5 Insights From Neuroscience For Organisational Change
Back in November 2022, I had the pleasure of collaborating on an article about agility in the workplace to be published in Raconteur & The Times. I worked with a team called the impact labs consisting of behavioural scientists, neuroscience experts and Marion - a master coach and X-Googler. In one of our prep calls she said to me “Work has changed, our brains not”, and that stuck with me.
I remembered the many times when I struggled to process any information after a busy day and was curious about what does that mean, our brains did not change? She recommended reading the book Neuroscience for Organisational Change by Hilary Scarlett, and I did.
Although I believe I do know some facts about the brain, reading the book had an eye-opening effect on me. It is written in an easy-to-understand way and works well with repetition which helped me to store the key information easier in my head. I read the book on my Kindle app in about five days but I guess that you can easily read those 288 pages on a weekend. I highly recommend the book especially if you are a manager and a leader of a team, you work in strategy and transformation, are a coach or business consultant, are in L&D, or if organisational psychology is on your agenda. But I also recommend it to anyone out there who wants to understand the brain better.
Summary of My Key Learnings
Learning # 1 - Our Brains Are Not Designed For Our Modern World Of Work
To say it in very simple words: our brains have not changed or developed much but our prefrontal cortex (PFC) has and is responsible for our decision-making, planning and analysis. When we are getting into a threat state, fight or flight situation, or are literally under stress, that PFC gets shut down and other parts of the brain ‘take over’. When you think about it for a minute, it’s quite shocking that our thinking power centre gets shut down when we actually need it the most. I think this is really important to be aware of.
Learning # 2 - Employees Under Stress React With A “Teenager” Brain
The uncertainty that organisational change can cause, activates the brain areas in employees that are part of the FEAR NETWORK. In other words, an organisation going through change is like an organisation being run by a group of teenagers, which means they are quick to get angry and emotional and have a hard time reasoning. The threat state sends our brains into a distracted and anxious state. How are we supposed to be high performers under that condition?
There has been a ‘law’ developed by two psychologists, already in 1908 (Robert Yerkes and John Dodson) called the INVERTED U OF PERFORMANCE.
The law states that there is an optimal level of arousal, stimulation and stress: too much of it reduces our ability to perform a task well. In other words, a bit of stress is crucial because boredom would impair our performance, too. But again, if our brains are under increasing levels of stress (x-axis), we get distracted. We all experienced it, running from meeting to meeting and feeling extremely stressed. We have problems recalling information, we feel overwhelmed, decisions seem rushed and not thought through, etc.
I agree with the author that ALL organisations could learn a lot by looking at the inverted U of performance as there has been a belief that pushing people hard will get the most out of them. Quite the opposite: if we push people too hard their brains start to shut down.
Learning # 3 - Social Pain Is Like Physical Pain
The brain processes social pain using the same system as it does for physical pain. Ouch! Some research says that social rejection reduces our IQ (Twenge et al, 2001); it causes a decrease in our ability to think intelligently. The book talks about how we all are part of ingroups and outgroups and the effect it has on our performance. I remember starting that new role at an organisation where almost every week a huge surprising change happened. Clear communication but also accountability were missing.
That went on for several months, and as a result, it did contribute to me feeling not part of the wider team at all. I felt left alone, pushed down and around and not supported. We underestimate our need to feel that we belong and are connected to others, especially during times of uncertainty. In the end, I developed pain in my abdominal area and had one infection after the other. My brain shut down my digestion system because I couldn’t eat for weeks and lost weight. I could not sleep and my anxiety level increased. I felt abandoned and in professional terms, I was not set up for success with that job.
Learning # 4 - If You Want Employees To Change Their Behaviour, Try To Attach That New Behaviour To Something They Already Do
Again we first need to understand that our brains simply resist change.
They like habits, they like routine. Why? Because it costs less energy; habits reduce stress. Imagine how a work day that doesn’t look like the other actually increases stress for us. A plan is always good to have but a planning process is better. Know that it’s hard for the brain to ‘unlearn’. Once our brain has set down neural pathways of a habit, it’s hard to erase.
So what can we do?
A few things. If we want to change behaviour, we have to make it EASY, ATTRACTIVE, SOCIAL, and TIMELY.
The COM-B model (by the UCL’s Centre for Behaviour Change) shows what organisations need to pay attention to: not only developing the capability of an employee but also creating an environment where ‘new’ behaviour can be displayed. In order to change behaviour, people need to have all three, the CAPABILITY, the OPPORTUNITY and the MOTIVATION.
1. What behaviour do you want to change?
2. Which of the COMs is missing?
3. What interventions (are needed)?
Learning # 5 - How Can We Restore Our Mental Energy?
Write the most important task down, it must be achievable
Don’t check emails first thing, the same for chats on Slack or Teams
Know what tires your brain (e.g. too much decision-making, commuting to an office for 2 hours per day, distractions through the noise, your mobile, colleagues interrupting you)
Reduce negative emotions, and anxiety (e.g. no news)
Avoid small talk (talking to people you don’t know well can be mentally fatiguing, especially before an important project or presentation)
Reduce the decision-load
Block out thinking time
Get thoughts onto paper
Take breaks
Don’t switch between tasks (called multi-tasking), one task at a time
Of course, the book shares more than my 5 learnings. It has a lot of practical ideas and supports findings and ideas with real examples and stories. This book is a handy guide to keep in your library.