A lot of effort is put into measuring efficiency and returns on investment in organisations. The desire to measure and control is strong, particularly now when we have just been through a recession and cost cutting is king.
This is reflected throughout society and in the government’s desire to cut the deficit with everyone being asked to prove how effectively they are spending money in order to keep it.
Iain McGilchrist in his book ‘The Master and His Emissary’ examines this desire to be in control and efficient to the study of the two brain hemispheres and their different ways of perceiving the world. The study concludes the left side is linked to controlling and manipulating the world and concerned with explicit linear detail, where as the right is concerned with the whole picture, metaphor, ambiguity and flow and provides intuition and social connectedness.
As organisations have become dominated by left hemisphere thinking the right hemisphere has been pushed out a little. Iain argues both sides are needed to give a balanced view , and I would suggest this applies to having a balanced organisation and society.
Perhaps there are occasions when it’s simply better to use your right brain common sense and intuition and accept ambiguity, rather than spend lots of time and effort somehow trying to prove something.
So when could you trust your instinct more?
If you are interested in developing your leadership or creating more effective teams we would love to have a conversation.
