The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®) – the foundation of Whole Brain Technology® – is based on the award winning research of Ned Herrmann. More than two million people worldwide have completed the HBDI, which is at the heart of Herrmann International’s work with Fortune 100 companies and leading academic institutions.
Ned Hermann’s goal – Improving productivity, motivation and creativity
Graduating from Cornell, majoring in physics and music, Hermann (originator of the HBDI instrument) became Manager of Management Education for General Electric (GE) in 1970. His primary responsibility at GE was to oversee training program design. Specifically, he was tasked with looking at how to maintain and increase an individual’s productivity, motivation and creativity.
Deeply curious about brain hemispheres, Hermann research ways of measuring whether a person has a preference for right-brain or left-brain thinking. Research indicated that right-brain is responsible for more a conceptual, emotive and spatial way of thinking, whereas left-brain is responsible for more linear, analytical and rational thought.
From his research, Hermann developed the HBDI – an instrument for brain dominance profiling – identifying thinking preferences. This brain dominance profile provides a very clear and simple language by which to explain cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
Why are thinking preferences important?
Thinking preferences have an impact on virtually everything we do, including communication, how we like to learn, make decisions, solve problems, communicate and manage others. Awareness of your thinking style preferences will give you a new perspective of yourself and the people you deal with everyday.
Understanding people’s thinking styles and how people process everyday business activities when under stress is invaluable. Individuals and managers who can appreciate the differences in thinking style are able to develop increased flexibility and work more effectively. Presenting information in a way that recognises, respects and is compatible with different preferences is crucial to meeting co-worker, customer and client needs and expectations.
HBDI profiles are useful for:
- Developing ‘Whole Brain’ thinking
- Communication
- Project management
- Creativity training
- Change management
- Explore workplace preferences
- Understanding elements of a Corporate Culture
- Team building
- Decision making
- Problem solving
Research has shown that everyone, when provided with appropriate training and support, is capable of flexing to less preferred thinking styles and learning the necessary skills to identify and adapt to the thinking preferences of others.
What is Whole Brain Technology? 
Herrmann International’s Whole Brain Technology® focuses on showing people how to use their entire brain – not just the parts with which they feel most comfortable. It is scientifically designed to help people learn to think better. Whole Brain Technology provides a basis for measuring different thinking preferences by determining the degree of dominance that has developed among four thinking styles.
At the core of Whole Brain Technology is the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®)—the worldwide standard for measuring thinking preferences and brain dominance.
How does it work?
The HBDI is not just another assessment tool – it picks up where other assessment tools leave off. Where most assessments end with a single report, the HBDI offers a valuable range of applications. Identifying your thinking style preferences is only the first step.
The HBDI evaluates and depicts the degree of preference individuals have for thinking in each of the four brain quadrants:
• Rational—Blue / A / Upper left 
• Practical—Green / B / Lower left
• Feeling—Red / C / Lower right
• Experimental—Yellow / D / Upper right
The HBDI, through its series of 120 questions, is capable of measuring the degree of preference between each of the four individual thinking structures (quadrants) and each of the four paired structures (modes). This results in a four quadrant profile, which displays the degree of preference for each of the four quadrants – your HBDI Profile.
Scoring results are free of value judgement and cultural bias. Because it is a self-analysis, most people immediately recognise their results as accurate.
The HBDI Profile package includes a full colour profile, accompanying interpretation booklet that explain the profile and scores in detail, and a discussion of the implications that your results have for business and personal life.
data & images sourced from www.herrmannsolutions.asia/au
