This is Your Brain at Work

Excerpts from How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain

By Eve Abbott

How profitable could your architecture practice be if you or one third of your clients and support staff wore blindfolds? What if you or one-half of your building customers and crews stuffed earplugs in before every communication?

The truth is, over 50% of people have brains that are hardwired with a dominant visual information style and they are not really "hearing" much, while nearly 35% are hearing predominant and they are not "seeing" as much. Kinesthetic or "body and feeling" dominant people are active "doers" and are not as visually or aurally oriented.

Have you interacted with a colleague or customer and realized, "Not only are they not doing it the way I do, they're not even thinking about it the same way!" We may be speaking the same language, but we're not hearing the same words or seeing the same pictures.

When one person leaves irate voicemails and another responds with flaming e-mails, a personality conflict is not the most likely reason. Every day, brain-based misunderstandings steal your time as well as your company's profits.

Our brains have had no major changes for 50,000 years. Meanwhile, scientists report that in the past century the information that we process has multiplied by a factor of thousands. We are simply not designed to deal with it all. According to the American Medical Association, over 80% of all medical conditions are related to stress!

Knowing how you are hardwired to work at your personal best gives you a real performance edge at work and in life. Simply put, auditory people can't see the forest for the trees and visual people can't see the trees for the forest.

My brain quizzes show that I am 50% auditory, 30% kinesthetic and 20% visual. Here are three celebrities as examples of sensory brain style characteristics … do you recognize your brain styles?

VISUALLY PREDOMINANT

Receive info best: They are seeing the big picture - not details, so SHOW them.
Indicative words: Look, view, etc.
When accessing info: Eyes move rapidly up - glancing and squinting.
Speaking style: Rapidly with broad gestures; inflection varies.
Celebrity: Jay Leno
Quote: "I see what you're saying."
When talking to a visual thinker, show them, use a whiteboard or piece of paper to make overview points. They may take the pen and draw over your marks to explain their side. Ask questions like, "How does this look to you, so far?"

AUDITORY PREDOMINANT

Receive info best: They are listening for facts, so give them details and how-tos.
Indicative words: Hear, sounds like, etc.
When accessing info: Eyes move steadily left-right to ears.
Speaking style: Modulated pace with minimal gestures.
Celebrity: Ellen DeGeneres
Quote: "I hear what you're saying."
For a hearing learner, giving them facts as details like when, what, where and whom is best. Using lists and numbered items helps them focus on your message. Ask questions like, "How does this sound to you, so far?"

KINETIC PREDOMINANT

Receive info best: They are having feelings and physical sensations, so give them experiences - FEEL THIS.
Indicative words: Regarding, touch, grasp, etc.
When accessing info: Eyes move down and stay there.
Speaking style: Slowly with pauses, deep breaths and no gestures.
Celebrity: Oprah Winfrey
Quote: "I get what you're saying."
With kinesthetic learners, slow your speech down while explaining a task. Explain first, then demonstrate or physically model the task. If needed, do it once yourself (or do it with them once). If complex, coach them through doing it on their own. Ask questions like, "Got a handle on it, so far?"

A client recently exclaimed to me, "This explains years of misunderstandings between me and my team!" By reducing mistakes and misunderstandings, the more time you and your team can invest in generating profits. That is why you and I went into business in the first place.

Please send me your own professional best tips and stories on managing time, whipping paper piles and making e-mail work for you. When I share your tips in my column, you win my book, How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain.

But you don't have to win my book to discover how to take advantage of your own unique hardwiring. Free and easy online brain quizzes await you at ABrainNewWaytoWork.com/assessments.html Please do not hesitate to send me questions about problems you are facing on the job. I write this column to help builders and architects achieve higher quality work in less time with less stress.

September 2007 Builder Architect Edition Issue

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