The NeuroBiology of Change

© The BestWork People 2012

The NeuroBiology of Change

Working with the brain instead of against it

Change and Performance Management ConferenceNew Orleans, November 13, 2012

Applying insights from Neuroscience

Good news and bad news for those of us looking to drive change

Sneak preview: You can’t do anything

new while muti-tasking


At its best, the human brain is capable of extraordinary feats


To question To learn To invent To create To interpret To communicate To choose

© Kevin Ochsner, Columbia University, 2008

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Our task today

What puts people in shape for ongoing learning and change?

To thrive in a shifting environment?

To minimize the suffering around change, and seize the opportunity to contribute more?


Good news and bad news

Humans retain Neuroplasticity as adults – we can learn

Neuroplasticity feels good

The brain gets a shot of pleasure from new ways to contribute

We can actively promote brain fitness in corporate culture

The adult brain is programmed to conserve energy by minimizing ‘new’

Stress of any kind makes learning impossible

We are highly vulnerable to ambiguity and social stress

Working memory is small: can only absorb small amounts of new info

Nothing new can happen while multi-tasking


A BIT OF BACKGROUND


Commerce is as old as the first human community

Developed over more than 200,000 generations

The brains of early ancestors are about 1/3 the size of

modern humans The brain reached it

current size about 1300 generations ago


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It all started with a change in the weather…

Pressure from climatic change made increased cooperation a great adaptive advantage: giving rise to language, driving brain development

John Medina,Professor of Bioengineering, University of Washington School of Medicine

Humberto Maturana, Professor of Biology, University of Chile


Commerce and the brain co-evolved

Brain Body Business

Lucy

3,200,000 yrs160,000 gens

500 cc Male 5’ 100#Female 4’ 50#Walking upright, arched footSloped forehead

Cooperating and CoordinatingPrimitive toolsLanguage?Communities in Africa

1,000,000 years50,000 gens

1000 cc Heavy brow ridgesLess sloping forehead

Good cutting edgesCommunities throughout Asia, Africa, maybe Europe

25,000 years1,250 gens

1500 ccModernPFC

Male 6’ 150#Female 5’5” 120# Fully modern

Trading over thousands of miles ArtElegant toolsHerdingCommunities in Asia, Africa, Australia, and maybe the Americas

10,000 years500 gens

X X Horticulture, towns

5,000 years250 gens

X X Cities, warfare, taxes, writing

600 years30 gens

X X Italian Renaissance, bankingCan exchange without seeing each others’ eyes

230 years 11 gens

X X Industrial revolution, modern cities People become ‘pairs of hands’



Commerce is based in vulnerability

The roots go back more than 3 million years: walking upright made birthing increasingly difficult; babies were born increasingly immature

Cooperation was essential


We humans make our living in exchanges

Exchanging with others is in our biology – it’s an essential part of being human

We’re highly sensitive about it – a matter of survival

How is a Broken Heart Like a Broken Leg?

=© Matthew Lieberman, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, UCLA, 2008

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An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion

Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003, Science© Matthew Lieberman, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, UCLA, 2008

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We’re easily triggered in any kind of interactions with others

© Matthew Lieberman, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, UCLA, 2008

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Social animals thrive together – not separately


We become ingenious when others appear to be vulnerable

People mobilized instantly in 18 degree weather

The mood of the country changed

17 © The BestWork People 2012

Interactions with others is the basis of business

and the stuff of human life

Casual or formal,monetized or not,tangible or intangible The brain is hard-wired to keep us focused on them, and on our role and status

When we’re not engaged in some kind of exchange, we’re often thinking about them


Mirroring Emotions

Mirror Neurons

Insula Limbic System

Stimulate the facial expression

Feel the emotion

Carr et al PNAS 2003 I live in the facial expression of the other, as I feel him living in mine.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty© Marco Iacoboni, Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, 2009

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THE CHALLENGE


The vulnerability we face in modern life

is not what the brain is built for

Wild predators present short intense moments of stress

For most of human history, people faced little ambiguity – rules and roles were clear

They were accepted members of a cooperative group, knew their trading partners all their lives - social stress was minimal

The pace of change was very slow


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The brain is bilateral

The corpus callosum is a large bundle of nerves - a very important structure that connects the two sides of the brain

It’s exceptionally sensitive to stress.

When stressed, the two halves don’t communicate – we lose mental dexterity


Ingenuity, innovation, learning and dexterity require both sides of the

brain

Using a tool we know, like a hammer, lights up an area just above and behind the left ear: Wernicke’s area

Devising a new way to use it lights up just above and behind the right ear

The PFC ‘thinks’ well under optimal conditions

Not when we feel rejected, unappreciated or unloved

Not when we assess risk or experience ambiguity

Not unless the arousal chemicals and neuro-modulators are “just right”


Many aspects of modern life conflict with brain ‘wiring’

Naturally inclined to avoid uncertainty, unless it’s in the form of play

Highly sensitive to social stress, disadvantaged working in a world bigger than our childhood ‘tribe’

Working memory is small and easily tired Stress reduces executive function intelligence Multi-tasking dumbs us down

Every day, modern business demands new exchanges, new people, new information


Peoples’ concerns are continually shifting

What does it take to sustain curiosity?

Courage - To question - To take in ‘unwelcome’ news Fitness - To be nimble and responsive


Invariably requiring new exchanges

Curiosity is the silver bullet


Whatever business you may be in…

You’re in the business of generating rich exchanges

What would your world be like if exchanging with your team and your business was the richest experience of peoples’ day…week…?

When the PFC is not stressed, people can design and fully partner in any challenge. In fact, they love it


APPLYING THE INSIGHTS


In our era, delivering value often requires design


A modern productive worker is someone who does a great job in figuring out what to do next. Seth Godin 10/15/12

Change is an integral part of modern work

Designing new value is a natural pleasure for an unstressed PFC

Interpreting vulnerability

Identifying opportunity

Devising ingenious ways to use resources

Driving innovation


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Orient your culture to brain fitness

Start meetings by sparking neuroplasticity - a kush ball, a brain teaser, energizing music…

Rotate the job of sparking meetings… Celebrate methods of stress reduction Keep stakeholder vulnerability top of mind: refresh

stories about customers, users, suppliers… Make multi-tasking and emails between 7 pm and

7 am uncool Neutralize status with inclusive, collaborative inquiry Include many styles of learning as part of the

pleasure of working together


Minimize stress

Articulate new questions and challenges, with open invitations to address them

Decrease ambiguity with simple terms to describe challenges and clear metrics to track them

Role model pauses and breaks, integrating fun and physical activity

Reduce information overload; when you share info, use patterns, visuals

Not only will it make people smarter and ready to learn, it will reduce your health care costs39 © The BestWork People 2012

Cultivating a low-stress environment involves some departures from

tradition

Rest – 3 naps a week optimizes brain function and overall health – create a nap room?

Social inclusion – play and questions - create a play room! Bring in juggling and clown classes?

New forms of exercise – make stairwells interesting – bring in Zumba, Irish dancing…?

Pauses for guided breathing?


Generate the experience of belonging

Create inclusion with play

Create inclusion with sincere questions


What makes a question powerful?

Provokes curiosity: Introduces a new

interpretation, label, or distinction

Focuses on others’ vulnerability

Opens possibilities for contributing


Potential for a shot of dopamine

A culture of inquiry powers brain fitness, and supports learning and

change

Promotes inclusion Neutralizes status Provokes curiosity Encourages neuroplasticity


Summary: promoting brain fitness

New forms of fun, exercise and moving Sincere questions, genuine vulnerability Labels and patterns, repetition Breaks and rest Multiple senses: pictures, sound… Experience of belonging

Concerns for status Multi-tasking Fatigue Stress Danger/risk/rejection Ambiguity/change Information overload


Enable with: Impair with:

What will you do differently tomorrow?

How will you make people smarter - more responsive to change and open to learning?



What is possible in commerce is determined by what the brain can do

Understanding how it all works may enable us to navigate through another big change in the weather


Remember what the brain likes

Pictures Patterns The feeling of

belonging Labels Questions:

invitation to invent/play

Opportunity to contribute to others

Fairness Novelty Feeling in control Faces

Remember what shuts down PFC function

Fatigue Multi-tasking Perception of

danger/ ambiguity/ being out of

control Concern for status


What might be possible if you could leverage the brain’s powerful

wiring?


With gratitude for the thinkers, teachers, and researchers who illuminated the path

Marsha Shenk is one of the pioneers of Business Anthropology. Her models have empowered business leaders for more than three decades.

Synthesizing insights from Neuroscience, Linguistics, Somatics, social sciences and business, her work simplifies the complex cultural, biological, and historical forces that determine the success of modern enterprises.

www.BestWork.biz http://twitter.com/marshashenk

© The BestWork® People 201251

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