Page 143 - Appreciative Leadership

116 Appreciative Leadership

of language, processes things linearly and sequentially. The right side
of the brain, by contrast, tends to be visual; it processes information
intuitively, holistically, and randomly. For example, action planning
and timeline scheduling are largely left -brain activities, while design
and play are largely right-brain activities. Both hemispheres of the
brain are involved in most human activities, and all healthy people
regularly use both sides of their brains. Still, most of us have a pre-
ferred or dominant brain hemisphere, just as we have a dominant
hand for writing.
To fully include and engage everyone, Appreciative Leadership

regularly employs a combination of left- and right–brain activities to
stimulate whole-brain thinking. Hunter Douglas Window Fashions
Division did just this during one of its strategic planning summits.
Participants crafted a written vision statement (primarily left brain)

and then enacted it through song, art, and skits (primarily right
brain). The combination of activities fueled people’s imaginations and

fostered business-related innovation. One group’s playful drawing of
a “virtual window covering” that would let people see whatever they
wanted to see—a sunrise or sunset, the mountains or the ocean—stim-
ulated another group to actively suggest the development of a “smart”
window covering that would automatically respond to changes in
light, heat, and time of day. Just as one person’s play is another person’s

mental fertilizer, so the integration of right and left brain hemispheric
activities stimulates creativity and innovation.

Many Languages

A third factor at play in many situations has to do with the many lan-
guages people speak. No matter what the language of your business,
it is very common today to work with people whose fi rst language
is diff erent from your own. In today’s global work environment, this
is true for employees as well as customers. For ease of conversation,
this may require that you translate materials into multiple languages,
that you provide interpreters, or that you conduct business in multiple
languages.