7 Responses

1. Logic left brain activities
   David,

   Most of the creative techniques I know also have a strong and disciplined logical process you have to follow in order for them to work so just focus on this.

   Nick Hindley

2. Right Brain Creative?
   Hi,

   You mention that right brain equates to creative thinking; this isn’t strictly true. Really creative people are those who can successfully tap into both sides of the brain. For example, Picasso (who you’d think of as a ‘right brain’ thinker) made notes in the margins of his paintings about the specific complilation of colours. Einstein, a scientist (left brain?) was nearly kicked out of school for daydreaming. Lewis Carrol not only wrote Alice in Wonderland, but was also a brilliant mathematician. Leonardo Da Vinci could create detailed anatomical drawings as well as creations like the Mona Lisa. He was a designer and architect as well as a sculptor and artist.

   As the prevoius commentator wrote therefore I don’t think you need to move away from creative thinking; just focus on the structured processes rather than the outcomes.

   If you are looking for an exercise taht focuses on analytical thinking and attention to detail though, have a look at Trainers’ Library (www.trainerslibrary.com). As well as loads of creative thinking exercises there are some great analytical ones too – like ‘Bringing the Cows Home’ and ‘Filing Frenzy’.

   Hope this helps.

3. Arian Associates Ltd
   We use an excercise/game called WHO GOES TO THE BULL. It might fit the bill for you.

   email us for a copy

   business.solutions@arian-associates.co.uk

4. left-right outside the box
   http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/RL-modes.shtml

   I put the phrase “left brain thinking exercises” into Google and came up with 2,480,000 results for this information.

   The link at the top was one of the first, but there are many more

   Good luck!

5. Thanks
   Thanks for your comments everyone. A different way of looking at it is to suggest that right brain = ability to create ideas, left brain = ability to innovate or implement them.

   So it would be exercises on the ability to implement.

   Peter – there’s less hits when you include the quotes! Without them it picks up loads of right brain stuff.

6. right/left brain – 6 hats
   I’d think about using the hairy old Six Thinking Hats approach as well. Walk through a specific dilemma/problem using each approach. It’s a fairly integrating activity.
   As others have said, it’s the integration that matters, and the discipline.

7. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
   David

   First thing to note: There is no such things as “left brain thinking” or “right brain thinking”. These notions were developed 40 years ago when brain scanning was in its infancy and experiments on this subject were basically confined to studies of people who had suffered major brain damage, or who had undergone radical surgery to treat epilepsy.

   There are certainly things that happen primarily in the left brain or primarily in the right brain – but NEVER in isolation from the activity in the other hemisphere, in a healthy brain.

   One typical demonstration of the way in which the two hemispheres work together is the study carried out on young children and storytelling (supposedly a “creative” and therefore “right brain” activity) by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada, which showed that developing storytelling skills was actually a good indicator of subsequent skill in arithmetic (supposedly a very “logical”, “left brain” activity).

   See:

   http://www.newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/archive/news.php?id=4129

   As to the now “mythical” status of the “left brain/right brain” dichotomy you might like to check this out:

   http://www.rense.com/general2/rb.htm

   Personally I would support the person who pointed out that best results are achieved by fostering improved activity on BOTH sides of the brain.

   Best wishes

   Paul