two things at once. In the article, Karen cites some important statistics:
- On average workers spend only 10.5 minutes on a task before being interrupted.
- It takes an average of 23 minutes to return to the original task – not to mention the time required to mentally re-engage with the task to be effective.
- We are attempting to manage 15 projects a day (vs. 5 in the past).
- 50% of us are either handling too many tasks at one time or are frequently interrupted in the workday, or both.
- The typical executive spends 4.5 hours a week looking for lost papers.
The demands now placed on all of us are not only increasing the number of things we need to attend to, shortening the time we have available, but also increasing the complexity of the work, as the breadth of task types has exploded often beyond our “normal” scope and preferences. We are indeed living in The Era of And, but I believe we can make our brains more time literate by paying attention to our natural preferences and energy level.
I have started applying our research on Whole Brain® Thinking to better manage and deal with the never ending onslaught of items that hits my virtual desk. If you apply Archimedes Principle of Displacement, which states that when you choose to do something you are by default choosing to not do something else, you need to make intentional mental choices about where your time and mental energy will go.
Often we find ourselves doing things that we would rather do as opposed to what we have to do as part of our criteria in prioritization. For example, I know from my HBDI® Profile that I really prefer not to do administrative tasks, and they will often be those tasks that get relegated to the next day, later on or never.
Using the Whole Brain® Walk-Around, I sort my tasks into the types of mental requirements demanded by them. Next, from my HBDI® data, I know that my energy level is greatest late at night. My experience has shown me that I’m better off doing low-preference tasks (B) in the early morning timeframe and “rewarding myself” with high-preference tasks late in the day. I can use the late-at-night timeframe for those tasks that fall clearly in my strongest preference zones – more creative (D) and analytical tasks (A), as you can see from my profile.
What do you do to get through your digital onslaught? Try looking at your preferences and then walking around the brain to prioritize.
Oct/106
Close the Gender Gap! Problem Solving Improves When More Women are on the Team
Years ago, our founder Ned Herrmann proposed that gender-balanced, heterogeneous teams would be more creative and effective. At the time, this idea seemed reasonable to most, but was challenged by others who felt it was perhaps too politically correct and difficult to prove. At last there is research, published this week in Science Daily, that substantiates this premise.
Although it makes sense that diversity – having different perspectives on a given problem and its solution, would drive innovation – it is often overlooked as a critical process step. Our research has demonstrated that mental diversity in a team or group can provide up to 66% more effectiveness vs. random groups. Fred Keeton, Chief Diversity Officer for Harrah’s has applied that to create what he calls Diverse By Design teams to tackle the company’s most pressing business problems.
This latest research sought to better understand how groups perform and more specifically what might facilitate or hinder that performance: “We set out to test the hypothesis that groups, like individuals, have a consistent ability to perform across different kinds of tasks,” says Anita Williams Woolley, the paper’s lead author and an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business.
“Our hypothesis was confirmed,” continues Thomas W. Malone, a co-author and Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “We found that there is a general effectiveness, a group collective intelligence, which predicts a group’s performance in many situations.”
Groups that show greater “social sensitivity,” which entails effectively perceiving others’ emotions, performed better than other groups, especially those that were one-person dominated. The “social sensitivity” factor was greater in groups with more women—which can also be substantiated by our HBDI® assessment research showing that women overall tend to have stronger preferences in that domain.
I have gotten mixed reactions to our gender-related research over the years. Some women find it offensive to imply that they are using their brains differently than men do. The facts and research do prove however that women do use their brains differently, and there are important consequences that emerge. Our differences can in fact be an advantage as this research demonstrates.
Difference does not imply better or worse, right or wrong, but may make our group process feel more annoying or cumbersome. Bringing together different preferences and styles into a group process may be inconvenient and require greater facilitation skills, but the fact is, when you can effectively harness those varied styles through Whole Brain® Thinking techniques, you will get better results.
As the Science Daily article explains, “When it comes to intelligence, the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.”
You can find more success factors for diverse teams by downloading the article, Improve Group Productivity.
Mar/101
March 15-21 is Brain Awareness Week
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Brain Awareness Week (BAW), the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.
Every March BAW, founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and European Dana Alliance for the Brain, unites the efforts of universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, and professional associations worldwide in a weeklong celebration of the brain.
Remember, your brain needs exercise to stay sharp. Here’s a brain quiz to help you keep “fit!”
How will you use this week to sharpen your Whole Brain® Thinking skills and get more from the collective brainpower in your organization?
Mar/101
“My Brain is Full”…Time for Spring Cleaning?
As spring begins to slowly emerge, I am reminded of the natural desire to do “spring cleaning.” We may do that for our homes, our closets or our offices, but do we do that for our minds?
Research on learning has shown that we need to clear some space to allow for new learning to occur. “Much of what we learn in a day, we don’t really need to remember,” Chiara Cirelli, of the Center for Sleep and Consciousness says. “If you’ve used up all the space, you can’t learn more before you clean out the junk that is filling up your brain.”
I know I have experienced that feeling of “my brain is full.” It happens even faster on a day when I am sleep deprived. There is a reason for that: Once again, sleep is one critical ingredient to our ability to refresh and renew our “learning space.” Many have shared with me that a full brain actually prevents them from sleeping, which just perpetuates the cycle.
What are some ways you can do some mental “spring cleaning?”
- Take a “brain dump” break once a day or at least one a week. Depending on your preference, it can be in the evening after a full day or in the morning to get organized, or both. Just writing the stuff down that is floating in your head can allow you to let it go and help move it onto long-term memory. It is even better if you keep a running priority list that you can review and update. (Whole Brain® Model “B quadrant” tip)
- Power up by taking a mini-walk, run or mental breather. Often the “noise” in our heads is the same information cycling around again and again. Just taking a five-minute physical break will send blood flow to your brain, and that’s often enough to flush out the clutter and allow you to refocus. (Whole Brain® Model “C quadrant” tip)
- Leverage technology. Use recorders, smartphones or your gadget of choice to capture a recurring thought for processing later or for filing in your brain dump list. (Whole Brain® Model “A quadrant” tip)
- Treat your brain to some escape. Daydream, take a powernap or listen to some music to calm your thinking and give it a rest. It does not take much to shift your brain state. (Whole Brain® Model “D quadrant” tip)
Oh, by the way, don’t wait for Spring!
