Brain Dominance and Innovation

Years ago I was immersed in thinking styles and brain dominance theory and practice, in particular the work of Ned Herman, Bernice McCarthy and Betty Edwards, and I have applied these concepts in my work for thirty years. The basic theory is that people have different thinking styles, often simplified to a “Right Brain-Left Brain” distinction, with Right Brainers being more intuitive in their thinking and Left Brainers being more logical in their thinking. There are many research reports and resources available on the subject http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function. In fact, various on-line tests exist to determine your preferred thinking style. You can do a quick analysis at http://www.launchinstitute.com/content/view/158/32/ .

The application of this information is critically important in the management of innovation. Have you ever worked on an innovation assignment with a team and experienced the gnawing feeling your ideas were just not good enough? Worse than that, you had to submit the ideas you had come up with knowing they could have been better. If so, it is quite possible you and your team were not operating with what I call Cognitive Agility. Where Launch Institute has used methods related to Cognitive Agility, we have seen much stronger individual and team results and more “Strategic” or game chaninging innovations. These innovations were inspired by uncommon connections and were enabled by high levels of mental flexibility, openness, and vigilance; the core elements of Cognitive Agility.

Three things are required in the application of methods to stimulate Cognitive Agility: 1) A basic understanding of the theories of brain dominance and thinking styles, 2) an appreciation of one’s own personal Cognitive Agility Profile, and 3) the dynamics of intersections (teams) of Cognitive Agility Profiles.

A case in point is a recent small team (18 people) innovation session Launch facilitated. The focus was on a new technology for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the participants were DARPA program planners, DoD engineers and others. Prior to the session each team member was given a set of readings (research reports and case studies) related to Cognitive Agility. They were also asked to use the Launch “Cognitive Agility Profiler” tool to document their personal degree of Cognitive Agility which they then submitted prior to the session.

Launch developed individual and team profiles. It was determined the individuals in the group were predominantly left-brained and highly analytical yet flexible in this thinking style as well as highly vigilant but they would not be open to other thinking styles or more intuitive approaches to finding solutions. Based on the goal of the session (a breakthrough in technology) it was determined that a better “mix” of styles would be necessary and session activities would need to be designed to ensure a higher level of Cognitive Agility was achieved. So we brought in a set of “Cognitive Ringers” to create a more balanced team profile.

The session resulted in four technologies that facilitated the desired breakthrough idea which is now being prototyped. Almost every participant asked for Launch to create profiles for their regular work groups to achieve better understanding of each other and, when this is applied, better work results.

Feel free to download the assessment above. Pass it around and enter the “Brain Dominance” discussion with your team. You will achieve new insights that will lead to bigger and better innovation results!