Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Excellent list, Ellen! Way to show how powerful the brain really is. We don't give it enough credit, do we?

Thanks for your kind and encouraging words, Easton! As to using our brains more -- actually when I look at how you use yours and the results you get - I am quite amazed at how some folks actually do maximize their brain cells to inspire the rest of us!

Hello Ellen:

The list helps to shine the spotlight. Challenging #2 is where most of my effort is invested.

Thanks for stopping by Galba. It always amazes me how we have come to the conclusion that when one person talks - another person learns:-). Yikes -- we've built multimillion dollar programs around that fallacy - and learners pay the price daily. So glad others challenge it too:-) You you find more people are starting to think differently about this mode of learning?

How does #2 relate to powerful spiritual sermons? They are certainly one-way communication but the thoughts expressed can be memorable and inspiring of change. Or any great oratory, I guess.

Hi Stephanie and thanks for stopping in. Great question ... and I'm always inspired by your curiosity! What you say is true.

We do find inspiration in a great speech. However, if you follow the links in that section to see how little we retain - you will see that we may wish to shorten the speeches and ratchet up the active engagement.

At least that is so if we want real change. It's also an answer to the open statements of the March - HR Mag Cover story -- which asks why we hear motivated speeches one day but fail to act on them the next.

It's a new component of the brain - that we find harder to change - because we've always delivered speeches - and multiple intelligence learning is relatively new. Nuff said:-) Thoughts?

You're being too hard on us, Ellen, with your comment that "It always amazes me .."

Lectures are a historical artifact. They differ in style from oratory (which is meant to persuade or inspire) and were developed as part of the technology of the medieval universities. They were the best one-to-many communications system available for teaching at a time when books were scarce.

Lectures persist for three reasons. The first is that hold human favorite, "we've always done it that way." Second, we've built institutions around lecture. We have lecture halls and auditoriums (rooms to listen in). It's hard to do interactive learning in a tiered amphitheater format that seats several hundred in chairs that don't move. Third, lecture is an easy way to teach compared with almost any other method where a teacher is involved. You can give the same lecture decade after decade, but every interactive class is different.

As for preaching, that is a form of oratory. My father taught preaching. He used to tell his students that when you were the preacher, your job was to connect the lessons of Scripture to the reality of your parishioners daily lives in a way that something will change. He also told them that "Very few souls are saved after fifteen minutes."

Wally -- your own challenges are equally as compelling. Let me this more on this deep reflection -- in the meantime I think we use what works best:-) Now that I know one only retains about 5% from lectures and speeches I tend to want to engage folks more:-) Thoughts?