Many technically gifted individuals climb the ranks of organisations thanks to their analytical prowess. Their ability to dissect problems, process information, and deliver data-driven results often gets them noticed and promoted. But when these individuals are elevated to management positions, a new reality sets in: technical skills alone aren’t enough to succeed as a leader.
Managing people, leading teams, and solving complex problems require more than just logic. It calls for creativity, empathy, and the ability to navigate uncertainty—all elements that require greater levels of right-brain thinking.
Managers who embrace this approach move beyond relying solely on left-brain thinking and can start to unlock the full potential of their leadership.
The Gap Between Technical Skills and Leadership Abilities
Technical experts might be masters of their craft, but when they’re suddenly tasked with leading teams or making strategic decisions, the road becomes far less clear.
In technical roles, problems often have a ‘right answer’—a solution that can be found through analysis, calculation, or a proven methodology. Leadership, however, deals with ambiguous problems.
It’s a shift from managing data to managing people, and from solving problems in a structured way to exploring grey areas that require more intuitive, creative thinking.
The Limits of Left-Brained Leadership
While analytical thinking is invaluable in technical fields, it has its limitations when applied to leadership. The left hemisphere of our brain excels at breaking problems down into smaller parts, assessing patterns, and arriving at conclusions based on logic. Think: laser-like focus.
However, sticking to this approach means things can become rigid, often leading to solutions that are effective in the short term, but fail to innovate or inspire long-term success.
Leading diverse teams, for instance, requires more than numbers and data—it requires emotional intelligence and the ability to connect with different personalities. Similarly, solving complex organisational challenges often calls for creative solutions that disrupt conventional thinking. Pure analysis can only take you so far in such situations.
Imagine leading a team through a crisis. Left-brain thinking might be great at pinpointing the cause, but true leadership demands an ability to think beyond the immediate issue. You need to engage with people’s emotions, inspire them, and find a path forward that might not be linear.
Without creative problem-solving, managers risk being seen as overly rigid or detached, which can erode team morale and hinder innovation.
You Have it in You - Gaining Easy Access to Creative Solutions
This is where right-brain thinking, comes in. Engaging the right side of our brains too gives us access to more than just logic—it taps into intuition, empathy, and imagination, allowing leaders to see problems from multiple angles and come up with innovative solutions.
Creativity in this context isn’t about painting or writing poetry (though those activities certainly help). It’s about breaking out of the structured, logical framework and opening yourself up to ideas and insights that might initially seem unconventional.
By embracing right-brain thinking, managers can expand their problem-solving toolkit. Engaging with creativity enables leaders to foster better connections with their teams, build environments of trust and openness, and come up with solutions that resonate on a human level. It’s not just about solving problems more effectively; it’s about creating meaning, joy, and fulfilment in the process.
There’s plenty of research to support this approach. Studies have shown that engaging both hemispheres of the brain—logic and creativity—enhances cognitive flexibility, which is critical for solving complex problems. This kind of thinking allows managers to connect seemingly unrelated ideas and come up with breakthrough solutions.
In addition to better problem-solving, engaging in right-brain thinking has numerous side benefits for managers. It can increase personal fulfilment, as creativity often brings joy and a sense of purpose.
It helps leaders connect with their teams on a deeper level, fostering a more positive and collaborative working environment. And importantly, it equips leaders to navigate ambiguity with confidence, which is essential in today’s fast-paced, constantly changing business landscape.
2 Practical Steps to Help You Reconnect with Creative Leadership
So, how can technically gifted managers reconnect with their creative sides and become more well-rounded leaders? Here are two strategies we like to use with leaders to help them make the shift into right-brain thinking:
Exercise 1: Divergent and Convergent Thinking Objective: To first generate as many ideas as possible (divergent thinking), then refine them into actionable solutions (convergent thinking).
Divergent Thinking Take a problem you’re currently facing (e.g., improving team productivity). Set a timer and brainstorm as many ideas as possible—don’t judge or filter them. Think of wild ideas, practical ideas, anything that comes to mind. Aim for at least 15.
Examples:
Create a reward system for productivity.
Schedule daily team-building exercises.
Automate repetitive tasks.
Convergent Thinking Once you have your ideas, group similar ones and rank them based on feasibility and impact. The goal is to narrow down to 2-3 viable options that balance creativity with practicality.
Top 3 Ideas:
Automate repetitive tasks.
Introduce a rewards system.
Provide flexible work hours to improve focus.
This method encourages creativity first, followed by a structured process of refinement. You generate possibilities, then focus on what can actually be done. Tip: The aim is to keep these steps totally separate. Be disciplined, or it won’t work nearly as well.
Exercise 2: “How Might We” Questions
Objective: To reframe challenges in a way that encourages creative exploration while keeping solutions grounded in reality.
Identify the Problem Define a challenge (e.g., low employee engagement).
Craft “How Might We” Questions Write several “How might we” questions that frame the problem as an opportunity for innovation.
Examples:
How might we make work more fun during busy periods?
How might we empower team members to take more ownership?
Brainstorm Solutions For each question, generate a range of solutions. Don’t worry about feasibility yet—let creativity flow.
Example Solutions:
Introduce flexible work hours.
Implement gamification for daily tasks.
Organise regular team challenges.
Refine Ideas Sort through the ideas, group them, and identify the top 2-3 solutions with the highest potential impact.
Top 2 Solutions:
Introduce gamification for tasks (low cost, high engagement).
Offer flexible work hours (moderate cost, high employee satisfaction).
These activities help people to tap into their natural creativity, while still delivering very tangible, practical outcomes–and stellar results. The very fact that you can do both usually blows people’s minds.
Sidenote: we facilitated these exercises with a technology transformation and IT team once. The CTO told me afterwards, “We’ve come up with ideas that are worth millions of dollars to our business here.” – That was in just one morning.
Bridging the Gap Between Analysis and Creativity
While analytical thinking is obviously still critical, true leadership requires a broader, more holistic approach. To succeed as a leader, especially in complex and ambiguous situations, managers must reconnect with their creative sides.
Right-brain creativity allows leaders to think more openly, innovate more effectively, and connect more deeply with their teams. By fostering both left-brain and right-brain thinking, technically gifted managers can become more fulfilled, well-rounded, and successful leaders.