Are you a Right-Brain or

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Are you a Right-Brain or

Left-Brain Thinker?

Essential aptitudes for the digital future

Presented by

Eugenia C. Schwalm, PMP® CBAP®

Copyright Lighthouse Consulting Partners 2009

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What you will learn from this session

• What are the aptitudes of design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning

H th tit d b li d t th l

• How these aptitudes can be applied to the roles we perform and how they add value to our

company company

• How these aptitudes will improve our chances for gainful employment and career growth

for gainful employment and career growth • Techniques to strengthen these aptitudes

• And a real life story—how these aptitudes have • And a real life story—how these aptitudes have

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Now and the Future

Tipping the scale to the right pp g g – The Right Brain

From the Knowledge Worker TO THE Conceptual Age

WHY? Outsourcing, automation, And abundance of material needs.

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Self Assessment

d o! • 42% - logical • 35% - sequential • 22% - linear • 14% - verbal annot d Left Brain 42% _{14% verbal} • 9% - symbolic • 7% - reality-based a t you c a • 50% - nonverbal • 37% - concrete 36% f t i t d do wh a Right • 36% - fantasy-oriented • 34% - intuitive • 30% - holistic • 12% - random T ry to Right Brain 58% www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

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What are the aptitudes of the future?

Design Story

Symphony Empathy

Play Meaning

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Design

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”

Alb Ei i

iffi l

- Albert Einstein

Difficult to outsource or automate Use of new tools and technologies Constraints can drive creativityy A means of differentiation

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Design Reality

As an Instructional Designer built a certification

mind map using Mindjet’s Mind Manager.

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Story

“Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he knew more stories

(proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we're all just cavemen in a typical boardroom and we re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.”

-Alan Kay vice president at Walt Disney

Listen to each other’s stories - build trusting relationships

-Alan Kay, vice president at Walt Disney

g p

Place data into context and deliver with emotional impact View from different perspectives

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Story Reality

Gina: “Tell me a story of how your best day was

As a business analyst how your best day was

in the last month”

Janet: “My best day was h I h d t l l

As a business analyst,

captured user stories to

uncover requirements _{when I had to leave early}

to take my daughter to the doctor and a half hour before I had to l I li d th t ll

uncover requirements and “what if” scenarios

in an ERP project _{leave I realized that all}

approvals I had been waiting for were on my desk and all invoices

id h d l d

in an ERP project.

were paid as scheduled. The system…”

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Symphony

“We are each but a quarter note in a grand symphony. “

Guy Laliberte - Guy Laliberte

Putting together the pieces

Seeing relationships – the boundary crosserg p y Metaphorical thinking

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Symphony Reality

As program As program manager on global projects with p j multiple vendors used swim lanes

t di t

to coordinate an integrated

approach and gain approach and gain buy-in from global distributed team

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Empathy

“Trust your intuition – it’s like going fishin’.”

-Paul Simon

Imagine ones self in someone else’s position Consider “A day in the life”

Consider A day in the life Eavesdropping – Is it ok?

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Empathy Reality

As a program p g manager, my distributed teams ensured me that ensured me that they were distributing the h d li f scheduling of synchronous communications across the various time zones.

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Play

“Games are the most elevated form of investigation.”

-Albert Einstein

Importance of laughter

Why games help productivity

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Play Reality

As project manager conducted a “virtual team dinner” for a geographically disbursed team.

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Meaning

“Th i f lif i d

“The very motion of our life is toward happiness.”

- Dalai Lama

Spirituality and Happiness “Who Moved My Cheese” The Maze and the Labyrinth The Maze and the Labyrinth

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Meaning Reality

As a project As a project manager, I managed a global

Gina: “Iris, thank you so much for the Christmas card you sent me. I know you don’t celebrate Christmas but it

managed a global team. A blend of empathy and

celebrate Christmas, but it was kind of you to know how important this celebrated religious holiday means to

” empathy and meaning – respecting each me.” respecting each team members spirituality spirituality.

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Techniques to strengthen

these right-brain aptitudes.

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When is a picture worth a thousand words?

• Co located Agile teams • Co-located Agile teams.

• Analysis - Business modeling.

• Facilitated workshop wall storyboard. • Using a “fun” or “work” wall.g

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Some Acti ities to Test Yo r Right Brain

Some Activities to Test Your Right Brain

How many ideas can you create with the How many ideas can you create with the

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Some Activities to Test Your Right Brain

Find uncommon uses for common objects Find uncommon uses for common objects.

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Some Acti ities to Test Yo r Right Brain

Some Activities to Test Your Right Brain

Why not combine other ideas and create Why not combine other ideas and create

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Picture Associations & Biotechniques

q

Move a “trapped” team to fresh perspectives and solutions.

• Have a simple message

• Show structure of the animal in great detail • Contain more than

one object

• Are anatomically correct

• Are significantly

different from issue

• Can be viewed from different angles

• Can create many reactions and

connections connections

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Picture Associations

Problem: How can we reduce solution defects? Problem: How can we reduce solution defects?

Wh t l t i thi

What elements in this picture might help us come up with some ideas?

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Biotechniques

Problem: How can we improve requirements? Problem: How can we improve requirements?

Wh t i ti

What associations or

analogies might you make with this living thing?

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Now you try!

1 Pair up

1. Pair up

2. One of you pose a problem

3 Th th t i l

3. The other one suggest an animal

4. Think of the living things structure, habits, daily functions, and other characteristics.

5. Both of you brainstorm some y

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Intuition

“ As problems become more complex, the need to As problems become more complex, the need to use intuition in problem solving becomes more critical. Research and experience indicate that complex problems almost defy rational analysis. They require the ability to see connections

i bl ti th t

among numerous variables, connections that often are not discernible in the rational

approach ” approach.

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Helping our career

• Companies are looking for a “balance” ofCompanies are looking for a balance of technical and soft skills (example – facilitation)

• Show ways you have thought “outside the • Show ways you have thought outside the

box” (example – ideas that came from you or the team you were in)

you were in)

• Show your outside interests, but make the connection to how it improved your work

connection to how it improved your work

(example - coaching a baseball team and it’s relation to managing projects)

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eschwalm@lighthouseconsultingpartners.com

THANK YOU – Any questions?

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Management Training Solutions & Consulting Services

that Drive Value

Virtual World …. Be Ready!

Global Outsourcing Learning & Development Professional Services

Business Analysis & Requirements Project Management

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Are you a Right-Brain or Left Brain Thinker?

Presented by Eugenia C. Schwalm, PMP, CBAP Managing Partner at Lighthouse Consulting Partners

Seminar References

g g g g

eschwalm@lighthouseconsultingpartners.com

¾ Ritter, Diane & Brassard, Michael, The Creativity Tools Memory Jogger, Goal/QPC ¾ Pink, Daniel H., A Whole New Mind,

¾ The Art Institute of Vancouver, Right Brain vs. Left Brain Creativity Test , website address

www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

¾ Higgens M. James, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, The New Management Publishing Company 1994

¾ Special thanks to my nephew, Jimmy McNally, for allowing me to use his creative art projects. Thank you for attending this seminar!

Lighthouse Consulting Partners (LCP) is a global provider of training solutions for organizations collaborating in a virtual environment and across geographical boundaries. Visit us at www.lighthouseconsultingpartners.comg g p g gp or contact us at

info@lighthouseconsultingpartners.com. Virtual World...Be Ready