7 Principles of Right-Brain Project Management

1. Find the compelling purpose
When a project has a compelling purpose, it unleashes motivation that otherwise would not be there. Great leaders and project managers are adept at identifying the hook that makes the project desirable. That is, they tap into the right brain. Tom Peters referred to this as the “WOW! Factor” (3). A compelling purpose galvanizes people while giving them a sense of meaning and importance.
 
2. Make sense of the project
Many of today’s contemporary projects are hard to figure out. Just like the ever-changing jigsaw puzzle, they are too complex for predominantly linear solutions. The role of the right brain is to discover patterns from fragmented and disjointed information. The left brain can then be enlisted to examine and test these patterns, hunches and intuitive leaps for validity. For instance, when people are trying to get their minds around a new project or project deliverable, I often say to the group, “Think of this project as an animal, real or imagined. Draw a picture of what it would look like.” Then go around and have them explain their drawings. This right-brain activity gives people a better feel for the project when the logic and linear thinking of the left get stuck.
 
Sense making, as Mike Aucoin points out, applies not only to understanding the end product (deliverable), but also to the task level and process for getting there. The tools include rich communication using scenarios, metaphors and stories.
 
3. Experiment and adopt
You don’t manage the unknown the same way that you manage the known. When dealing with contemporary projects, by definition we often don’t know enough in advance to plan with certainty. No amount of planning will eliminate uncertainty (although many have not discovered this). The left brain wants to convince us that we can plan with accuracy and thereby eliminate the need to experiment; that is, to learn by trial and error. In the right-brain world, reality rules. Not the plan. And even though we have a plan, our practice is to de-plan and re-plan constantly.
 
4. Create the new reality
Creativity means coming up with a new idea. Innovation means applying that idea in a productive or profitable way. Here again the right and left brain do their dance: the right side brainstorms new ideas while the left brain is asked to patiently await judgment. Later, the left side kicks into action to evaluate the idea.
 
5. Exercise and fulfill trust
Complex, aggressive projects cannot be led solely from top down. There are too many moving parts for any one person to keep track of with and be able to make effective decisions. Instead, leadership is best decentralized if we are to foster creativity in problem solving and timely decision making. All this requires trust.
 
6. Hit the sweet spot
The sweet spot is a place of dynamic balance between the left and right brain. “Dynamic” because the spot is constantly changing. Being in the sweet spot is a by-product of the other six principles.
 
7. Leave a legacy
What will be said and how will people feel after the lights have been turned off and the project has been completed? All projects leave a legacy, even if it’s only in the minds of those who worked on the project. How do we want to remember this project? How do we want others to remember it? Will it be remembered with pride or with disdain? Envisioning a project’s success is a powerful activity for experiencing in advance the feeling of success. This is where the right brain creates magic. Creating a powerful vision (call it, leaving a legacy in advance) for your project unleashes tremendous forces that propel the project forward. For instance, imagine going into your project having already experienced (in your own mind and body) the impact that your project will have on the team, the organization, the industry or even humanity?
 
This is the province and power of the right brain: It doesn’t know the difference between what is imagined and what it true. It simply acts according to what is imagined and works in the background to bring the legacy into reality. The right brain provides the imagination. The left side provides the process and tools. 

 

Read more here: http://www.gantthead.com/article.cfm?ID=237412

Got something to say?