Rethinking Customer Service Delivers a Big Return
Herrmann International’s VP of Sales Orin Salas recently caught up with Wayne Goodley, Director of Herrmann International New Zealand. In this video, Wayne shares the remarkable success Telecom New Zealand has experienced since working with Herrmann International New Zealand to implement Whole Brain® Thinking in its call centers. According to the company’s independent auditors, for every $1 they’ve invested in the Whole Brain® approach during the first year of the initiative, they’ve made $12 in return, and as Wayne notes, “they continue to reap the benefits.” View the video.
Want the full story? Download the case study. (PDF)
back to topUnleashing Creative and Strategic Thinking: A Business Necessity
When Steve Jobs passed away earlier this month, we lost one of the great thinkers of our time, someone who combined visionary genius, meticulous design sense and disruptive innovation with engineering and technology in ways we’d never seen before—and in ways that profoundly shaped the world we now live in.
Even before all the tributes and recollections of these past few weeks, people have long attempted to dissect Steve Jobs’ particular genius. What enabled him to “see” the future and then create it? What was behind his ability to connect the dots, to innovate in these big, bold ways? What was his secret?
What people really seem to be asking is, how can we think like Steve Jobs so we can get results like he got?
As Ann Herrmann-Nehdi notes in a recent blog post, Steve Jobs himself would say the answer lies not in copying his thinking but in fully embracing and harnessing your own. And with all the challenges and uncertainties in the business world today—conditions that are unlikely to change any time soon—being able leverage your thinking to get more strategic and innovative will be critical to success going forward.
For many of us, though, visionary, creative and experimental thinking can often seem outside of our reach (and maybe that’s why we say innovation requires “outside-the-box” thinking!), but as our research has shown, everyone has access to all types of thinking, even if you prefer certain types over others. As Herrmann International founder Ned Herrmann once said, “Creativity is not a privileged domain for the select few but rather a part of life available to all of us.”
The problem is we tend to get trapped by our mental defaults, and that means valuable brainpower goes unused. Whether we’re trying to come up with a bold new idea or solve an immediate business issue, our mental traps can become blind spots that keep us from reaching the breakthrough solutions. And so we feel stuck.
We don’t have to be stuck. We just need to learn when and how to access different types of thinking, our own as well as the different thinking preferences of those around us, so that we’re getting the full benefit of the brainpower available to us.
As Ned also pointed out, and as we’ve seen in countless examples, from the development of Microsoft’s “Kinect Adventures” game for Xbox 360 to the Innovation Engineering® program at the University of Maine, successful innovation is actually a Whole Brain® process, one that involves all types of thinking, as depicted in the four quadrants of the Whole Brain® Model: A-Analytical, B-Organizational, C-Interpersonal and D-Visionary. With the help of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®) assessment, we can create “diverse-by-design” teams to ensure we have the breadth of thinking necessary for innovation.
Bringing this cognitive diversity into the process isn’t always easy or comfortable, but when it’s managed and facilitated appropriately using Whole Brain® methods and tools, it can take you to places you may not have expected or even thought possible. As Ned noted:
I have discovered that when working with groups, the creative capability is significantly higher when the group is heterogeneous rather than homogeneous. Homogeneous groups are mental tribes that quickly settle for a convenient, easy answer. Heterogeneous groups have to struggle together to get a better answer. There are lots of sparks. Sometimes there is pain, but the output of this mixed group can be significantly higher.
Although Steve Jobs clearly epitomized the future-focused, conceptual thinking we describe as falling within the yellow/D quadrant of the Whole Brain® Model, his thinking actually served a Whole Brain® outcome. The idea of making technology intuitive and user-friendly, in itself, embraces the Whole Brain® concept. And he deliberately sought out counterparts who complemented his thinking, from Steve Wozniak’s technical brilliance to Tim Cook’s operational savvy.
Your organization, team and personal life likely give you access to a full range of thinking. Rather than asking how you can think like Steve Jobs, look instead at the brainpower you already have available to you. Are you really using it to its full potential?
If you’re ready to unleash the innovative and strategic thinking within your organization, leaders and yourself, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi’s article, “Creative and Strategic Thinking: The Coming Competencies,” will give you a good head start in the process. Originally written for the American Creativity Association’s newsletter, this article explores the thinking involved in successful innovation and provides tips and exercises on how to use Whole Brain® Thinking to break the mental patterns that may be blocking your view—either from the solution to a pressing challenge or the next big, game-changing idea.
As Steve Jobs said, “We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”
Related:
- The Whole Brain® Blog: Be Inspired to Celebrate YOUR Thinking
- The Brains Behind “Kinect Adventures”
- Learning to Innovate By Cross-Training the Brain
THINC™ Webinar: Designing Whole Brain® Learning Experiences
Whether you’re developing instructional materials, creating classroom or online education, writing a lesson plan or just delivering a presentation, applying a Whole Brain® approach will help you engage your audience and deliver learning that sticks.
In this interactive webinar provided exclusively for our HBDI® Certified Practitioners, Rosanne Vrugtman will demonstrate how she is using Design IT–The Whole Brain® Way to design balanced presentations that appeal to different thinking and learning preferences for maximum impact.
Rosanne will incorporate specific exercises using the Design IT tools into the webinar, showing you how they can be applied to various aspects of learning design and delivery. You’ll learn more about your own learning and teaching preferences, how they may be affecting your presentations and their outcomes, and easy ways to approach the process with Whole Brain® Thinking in mind.
Whether you’re experienced with the Design IT kit or have never used it before, you’ll learn new ways to leverage this resource to inspire, motivate and connect with your audience for better results.
Practitioners Only! Whole Brain® Learning Experiences: Creating Presentations That Engage All Thinking Styles
Presenter: Rosanne Vrugtman, Ph.D., Owner, Transitions Unlimited
Date: November 16, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM EST / 12:00 PM CST / 10:00 AM PST
Register Now!
Please Note: The November THINC™ Webinar is open to HBDI® Certified Practitioners only. You will need to log in to the Practitioners Area of our website to access the registration page. Check the webinars page on our website for a full listing of upcoming webinars.
back to topUpcoming Events: NeuroLeadership Summit, Free HR.com Virtual Session
The 2011 NeuroLeadership Summit
Session: The Neurobiology of Leadership Assessments
Presenters: Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, CEO, Herrmann International, and Mark Schar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Three Point Solutions, LLC
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Time: 1:30 – 3:00 PM EST
Location: Hilton San Francisco Financial District
Information and Registration.
From Mind-Full to Mindful: Developing Strategic Leaders in an Age of Information Overload (HR.com Virtual Conference)
Presenter: Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, CEO, Herrmann International
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 EST
Location: Your Desktop
Learn more and register.
Be sure to check our Calendar for the latest event news.
back to topGet a Free Consultation with a Herrmann International Expert to Optimize Your Sales Thinking for 2012
Just a few days left to enter for the October drawing!
Is your sales organization operating at its peak? Do you have the systems in place to ensure both short-term and long-term growth? Are you overlooking any key areas?
We’ve been celebrating our 30th anniversary with special promotions throughout the year, and we’ve saved the best for last!
For our 4th quarter special, we’re offering a free one-hour phone consultation with a Herrmann International expert to help you assess your sales operations and discuss:
- what areas you may need to pay more attention to
- where you can make immediate changes for a direct impact on results
- recommended steps for reaching short- and long-term growth goals
Complete this form to enter to receive one of five free consultations that will be awarded each month during the fourth quarter (October, November, December). Everyone who enters will receive access to a free download with three tools sales leaders can use to begin optimizing their thinking for long-term growth.
Start 2012 with your sales thinking optimized for results! Enter today.
Five winners will be selected each month:
- October winners will be notified by November 3, 2011.
- November winners will be notified by December 1, 2011.
- December winners will be notified by January 2, 2012.
Product Update: Mini Profile
We’ve recently updated the HBDI® Mini Profile to include the dotted line “stress under pressure” profile (adjective pairs). All new orders shipped going forward will contain this version of the Mini Profile.
If you are inserting Mini Profiles into the plastic sleeves of the Thinking Desk Flip, you will now be able to provide a more complete profile to your participants.
Have questions? Need help? Contact Client Services:
828-625-9153, ext. 6, or service@hbdi.com
At right: The dotted line “stress under pressure” profile now appears on the Mini Profile.
back to topRecent News on Thinking and the Brain
- Bold thinking. The Atlantic has posted its annual Brave Thinkers guide, highlighting “the people risking their reputations, fortunes and lives in pursuit of big ideas.”
- Why do some learn from mistakes faster? Researchers show that people with a growth mindset are significantly better at learning from mistakes than those with a fixed mindset.
- Meditation and the brain. A recent Brain Science Podcast explores how mindfulness meditation changes the brain.
Upcoming Certification Workshops
You'll be integral in driving better results through better thinking when you join the ranks of the Herrmann HBDI® Certified Practitioners.
Herrmann HBDI® Certification
November 1 – 4, Ottawa, ON, Canada
December 6 – 9, Westminster, MD
For detailed location and registration information, please email service@hbdi.com or call 800-432-4234 and select option 6 for Client Services.
Did you recently attend a certification workshop? Be sure to complete your practicum to become fully certified, and then use your certification coupon to get your implementation off the ground!
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