Invention will reignite broken bureaucracies,  only if novelty  parachutes back into profitable interventions.  Only if your organization reverses tumbling markets from further free falls, before it’s too late.

Invention and workplace nosedives rarely occupy common skies.

It’s also true that workers’ innovative capability holds more than enough talent and raw ingenuity to return a zest for ongoing improvements – in spite of occasional plummets. Reinvest in an innovative process, for example, and you can stop rapidly eroding ground through vigorous and healthy new enterprises that shape an entrepreneurial era.

So how to lead change in the face of organizational freefalls:

1. Facilitate roundtables rather than dictate orders and you’ll reverse faceless commands that drive an estimated 30% of corporate workers to care less about their jobs. The clear message that top down meetings send is that one person carries the vision and new input is unnecessary to organizational growth.

2. Reward ethical leadership practices and you’ll likely discontinue downward directions from at least a few  egos that currently serve self. Impede dishonest practices and watch the advancement of  innovative approaches pop up with far wider workplace benefits.

3. Exchange multi-tasking for focused brainpower and one new invention. A central bottleneck exists in the brain, and this prevents people from doing two things well at once. Yet, while inability to process two tasks at the same time, exists in the frontal cortex, demands for multi-tasking comes with many jobs.

4. Negotiate and display short term alongside long term goals. Watch the synergy of the groups’ brainpower narrow gaps between pressured positions where workers stand unaware of organizational vision, toward calmer places where workers gladly achieve targets they helped to create.

5. Connect past cynicism of workplace naysayers. Halt disdain for innovative ideas, that pops up when cynics rail against others’ efforts, and distrust motives of  workers who differ. If you find yourself over on the darker side of life, free-falling with cynics where you work, consider ways to turn off that molecular switch in favor of healthier habits that more creative peers practice.

So how do you halt freefalls that tossed Rome and your organization into brainless routines and a diminished stature? What tactics would you add here to boost innovation and lead a culture of discovery where you work?

Notice  any shift in your skylines? Looking over the rainbow as did the Wizard of Oz cast?  If so, you’ll likely spot  visions that fuse racial differences. It’s been suggested that the last decade of ideas is being replaced with an era of vision with innovation at its peak.

No longer can we settle for unfair top-down  benefits for a few privileged. Let’s counter policies such as Goldman Sachs financial decisions that serve one population while others topple.

Success in our change-prone era, begs new directions with sea legs ready to stand on unsteady surfaces.  Like Pfizer’s global executive, David Simmons  advanced diversified leaders, we’re ready for smart skills on the rainbow’s other side.

Diversify leaders and mind-bending results will follow

Look for people who differ and you’ll find leaders who represent culture, background, and gender strengths. Skill that reach across differences, and talents that span multiple intelligences.

The dream team over at ImagineAge sports such diversity as part of their DNA. Described as an inter-generational, eclectic group, organized to bring a wide range of information to ImagineAge, this group looks across ages through different lenses of life.

Looking for bonus benefits? When the human brain reaches past daily ruts,  mind-bending surprises result. According to Robert Lee Holtz, Wall Street Journal Science Columnist, researchers found that sudden insights or Eureka moments show unique neural activity in EEG sensors. Simply put, the brain is most actively engaged when we  lose track of routine patterns that come from exclusion, and engage differences at work.

Create new neuron pathways toward success through a fresh new reality that can only come from welcoming diversity.  Kick-start action in your brain for expanded worlds where leaders like Wegmans celebrate another win in Fortune 100 list as the best place to work. No wonder people pack into their stores as if they were its winners. They are.

While aftershocks of a crumbling economy continue to shake the ground underneath our feet, it takes brainpower to diversify and rebuild crumbling structures. A mind-bending fix for this broken economy lies less in banks, or government dictates, than in rebooting strengths found across diversified brainpower. What do you think?

1.Shoot for a higher target than you typically land. Need a birdie to remain under par? Then  shoot for an eagle. Your brain leaps to challenges and can create new synapses that stretch your swings to the next level. From that first shot off the tee, golfers capitalize on kinesthetic intelligence and naturalistic intelligence.  The game also adds brain chemicals for sharper focus. A growing body of research suggests how the links hold mental benefits for business brains, beyond what most golfers realize. Perhaps more even than rich alliances and friendships gained on the course, golf keeps players in top mental form.

2. Laugh lots and make light of missed shots. To keep serotonin high for the next good whack, use laughter as a fuel for a better ride on the next round. According to this YouTube video a new hazard – a fox – is now in full operation at Missoula, Montana Golf Course, near Clark Fork River Lodge. This fifteen pound red fox  is outwitting golfers at almost every hole and its fairways heists keep the most serious golfers in stitches.  It seems the little hoodwink fox is seen as a nuisance to a few poor sports yet laughed at by most golfers at the club, who take their shot and then take their chances against the 4-footed thief. What makes you laugh before you swing?

3. Conquer one hole at a time. Bank extra points for the tougher holes and with your deposit in place, relax to ward off stress before you swing for harder holes. Cortisol chemicals surge in a brain under pressure and will work against your golf skills. If you get better shots on the front nine, for instance, work harder for fewer strokes, and then treat the back nine as a learning curve. Challenges that often don’t exist in the first 9 holes tend to pop in the last 9 to give you practice shots from many angles, if you can snip the amygdala before you start the game. Rather than resent the back 9 – see it as a way to improve your brain for a better game.  Now there’s a hole-in-one-thought that offers you practice opportunities to grow new skills. Start your game with this winning plan in mind and it helps to keep your head down and swing through – though –  even on the back nine! 

4. Watch fellow players and expect growth regardless of age. Your brain comes equipped with mirror neurons and you can improve your golf skills and optimize your brainpower for better swings at any age. Simply observe what swings work well for others. In spite of a recent bout with cancer, Marjorie Brewer at  60, still swings a driver like a pro and putts like a metronome. She’s out four times a week near the grounds of her law office. People far younger struggle to keep up in one of the persistent mysteries of even an aging brain.  Marjorie found there are tremendous health care benefits to doing what she loves most – golf. But others see Marjorie’s high-performance mind for golf that keeps improving with use. At 58, Murray Jensen expected golf to help his brain to show effects of  cardiovascular disease.  Murray’s doctor seemed surprised by the mental progress and new alertness that boosted Murray’s once frail health. What could a golf game do for your aging mind?

5. Spot and name possibilities rather than challenges. Focus on new developments for your swing, rather than on difficulties that impede your swing. When one hit or putt fails, focus more on improving another shot – with a different club. Regardless of how many obstacles may impede your swing, plan another brisk round of golf’s sheer adventure. See the opportunity in spite of any difficulties and golf’s a mental tonic at once. How so? Golf allows you to capitalize on kinesthetic intelligence and it develops a better brain for business and for balance in other areas of life, than most golfers realize.

6. Risk new moves to gain another skill with each game. Try a new approach rather than fall into the brain’s penchant to default for mental ruts and repeat the same mistakes on a difficult hole. Think back to your last lesson, or to a golf tip you heard, and deliberately give it a shot. The human brain performs better with novelty and risk. When you consider long term benefits that follow from risk and novelty you’ll likely find courage to move a golf skill to the next level. Worth the risk?

7. Pack brain food and walk rather than ride. Improve your stamina with movement and mental nutrition during your next game. Expect your nourished brain to remain fast, your swings to stay strong and your mind to come alert for new challenges, while you build new neuron pathways to golf skills for lower scores. Did you know the brain demands 21 percent of the entire oxygen to your body?  Not surprisingly when you move more through walking, you enrich that supply and add to your brain’s potential.

8. Swing as if to win a top tournament yet accept mishaps as if they didn’t matter a wit. Why? We know from neurogenesis that people improve their lot by beliefs moved into winning tasks. We also know that self-competition reshapes human brains when golfers act to improve. How so? Swing those extra yards, putt a finer approach, Angle a better loft, or chip into the cup, and you literally reshape your brain chemically and electrically for higher intelligence.  Even simple competitive practice, can alter brainwaves up or down.

9. Support peers and practice thankfulness. Encouragement adds serotonin and well being to every round of golf – those that go well, and those that don’t. How so? Serotonin opens new ideas and possibilities, when you need it most. This hormone for well-being is essential to a good game and it is increased on the links when you simply expect it to help you out. Deliberately build more serotonin mental-well-being on the golf course today… by wishing others well as they approach the tee.  Image great shots whenever you take another swing, and refuse to focus on bad shots. Look forward in favor of a lesson learned for the next mentally controlled swing.

10. Compete against your own game. Whenever you focus too much on another golfer’s good score, regret over your own is apt to leave your own next shot short. Regret prevents skill growth. Rather than fight despair by comparing your own struggles to another person’s wins, it’s better to mentally spike each swing in ways that improve your weaker moves. The next time you grab a box of your favorite blue golf balls and head out for the links, visualize your best shot from the tee, and then compete against that shot for golf that follows from a high performance mind on the tee.

Ready for a game well under par? Why not try one or two brain based tips to make it happen. Let us know how you fare as we’re rooting for you all the way.

Ask one question, and stir brain chemicals for innovation. Ask another and  short-circuit electrical wiring for mental blackouts. We rewire our collective brainpower through questions that stir curiosity or stomp out intelligence and growth.

No wonder people run when they feel vulnerable.

Two-footed questions jumpstart brainpower, and lead to change. for example. One foot ensures a topic is plummeted well, while the other  foot links to respect for each human’s experience. Yet questions too often come with toxic barbs from bullies or cynics.  How so?

Questions create blame or offer support

Ask, Why should we believe you? and you risk overheating a brain’s amygdala for harmful results.  Change the question to, How can we support you in the struggle you describe? and you replace cortisol with serotonin for well being and change. Do you see the difference?

We’ve rewired this nation’s brains to ask questions that create disagreeable expressions of gloom, and it’s time to transform inquiry tactics to look at problems with solutions more in mind. What do you think?

Questions cause gloom or increase hope

Ask, How can you sleep tonight after what happened? and you help to rewire the brain’s plasticity for more cynicism and angry responses.  Change the question to, How do you envision the best future possible? and you can convert tough mistakes into new neuron pathways to reshape moods and add dynamic solutions.

Questions reboot ruts or ignite rejuvenation

Ask, Why did you do such a stupid thing? and you connect a person’s dendrite brain cells to possible negative responses.  Change the question to, What could we do together for the sake of innovation in future? and you can convert common ruts into curiosity new solutions tossed into the mix. A person’s basal ganglia holds a propensity for ruts or rejuvenation. Questions can stir or stomp out either.

Questions  condemn or challenge

Ask, Did you think of anybody but yourself? and you shift the brain’s electrical wiring in the direction of cynicism. Change the question to, What past experiences could help to solve similar problems? and you challenge a person’s working memory to act as a tool for building a healthy focus forward.

Question spark humiliation or build curiosity

Ask, What happened and when? to catch another person’s ignorance of a lower level fact that you have memorized, and you humiliate a person in ways that shut down brainpower. Change the question to, How would this fact or that happening alter your position? and then name the lower level fact, to trigger the kind of curiosity that leads to higher IQs.

Do your typical questions transform brainpower into innovation? Or do  people like Tiger run from your inquisitions?

Brain based renewal innovations for leaders and learners rarely make it through routine portals. Been there?

To prance past wardens of yesteryear, takes teaming up with intelligent innovators of tomorrow. It also takes not settling into the kind of peace and harmony that work against brainpower for innovation.

Pacesetters with courage to take risks – first must sidestep doors held shut by porters of the past. If your innovation has been barred behind sentients or cynics, you’ll especially enjoy the adventures of brainpower beyond the barriers.

To propel your innovations over gates – begin with your strong points and go for your brain’s infinite possibilities. The era of the brain is here! Peter Drucker said:

Knowing your strengths in how you learn and think

and acting on this knowledge

is key to performance.

Do you agree? If so, why not survey your intellectual strengths. It’s rarely easy to pioneer innovation in the best conditions, and near impossible to reconfigure tired traditions that able gate-keepers guard. In spite of  tactics proven to reboot brainpower and add innovation, protectors of old turf tend to prevent growth as tenaciously as viruses prevent health. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Move your organization beyond dyed-in-wool

custodians of past ruts -

Reboot brainpower for future expansion!

1). Rename new programs so they no longer resemble older models fiercely protected by a few dated workers, who hightail it from change like mice  run from cats. That way no red flags rise with those who insist on traditions and refuse renewal. Tried to update an innovative development course but cannot get it past an HR committee? Create instead, smart skill modules for reconfigured practices at work. Then require evidence of these updated skills by all workers who seek promotions.

2). Team with innovation investors from several departments.  Create a wider vision for a multi-faceted project made to prosper a new era at work. Gate-keepers find less support to block inventions that propose new practices across differences. Representation across multiple intelligences can catapult cultures and communities over walls that previously blocked growth in any one culture alone.  Ruts and routines are learned behavior and create neuron pathways in the human brain for more exclusion. Develop  keen inventions across wider groups, races, genders and ages, so that all  speak and feel heard at at every stage. Create alliances that pull thoughtful people together from every population group, and expect flawed systems to shrink significantly under the intellectual force that results.

3. Start where you stand now, rather than wait for resources to pour in from a shrinking public purse. You’ve likely noticed that gatekeepers tend to tighten purse strings rather than fund innovations. Use social media groups to gather insights and enlist resources from people with vested interest in changes for mutual benefits. The human brain comes with ready-to-start equipment to build and sustain inclusive cultures. Cultures where innovation,  design and the human brain, lead to profitability for all.

4. Refuse intimidation by gatekeepers, who prevent progress because of  amygdala related problems such as jealousy. How then do you rev up mental power to succeed when gatekeepers intimidate and bully? One innovative leader Dave Caiazza, said it best.

Work against the dangerous twins of jealousy and hypocrisy. They come disguised as concern, shrouded in statistics, and hidden behind a smile. When you’re good at something, there will always be someone who wants to undo you. Don’t let them.

Fortunately, a new reality is emerging where innovators circle their  gatekeepers,  inspire others past gridlocks,  and circumvent old stomping grounds. What could your workplace achieve beyond  gatekeeper barricades?