The Genetic Brain Profile leaves us with individual strengths and weaknesses, tacit personality traits and preferences of functioning - normally and during stress.  Through the identification of an individuals strengths and weaknesses we are able to help in deciding on careers, sports, hobbies and interpersonal skills that most suite your genetic makeup.

The Brain profile can also determine whether incumbents are under performing, frustrated or not an ideal fit for a certain position. The ideal is to assess their preferences against job requirements. It could be used for developmental purposes to make the incumbent aware of their innate preferences and where a role requires adjustments.

In assessing individuals for personal development or jobmatching, we also make use of a wide battery of instruments.  See our link: The individual in the organization.

Background
In the Information Age, information is now more than doubling every two years. The world is rapidly changing. One edition of the New York Times contains more information than people in the seventeenth century were exposed to in their life time! Today the average first world learner has to work through at least five times greater volumes of information than twenty years ago.

The challenge today is for a person to work faster and smarter, rather than harder and longer. In order to achieve this, the point of departure is utilising all faculties of the brain to its maximum. This is why this era is also labeled the Millennium of the Mind and the Century of the Brain.

The only way that people and organisations will maintain their competitive advantage in this rapidly changing world is if they have the capacity to out-think, out-learn, out-create and out-perform their competition. Thinking, learning and creativity involve cognitive ability. This makes brain power the number one determining factor for success in this Millennium, placing people and the brain in the centre of business.

The need for the capacities of thinking, learning, creativity and mental performance caused the forming of the unique field of brain-based learning and development.

As global competition becomes tougher, those who survive and those who excel will be separated by different elements, one of which will be the wellness of people. It is time for companies and people to place a higher emphasis on developing and maintaining mental wellness amongst all people if they want to genuinely improve performance and increase their return on investment.

Specialized Field

Our Approach
The approach to develop people and organisations that flows from the specialised field of brain-based learning and development is to first access the mental faculties of people. People’s Dynamic Development has joined Neuro-Link and in association, develop people by making them self smart, enhancing their personal awareness about their emotions, who they are, their purpose in life, how they think about themselves and what they want out of life.


What is brain-based learning and development?
The aim of brain-based learning and development is to increase the effectiveness of education, learning and development programmes, and consequently to yield better financial returns on investment. The need for this is obvious. Experts question the ultimate on-the-job-effectiveness of people development programmes. By some estimates, corporations, non-profit organisations and the U.S. government spend about ± $80 billion each year on human resources development for their workers; yet studies show that only ±10% of classroom learning is applied in the workplace. Today, with demands on corporate wallets coming from all sides, is it any wonder that training budgets are often the first to be reduced – or even eliminated? Obviously the need to increase return on investment is of increasing concern to executives. Brain-based learning and development is a powerful tool to increase return on investment as it helps people to work faster and smarter and apply more of what was learnt, thus rendering better results.

Although people may have the intellectual ability to be successful in the learning process, there are many reasons why people still do not perform well:

• Many people do not necessarily use both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously because of a lack of development. This slows down their performance in the learning situation. Utilisation of the whole brain is imperative for effective learning and thinking. Utilising both brain hemispheres is not something that happens automatically. It can only happen through continuous development. Many people do not know how to develop and integrate both brain hemispheres.
• Also it is of utmost importance that all people are receptive and positive, having a constructive mindset towards learning and their environment. People do not perform as well at learning or thinking as they could with a negative attitude.
• Most people have a lack of expertise and skills of knowing how to learn.
• Research has also indicated that even with the necessary expertise, people may still not achieve success in learning because of experiencing too much stress. Stress means to lose control, resulting in learners not being able to maintain mental wellness. Their left or right brain hemispheres may “switch off” as a result of stress.

The requirements for people to function optimally  is therefore, in essence, whole brain utilisation, the need for a positive attitude, an effective learning strategy, vital learning skills, access to the whole brain and knowing one’s unique preferences and strengths.

One of the main factors that negatively impact a person’s performance is stress. Let’s look at what physiologically happens when people stress, why it has such an impact and how brain-based learning and development can address these factors, increasing people’s performance, yielding better returns on investment for companies and people.

How the brain function's under stress
While it is generally acknowledged that stress profoundly influences the way in which we think and behave, few people understand why this is so. Recent research shows that the reason for our changed thinking and behaviour under stress is that stress causes parts of the brain to “switch off”. Thus, stress means to lose control over certain brain areas. The more we experience stress, the more we lose control over the brain. Stress is one of the major causes of information loss during training and learning and will consequently negatively impact performance.

The right brain hemisphere controls the left side of the body and the left eye and ear. Likewise, the left brain hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right eye and ear. The nerves to the muscles and sensory organs cross over from the controlling brain hemisphere. When one side of the brain is in control, the other side either co-operates and co-ordinates its movements with the controlling hemisphere, or it may “switch off” and block integration during stress.

Change, malnutrition, medicine, emotions, habitual negativity and fear cause the non-dominant brain hemisphere to radically decrease its function, causing a “switched off” state, thus limiting a person’s performance.

Since the functions of these “switched-off” areas of the brain now become limited to the information processor, the information that was meant to be processed by means of these functions is also lost. This information loss occurs during our every day life and working situations where stress occurs.

Solution: Three Dimensional Brain Integration
The laterally integrated (or “switched-on”) person is able to process information simultaneously, with both hemispheres “switched on” at the same time. He / she can move and think at the same time, commit to any task and bring his/her whole person to it. In fact, the laterally integrated person thrives on the new, the spontaneous, and the creative. Even the simplest undertaking becomes a joyful opportunity for full self-expression.

Assessments
A Learning Receptiveness Profile (LRP™) should be compiled which is a brain profile that indicates 5 different perspectives of how a person prefers to use their brain, think, learn and process information. The profile also offers suggestions for further development.

Peoples Dynamic Development in association with Neuro-Link offers unique brain profile assessments for:

• adults
• managers and
• leaders

Market and Needs
Many people and organisations make use of our brain-based products and services to address the following needs: To

• Increase performance
• A tool that assists Mentors and Protégé’s to get to know one another and create insight in the management of each other
• Develop team synergy
• Discover their purpose and unique strengths and developmental areas
• Enhance intrapersonal and/or interpersonal skills (emotional intelligence)
• Increase their return on their financial investment in training and development
• Enhance their capacity for whole brain learning and thinking
• Cope with change
• Manage stress
• Maintain holistic wellness
• Utilise their whole brain efficiently – working faster and smarter
• Develop people
• Manage diversity