An
insight is your unconscious mind solving a problem for you, says David
Rock, bestselling author and CEO, NeuroLeadership Institute
David Rock has a simple agenda - to make people
think about how they think. Rock started out doing something a lot of
people do; he was a leadership facilitator helping people hone their
execution abilities. Over time he realised that the quality of ideas and
insights was significantly higher when they discussed softer issues, but in
a scientific manner. This is what triggered his interest in, and eventually
led to him coining the term neuroleadership, and co-founding the
NeuroLeadership Institute in Sydney. Simply put, neuroleadership explores
how processes within the brain influence behaviours in the workplace.
"Neuroleadership is the study of leadership and management from the
perspective of what happens in the brain. It is the human, not financial, side
of leadership," says Rock. He has authored a number of books on the
subject including Quiet Leadership and Your Brain at Work.
Rock recalls how during a training session at NASA,
one of the participants said to him that while they could determine exactly
where a particular piece of metal would be in space ten years from now,
they didn't know what would happen at their next meeting. And that's where
neuroleadership comes in. "Neuroleadership can predict the impact of
decisions, and help improve the positive impact of any activities a leader
may undertake," he says. "The main applications of
neuroleadership are in improving personal resilience, the quality of
conversations, growing talent and leading change," he says.
Most times, when leaders have conversations with
their team, their intent is very different from what they actually end up
communicating. The most common manifestation is when a leader is trying to
motivate a team by focussing on the specific problem at hand, say how
targets aren't being met. "This will only put additional pressure on
the team, which views it as a status threat. When people feel like their
current status is in threat, they act like their life is in danger,"
says Rock.
Naturally, that's not going to help. Once leaders
understand this, their approach changes. The conversation should instead
focus on sharing the overall long term goal, and asking questions which
will make the team think in a certain manner, eventually leading to better
results. "Threats are bad for thinking," says Rock.
"However, if you learn how to improve your own thinking, it will make
you a better leader. You become more efficient at what you do, and you
learn how to influence others' thinking, which is an important part of
being a leader."
The other area where neuroleadership can be
extremely effective is change management. When you talk about what's
happening it helps create a language for experiences that we don't
understand. When you have a language for something, you also have more control
over it and it lets people know that it's normal. The three key steps are
to first create a 'towards state' or paint a picture of the future. Once
you identify what future state you want to achieve, it will minimise the
threat and fear people have. Next, the leader has to change how their brain
works by facilitating new connections and finally, embed new habits and
behaviours. These are the building blocks of organisational change at any
level.
When most organisations try to change, they focus
on the past problems which creates a strong fear state; brain science
teaches you how to manage this change more effectively. For a leader to be
effective, it is important that he understands this as a crucial part of
his role is to influence how others think.
Studies have shown that social carrots and sticks
are far more effective than financial rewards and recognition as they are
linked with a sense of fairness. Neuroleadership studies have also helped
explain the phenomenon of insights. The conscious brain is very limited,
and can only solve basic problems. The unconscious brain on the other hand,
has extraordinary processing capacity and is a powerful trouble-shooter,
but we often miss out on the signals it is sending us because of the
constant noise in our heads. "An insight is really just your
unconscious mind solving a problem for you and it is important as many
business problems are far too complex for the conscious mind to
solve," says Rock. "That's why most people have their 'aha moments'
or insights early in the morning, or in the shower when their minds are
relatively quiet."
An emerging area where Rock sees potential for
neuroleadership is in the assessment of leaders. Assessing leadership
skills by understanding the neurological strengths and weaknesses of the
leaders can be an effective tool in evaluating them, although we are still
some time away from introducing this column in appraisal forms. So what
advice does he have for someone who wants to use their brain more
effectively? "It is important to start thinking about your thinking.
We are thinking for a living and most jobs involve some degree of problem
solving. It is time we become observant of how we think," he says.
Priyanka
Sangani ETCD130210
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