Building a More Powerful Brain, ASTD article/title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="memex.css" type="text/css"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body bgcolor="#999966">  <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="15" nowrap><img src="mm_spacer.gif" alt="" width="15" height="1" border="0"></td> <td height="60" class="logo" nowrap><span class="style16">memexspan inc</span> <span class="style12">the bridge to achievement</span><span class="style5">®</span></td> <td width="40"> </td> <td width="100%"> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"> <td colspan="6"><img src="mm_spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#a4c2c2"> <td width="15" nowrap> </td> <td height="36" id="navigation" class="navText" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="index.html">home</a> | <a href="tinformation.html">history</a> | <a href="tbusiness.html">business performance</a> | <a href="edtable.html">teachers + parents</a> | <a href="clients.html">endorsements</a> | <a href="about.html">about jan</a> | <a href="SIGNIN.ASP?NEXT_PAGE=publications.html">publications</a> | <a href="ils.html">non-profit ils</a> | <a href="SIGNIN.ASP?NEXT_PAGE=astdarticles.html">astd articles</a> | <a href="presstable.html">press</a> | <a href="blogg.html">blog</a></td> <td width="40"> </td> <td width="100%"> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#999966"> <td colspan="6"><img src="mm_spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0"></td> </tr> </table>   <table width="106%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="150" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><table align="left" width="150" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="20"></td> <td width="150" class="sidebarText" id="padding"></td> </tr> </table></td> <td width="1148" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top"><table width="789" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="25" colspan="4"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="25"></td> <td width="87" class="pageName">astd article</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="25"></td> <td valign="top" class="bodyText"></p> <p> <p> </p> <td width="1"></td> <td width="676" valign="top" class="bodyText"><p align="center" class="subHeader style24"><span class="logo">building a more powerful brain</span></div> <p align="center" class="style24"></p> <p> </p> <p><div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="#CC0000" size="5" face="Times, Times New Roman"><img src="backs.JPG" alt="backs.jpg" width="321" height="280" longdesc="http://memspan.com"></font></div> </div> </div> <p align="center"><font size="5" face="Times, Times New Roman"><br> </font> <font color="#800000" size="2" face="geneva, arial"> </font> <font face="georgia" size="2"><b><span class="style23">By Jan Kuyper Erland <br> Mem-ExSpan, Inc.<br> http://www.memspan.com</span></b></Font><font color="#800000" face="geneva, arial" size="2"><b><br> </b></Font> <font color="#800000" size="2" face="geneva, arial"><br> </font> <p> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/janspan12" style="text-decoration:none;"><span style="font: 80% Arial,sans-serif; color:#0783B6;"><img src="http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_in_20x15.gif" width="20" height="15" alt="View Jan Kuyper Erland's LinkedIn profile" style="vertical-align:middle" border="0">View Jan Kuyper Erland's profile</span></a></p> <p> <center> <font face="geneva, arial" size="2" color="#800000"> <span class="style23">This Article was published by the National and the local Kansas City chapter<BR> of <U>The American Society for Training and Development</U>, Fall 1999; reprinted <br> with the permission of the American Society for Training & Development, Alexandria, VA</span><br> </font> </center> </p> <p></p> <p class="subHeader">Building Intellectual Capital, for ourselves, and the company we work for, is one of the most important things we can do to get ahead. Mental enhancement not only facilitates peak performance, but it also empowers us to go anywhere and do anything with authority and conviction. Cognitively enabled employees have the necessary skills, knowledge, and ability to do their jobs. <P><span class="style23">Unfortunately, few of us realize brain building is possible, or how to begin. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Technically speaking, brain building is called cognitive skill development and has been in the psychology domain since the early 1960s. J.P. Guilford, eminent professor at University of Southern California, and a President of The American Psychological Association, designed the "Structure of Intellect", winning several prestigious awards for it. This intellectual model consisted of a cube of 156 different mental abilities. (See J. P. Guilford & R. Hoepfner, 1971, "The Analyses of Intelligence" New York: McGraw Hill; R. J. Sternberg, 1991, "Competence Considered," and 1992, "Intellectual development," both Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press). </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Historically, cognitive skill improvement was isolated within progressive coastal school districts and Psychologists' practices. Cognitive skill improvement was used successfully as a treatment in these arenas for learning problems. Unfortunately, its use as a training tool was ignored, in spite of obvious work place implications. </span> <P><span class="style23">Most of us do not like to admit we have trouble processing information. We may feel insulted, and even become defensive at the very thought. However, we do not have to feel self conscious about this type of self-improvement. </span> <span class="subHeader">Each of us is a unique individual, and information processing can vary across a considerable range from person to person. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">But, whenever possible, each of us should seek to optimize our mental abilities. Think of your mind as a valuable core aspect of your ability to be productive. Consider shaping it up, as you would fine-tune the engine of a sports car. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Many, becoming aware that a way to speed up information processing exists, become excited about personal advancement and heightened work efficiency. It all boils down to getting more work done in less time, with less stress and effort. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">With the technical demands hovering over us, and the elimination of training jobs because of new technologies, it behooves us to consider how we might rev up our brains to develop our own intellectual capital bank. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">The Beginning: Understanding Our Brain Foundation. Unless our mental profiles are empirically tested, we can only guess what our individual strengths and weaknesses are. Psychologists are trained to test and re-train cognitive skills on an individualized basis. However, formal testing evaluations are expensive and time consuming, so this becomes impossible for most of us.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">As a learning disability specialist, I tested and trained learning problems for years. Assessing specific learning difficulties, severe cases ADD, dyslexia, and ADHD, I wondered what the typical mental profile would be, and how it related to the workplace. It soon became evident. </FONT></span> <p class="style23">My clients from the general population soon included a wide array of people, from students, professionals, executives, engineers, the average employee, to athletes. <p class="subHeader">I conducted many field tests with corporations and over a thousand students, as they are intact seated learning groups and do not travel on business missing training. I evaluated performance improvement change with nationally standardized cognitive skills measures and achievement tests. Although it is known we all have different learning style profiles, and there are more than fifty, I made some interesting discoveries.</FONT> <P class="subHeader"><span class="style23">We can modify or add to our existing learning style inventory. </span>In other words, we can enhance the learning styles we have by improving our non-functional learning styles. Developing our weak or inactive learning styles is possible through training. </FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">We each have a unique mental profile with high and low areas. Weak areas often clash with strong areas. Our information processing gets out-of-sync. Not knowing what the problems are, we simply guess, and cope the best we can. Unfortunately, anxiety and feelings of insecurity can be a by-product. </FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Training can solve the problem and allow all the high and low areas to work together, putting our information processing memory track back in-sync. </span> <P><span class="style23">I recently tested one of my employees, an accounting student. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">While she was happy to discover she had very superior visual speed and was overly proficient with memory for numbers, she was also dismayed she was spatially slow with visual relationships. She confessed, "It always did seem hard for me to visualize building or house plans, so I decided not to go into architecture." Fortunately, she hadn't made a big educational time commitment for a visual-spatial discipline.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Her deficit, discovered by testing, was born out in her daily work. She has difficulty designing spatial layout presentations for my office. Clearly, she would not be comfortable or successful in a job requiring significant layout and design requirements. She then continued, "Well, I'm glad I'm informed about this, but it isn't money in my pocket." </FONT> </span> <P><span class="style23">Wrong. Having strong mental abilities is certainly important for work-life career success, but few people are universally competent. </span><span class="subHeader"></FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">So, knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses gives you the power to match yourself with the demands of potential careers and their skill requirements. Different careers require different skill sets, some more analytical, some more verbal, some more spatial, or organizational. Knowing what your strengths are can save you valuable time, frustration, and money. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Such self- knowledge not only translates into better work proficiency, but also higher income potential. For example, a former client, who had been labeled in school as severely Developmentally Disabled, was retrained, graduated from college, and now is an educational homebound teacher and consultant for parents in the Kansas City, Missouri school district. </FONT> </span> <P><span class="style23">Another client was traded in a professional baseball club for $2 million in a professional baseball signing, after testing and retraining. Another is a pro golfer, playing in national tournaments. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Another, a mid-manager for a telecommunications company, at age forty, had never received a promotion. He confessed it was because he was slow to encode new information. Following encoding-decoding brain building, he is now the Director of the Kansas City suburban plant. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Still another shortened medical school by two years because he could handle more course work at one time after brain training. Coincidences? Unlikely. It is obviously beneficial to empower your mental skills, or the gray matter collateral existing above your hairline. What Can We Do? Become Aware.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Unfortunately, testing and measurement is serious business, and can legitimately be done only by skilled professionals licensed to do so. However, there are simple exercises you can try, which are based upon formal measurements. They can give you an idea where you stand. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">The next important piece of ammunition in the battle to process information is understanding how well you can organize or sequence information. Fundamental to office and work management, we can learn to develop the underlying skills. Unfortunately, if you can not sequence (a left-brain activity) or classify information well, you appear disorganized and confused. This does not garner respect or a promotion. </span> <BR> <br> <span class="style23">Here are ways to improve your sequencing ability:</FONT></span> <P><span class="subHeader">1) Read a "How-To" step-by-step computer software instructional book. Practice the new operations. Then, expand upon this knowledge.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">2) Clean out a file drawer, throw away out-dated material, and re-label its contents according to better, more accessible classifications.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">3) Polish your written communication skill. Develop more organized, linear thought flow.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">4) Listen to the news, and practice recapping five lead stories in sequential order during dinner conversation. </FONT></FONT></FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">5) When giving an oral presentations, think ahead sequentially about what you are going to say. Do not allow information to simply "fall out" indiscriminately.</span> <P><span class="subHeader">6) Learn to play a musical instrument. It consists of symbolic notations of successive phrases. </FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Becoming increasingly self-aware through practice of techniques such as those listed above will lead to career and work-life success. Self-empowerment is the way to approach new beginnings. Give yourself permission to become more mentally able,</FONT>< </span> <P><span class="style23">What Happens If You Don't</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">The best things you can do for yourself is determine what your strengths and weaknesses are, because if lack brainpower in a critical job area requirement, fall short. I have sadly witnessed individuals select career paths based upon media impressions, only to find out they lacked the spatial skills, judgment, and visual listening abilities required perform this work on daily basis, year after year. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">They are often capable enough,graduate in a demanding field, but do not have the necessary requirements due their mismatched abilities. There is a high painful cost with several years' of schooling or training, and then having to switch to a different field of endeavor. </span> <P><span class="style23">Following are examples of former clients who did not realize they had hidden visual perceptual problems:</span><span class="subHeader"></FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">A vivacious teacher transferred into business training and development, but found presentation development too demanding for her weak visual memory and spatial skills.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">A mechanical engineer switched to management, bringing increases in pay and status when he discovered he did not have the visual aptitude for engineering design. On a daily basis, designing had become a tedious chore. </span> <P><span class="subHeader">An architect with poor visual perception switched to Real Estate, which he was not particularly suited for, either. He made less income, and never was satisfied with what he did for a living.</FONT> </span> <P><span class="subHeader">Start thinking about your own strengths and weaknesses, and how to step forward.</FONT> </span> <p class="subHeader"></p> <p><p class="subHeader style26"><a href="http://twitter.com/jankuypererland"><img src="http://www.businesscarddesigns.us/images/twitter-5c.gif" title="By TwitterButtons.org" width="190" height="40" border="0" /></a><br> Get <a href="http://www.twitterbuttons.org/">Twitter Buttons</a> <p> <p class="style23">Jan Kuyper Erland, M. S. Program Content Developer, Intervention Consultant <br /> Mem-ExSpan, Inc. <br /> The Bridge To Achievement ® <br /> email: <a href="mailto:jan@memspan.com" style="text-decoration:underline">jan@memspan.com</a><p> <p></p> <br/></td> <td width="5"></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <meta name="verify-v1" content="5XC6aWCZGCMAHvj6ri3JIvWP2i9sFb2agBs8QcXvk24=" /> </body> </html>