© 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
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At its best, the human brain is capable of extraordinary feats
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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?
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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
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A BIT OF BACKGROUND
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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
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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’
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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
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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
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We become ingenious when others appear to be vulnerable
People mobilized instantly in 18 degree weather
The mood of the country changed
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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
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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
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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
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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”
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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
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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
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Invariably requiring new exchanges
Curiosity is the silver bullet
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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
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APPLYING THE INSIGHTS
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In our era, delivering value often requires design
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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
© The BestWork People 2012
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?
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Generate the experience of belonging
Create inclusion with play
Create inclusion with sincere questions
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What makes a question powerful?
Provokes curiosity: Introduces a new
interpretation, label, or distinction
Focuses on others’ vulnerability
Opens possibilities for contributing
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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
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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
© The BestWork People 201244
Enable with: Impair with:
What will you do differently tomorrow?
How will you make people smarter - more responsive to change and open to learning?
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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
© The BestWork People 201247
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
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What might be possible if you could leverage the brain’s powerful
wiring?
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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