50 Reasons to Learn About Your Thinking Styles Through Brain Dominance

Brain dominance sounds like a very serious subject. What possible use can learning about brain dominance have other than an interesting curiosity to some.

I thought about this and gave myself a challenge. To come up with 50 (five-zero) reasons how learning about thinking styles can help you in every aspect of your life and work.

Reason 1 - Become self-aware

By becoming more self-aware of your own thinking styles you will have more choices in your behaviors.

Reason 2 - Relate to Others More Effectively

If you have a better understanding of others and their thinking styles and preferences you will be better able to relate.

Reason 3 - Honor the differences in people

Everyone is different and each difference has value. By understanding how differences contribute to richer and more creative solutions we can more readily honor these differences.

Reason 4 - Improve yourself

When you understand your preferences, you can also understand non-preferences that can be improved.

Reason 5 - Learn new ways to be creative

Because all of us have preferred ways of thinking and behaving, an awareness of alternatives will give us new tools to be creative.

Reason 6 - Think out of your own box

An alternative way of thinking allows us to think differently than we usually think.

Reason 7 - Improve your problem solving ability

The more tools you have available for solving problems, the greater your ability to solve them.

Reason 8 - Learn how to tailor your communication to different people

When you understand the kinds of preferences that people can have, you gain a better understanding of what kinds of communications work and what kinds do not work.

Reason 9 - Create better presentations

Understanding the preferences of your audiences and what they mean can help you prepare better presentations.

Reason 10 - Tailor your sales presentations

Preferences have a way of guiding the kinds of purchases we make. Tailoring a sales presentation to these preferences may make the purchase more attractive to the buyer.

Reason 11 - Learn why certain people might rub you the wrong way

When you encounter certain people, why is it that they rub you the wrong way? When you understand something about your own styles, it may become clear as to why those with similar or dissimilar styles may be incompatible.

Reason 12 - Organize Your Meetings More Effectively

Each and every individual has different needs for a meeting. By understanding the differing needs, it is possible to structure a meeting that satisfies the various needs, thus getting better engagement.

Reason 13 - Become a more effective leader

By understanding what motivates people it becomes easier to lead them. When you can speak to their preferences communication becomes more effective.

Reason 14 - Gain a better understanding of people in your organization

What are the dynamics of your organization? Why is it that certain behaviors and dynamics take place? Why do certain individuals seem not to fit? By understanding the organizational make up you gain the ability to understand why an organization behaves as it does.

Reason 15 - Build better teams

To create effective teams it is critical to understand the make up of the team. Homogenous teams function with less tension but typically are not as creative as a heterogeneous team. Learn how the make up of a team can improve its effectiveness.

Reason 16 - Understand the reason for certain team conflicts

Tension can exist in a team because of the differences and preferences of its members. By understanding this you can help the team to better understand where conflicts may arise and how to deal with them.

Reason 17 - Promote better understanding within teams

By promoting a common understanding of the make up of the team, you enable its members to appreciate one another and more effectively use each others strengths for the benefit of the team.

Reason 18 - Become a better listener

Understanding thinking styles enables you to listen more carefully to a person. A better understanding differences in styles permits a more aware ability to listen.

Reason 19 - Develop better educational programs

If you understand different thinking styles then it is possible to develop educational programs that focus on specific aspects of these thinking styles. Just as it is possible to tailor a presentation to various thinking styles, it is also possible to tailor educational programs in this way.

Reason 20 - Diagnose team problems

Using knowledge about the team and their various styles it will be possible to use this knowledge to understand problems that arise in the team.

Reason 21 - Design better documentation

Documentation can be improved by making sure it addresses the various thinking styles.

Reason 22 - Design better books

Books can also be designed around thinking styles and preferences. For example, the arrangement of illustrations and written material can be made according to the way the brain processes visual and written information.

Reason 23 - Make better financial decisions

If you can understand your thinking style preferences, you can understand how you make decisions and then adjust your decision making process to better suit a particular situation.

Reason 24 - Develop better strategic and tactical plans

Considerations in strategic and tactical planning can be organized according to thinking styles. By addressing planning issues that arise because of these styles, a more comprehensive strategic or tactical plan can be created.

Reason 25 - Develop strategies to resolve organizational conflicts

Pinpointing the possible causes for organizational conflicts using a knowledge of thinking preferences allows one to create more focused strategies to resolve these conflicts.

Reason 26 - Understand better ways to communicate with your boss

Do you understand what your boss needs when you communicate with him? Do you find that when you communicate with your boss that you "miss the mark?" Understanding your bosses preferences when you communicate can be extremely powerful because it enables you to tailor and target your communication in the way he or she can best receive it.

Reason 27 - Create advertisements that speak to specific audiences

You can create advertisements that are "attractive" to all audiences by understanding the different aspects of this attraction.

Reason 28 - Understand your optimal learning requirements

Are you aware of your best ways of learning? Do you best receive information that is detailed? Or do you prefer receiving it top-down? Knowing your preferences lets you better understand your own ways of learning and thus allows you to optimize your approaches to learning.

Reason 29 - Develop career plans

On what basis should you make a career decision? There are many factors in making decisions about career but the more you understand about your own thinking preferences, the better you will be able to assess positions in terms of these preferences.

Reason 30 - Understand family dynamics

Do you have a son or daughter you find hard to understand? Are you looking for insight into why they might be hard to understand? Thinking styles and preferences can give you important insights about this.

Reason 31 - Improve processes

Standard processes have advantages - everything is done the same way. Standard processes also have disadvantages - they don't address individual differences and preferences. Understanding these can make processes more effective by adding aspects that address style differences.

Reason 32 - Encourage understanding between people

People have a great need to be understood. Much communication goes awry because of a lack of understanding. By gaining an understanding and appreciation of differences a greater level of understanding between people can be achieved.

Reason 33 - Improve appreciation for the diversity in the world

The diversity of the world is one of the wonderful things about it. If we do not have an appreciation of this then we may discount things which in the end might greatly benefit us. By understanding the importance of our diverse selves we can begin to honor the diversity in others.

Reason 34 - Develop new products

What kind of products can you develop that address the needs of people that have different thinking styles. Whereas one person might be very interested in the tactile characteristics of a product, another would be interested in the products practicality. Whole new areas of products development could be explored through this model.

Reason 35 - Develop better products

Not only can new products be developed, but better products can be developed by making them address the needs and preferences of different kinds of people.

Reason 36 - Figure out why certain products don't work

By considering the product from the point of view of thinking styles, you can identify problems or potential problems with the product.

Reason 37 - Encourage creative thinking

One key to creative thinking for the individual or group is the generation of options. By realizing the various categories of how solutions can arise based on various preferences it is possible to create alternatives based on these various preferences.

Reason 38 - Make work more fun

By better understanding out preferences it will be more possible to engage in work that energizes us as opposed to work that is energy draining.

Reason 39 - Deal with problems more effectively

Problem solving often requires looking at a situation from various directions. Having knowledge of preferences allows one to incorporate these views in the problem solving process.

Reason 40 - Recognize diverse thinking styles in the workplace

Understanding the various styles of thinking can help one to identify the types of thinking that are going on in the work environment. For example, one might recognize structured orderly thinking in a case where more conceptual free flowing thinking would be appropriate.

Reason 41 - Create a whole-brained organization

Whole-brained organization is one in which all thinking styles are represented and utilized. Creating such an organization can offer tremendous potential to achieving the mission of the organization.

Reason 42 - Recognize thinking styles at home

Recognizing thinking styles at home could be helpful in interacting and understanding family members.

Reason 43 - Create better customer service

Customer service is based on interaction with others, and understanding the kinds of customer service required by certain style preferences may result in improved customer service.

Reason 44 - Develop better motivational programs

Motivational programs can be developed that address the needs of particular styles of people. Instead of guessing what might motivate people, understanding thinking style preferences enables these programs to be more accurately fashioned.

Reason 45 - Improve personal productivity

Understanding your own preferences can help you create personal processes that encourage the use of these strengths.

Reason 46 - Create better work climates

Different people will require different things in their work environments. By attending to preferences it would be possible to create work environments better tailored to the individual.

Reason  47 - Promote a better understanding of organizational issues

Organizational issues can be presented in terms of the preferences of individuals in the organization. In this way, organizational issues can be better understood by the whole organization.

Reason 48 - Develop better strategies for dealing with change

Each person responds to change differently. By understanding how people's preferences respond to change it is possible to fashion change programs that are better integrated with the individuals ability to handle the change.

Reason 49 - Make meetings more interesting

Meetings can be made more interesting by incorporating components in the meeting that are relevant to the various thinking styles.

Reason 50 - Generate more options

By accepting the diverse nature of individuals and their preferences, it is possible to produce a greater set of options by calling on a diverse of individual to produce those options.