Left Brain Right Brain
Knowledge of ourselves is the basis for successful action in life and in business. To be effective we have to understand not only how are minds work and what our value systems are but those of the other people who we interact with as friends, customers or people who work with us.
We all have a marvellous instrument called a brain. There is increasing evidence that the brain operates as a series of autonomous areas that control patterns of behaviour and perception - sometimes one area will assume control, sometimes another.
Research shows that rationality loses out to emotion when it comes to decision making - something that every successful salesman knows in his bone-marrow. People use shortcuts to speed up the decision making process based on behavioural cues and the language that's used.
To communicate effectively - either with staff or customers - requires a good story told in the right language.
To make this work for us we have to understand how are customers think and feel and how they relate to what you want them to do.
We have to start by understanding ourselves and how we use the modes of thinking open to us and establish where our preferred mixture lies. Then we can look at other people - as individuals or as groups and assess what nuances of language will best get our message across.
The BrainMap is such a tool and we are proud to be it's leading UK distributor. It was devised by Dudley Lynch of Brain Technologies. You can read more about his products below.
Put simply, we have a left side of the brain which likes to deal with results, logic and is linear in it's approach to the world. We have a right side of the brain which deals with patterns, feelings and "togetherness". In addition the front part of the brain deals with abstraction and concepts while the old brain - at the rear in the brainstem is all about instinctive behaviour.
If we put these together as a quadrant we get 4 archetypes - visionary, accountant, entrepreneur/salesman, team player/ HR manager. Dudley describes them as behaviours - I-Explore, I-Control, I-Pursue, I-Preserve.
Each of us is a mixture of these 4.
What the BrainMap does is show us where we sit ourselves and unpacks for us a lot of detailed information about the way the different archetypes, think, behave and how they see each other.
This is really essential material to understand in leadership - where you need to work with your staff in ways and using language that resonates with them and in marketing where you are writing copy to appeal to a potential customer.
To Buy a BrainMap click here . We'll send you one for £16.50 which will start you on your way.
If you would like to see a 5 minute overview of the BrainMap then look at this Introduction to the BrainMap.
Personality Types and Business
So far we have talked about behaviours based on thinking styles. Dudley has another tool called Mindmaker6 which deals with the individuals value systems. In essence this describes certain clusters of feelings - autonomous patterns of behaviour which represent an evolving spiral alternating between self and group focus with a progressive expansion of bandwidth and scope of activity as the individual develops his capabilities. It's almost as if it were a journey from instinctive to deliberate behaviour except that the final stage can make use of any of the value systems at will. Most people use 2 or 3 of these value systems and switch between them as circumstances dictate.
Each of these value systems has it's own morality, characteristic way of behaving and language to which it responds. It's really important to understand this. If you use "me" language with "we" people you will tend to get passive resistance and obstruction. If you use "we" language with "me" people you will be considered weak and be marginalised or taken out.
This diagram illustrates how we might map these behaviour patterns onto their brain map positions and what kinds of organisations would typically respond to the morality and language patterns that are summarised in the table below.
This obviously a very simple overview but we hope it illustrates the importance of getting this right when leading teams or writing marketing materials.
To help you explore these ideas further we have 2 one-to-one offers as well as a number of workshops. These are listed here.
What's your Purpose? helps you recognise and realise your prime purpose. We work through the Path Primer Guide in detail on a one to one basis and look at where to go next. Useful for business start ups and ensuring that your goals are in line with deepest individual motivation. You can book a 1/2 day session with us using this tool for £147 + VAT. Book directly at this link
'The Book of You' brings together all of the insights for an individual and covers thinking style, how you relate to others, how you see them and they see you. It looks at what motivates you and how you sell, market and lead, how you deal with games and how you can develop other areas of yourself. Our one on one consultancy session will take you through this comprehensive report of 100 pages and provide you with a personal plan for positive development. Price for book and 1 to 1 session £195 + VAT Book directly at this link
We've also used these ideas and materials extensively in some of our work with companies who are looking to manage and develop their teams better. These ideas and materials have been included in programmes carried out for Virgin Atlantic, PCWorld, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Team-working and Publishing Training Centre. If you would like further information please telephone 0845 094 0407
Dudley Lynch and Brain Technologies
We are proud to be the leading UK Distributor of Brain Technologies products. Brain Technologies is the company of Dudley Lynch author of "Strategy of the Dolphin" and "Code of the Monarch". These are two of the most influential Business Books of the 80s and 90s.
Dudley developed a range of products to help individuals and business people discover their purpose and understand how they and the people that they work with think, handle conflict and relate to the world. Some of this work was based on ideas of Clare Graves, some of it is based on an understanding of how the different areas of the brain work together to produce the world we live in.
Dudley's key concept is that “We don’t see the world the way it is, we see the world the way we think."
The Mindmaker6 tool helps you understand the spectrum of Graves Spiral Value systems that you use. MindMaker6 helps you assess which of these you regularly use. It also supplies a great deal of background material and will certainly give you some impetus on your journey. We can supply for £16.50 including shipping.
You can use Dudley's M-Circle instrument to assess which conflict resolution strategies you use most often. It advises you on the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. They are available at £16.50 each including postage
Buy M-Circle instrument at this link
Free Articles
Conflict Resolution Some of the ideas behind the Book of You are summarised in the free Conflict Resolution white paper which you can download from the button at the right. It explores the concepts from Dudley Lynch's Best selling Strategy of the Dolphin and applies them to doing business today
Books
Dudley's Latest Book, Mother of All Minds is a fascinating account of his own journey up the Graves Spiral. You can buy it here for £17.50 including shipping in the UK.