Episode #20: Leadership on the Brain Part 1

“Knowledge that is not able to support action is not genuine—and how unsure is activity without understanding?” Rudolf Virchow

The goal for both the podcast and accompanying blog posts is to share knowledge and make it actionable.  At ImpactBank we value understanding most of all because activity based on understanding is sure to create the results we and our client seek.

In this week’s ImpactBank: the Kickass Koach podcast episode I share a story that reveals how true this really is. When you hear my story some of you may even suggest I should have been fired for my lack of understanding. I hope it will be instructive even though it is may be a bit ‘over the top’.  My heart was in the right place. I thought I was relieving tension and having some fun. I underestimated the impact of my actions.

I triggered Ted’s, not his real name, amygdala and throughout this series I will continue to use this story as the basis for understanding all the ways you as a leader do this yourself.

“Knowledge that is not able to support action is not genuine—and how unsure is activity without understanding?” Rudolf  Virchow

So to understand how the trigger may happen I am going to start where I do in the podcast and review a concept I have shared in past episodes.  We essentially operate with five brains, they are:

1. The primitive brain or reptilian brain. The source of our natural urges and drives or instincts.
2. The limbic brain. The source of our emotions and location of our collection of memory.  It’s where learning happens and it drives our connections and social needs.  It’s important to note that the limbic brain operates on reflex–its not reflective or rational.
3. The cerebral cortex—including the executive elements of the brain.  This is where all our higher order functions are managed.  Essentially, our more rational brain.
4. The heart brain.  This brain communicates to the central brain at twice the rate that the central brain communicates back.  It also resonates at 5000 times the rate which suggests it’s the heart brain that really drives our connection or repulsion.
5. The gut brain.  This brain communicates back to the central brain at 10 times the rate it receives direction from the central brain and some suggest it may be more attuned to our instincts.

All these brains interact and engage.  In this series we examine, through workplace based stories how leaders can tap the domains of the brain (including all five components) to increase their influence and build more cohesion and engagement.

The brain, according to Evian Gordon, is organized around the desire to reduce threat and increase reward.  So it begs the question as to what activates these reactions and how we can respond to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive.  In this series we will play with these factors.  The second question is what is important about this to the leader.

Well Matthew Lieberman, in his book Social, suggests we are social creatures first and foremost and to our brains the social equates to survival.  In the workplace we need to collaborate, influence and even compromise to accomplish anything.  When a leader understands how to influence this kind of cooperation or co-creation they will accomplish more and likely accomplish it more quickly.

Through the series we will address the question of what activates the reactions and how to respond. Let’s address the second question first:  what is important about this to you, the leader.  Well what happens when when people are feeling stress or threatened in the workplace and the amygdala is activated?

1. You are less likely to see subtle signs.  When you miss these signs you are less likely to be able tto solve problems effectively AND the big aha moment is less likely to form.
2. You are less likely to be at your best cognitively.  You will experience fuzzy thinking.  This happens in large part because:
   1. Your oxygen and glucose levels are low;
   2. Your working memory is impacted; and,
   3. Your linear, conscious processing is weakened.
3. Your reliance on generalizations is intensified and, as a result, you are more likely to make accidental connections.  This can severely impact your ability to solve problems and strategize effectively because you will:
   1. Err on the safe side;
   2. See fewer opportunities than are actually available;
   3. Perceive danger as bigger than it actually is;
   4. React defensively;
   5. Perceive small sources of stress huge.

Interestingly the threat response in humans last longer than the reward response, it is the default for our brain and we turn it in on ourselves making us extremely self critical.  These three factors make it essential for a leader to work very hard to maintain a reward response.

What activates these reactions and how do we respond to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive?

The benefits for moving your team, department and company into the reward response and maintaining it are:

1. Teams and individuals in reward response make the most difficult things happen.  They exceed expectations.
2. They are willing to take risks so innovation is more likely to occur.
3. They think more deeply so our able to develop the newest and most useful solutions.

You may be interested to know that with the positive emotions that are generated by this reward response learning is increased and it likely sticks because of the effect of the dopamine. Additionally, people perceive more options and solve more non-linear problems and they collaborate better.  Generally speaking people perform better overall.

For this series, the critical point for you to consider is how our brain’s reaction influences behaviour.
When your direct reports feel criticized in a meeting, they may simply shut down.  You may perceive it as an unwillingness to contribute and if you fail to see your contribution to the situation you will be unable to change it.  What if the person becomes snippy or sarcastic about everything in response or entrenched and rigid or extremely argumentative.  Watch for signs of this in your next meeting.

Your reaction is learned over time and influenced by how your brain is registering the strong threat you are experiencing. By the way, the social pain of being called out publicly in a meeting is registered by the brain the same way as if someone slapped you.

Only with increased awareness will you, as a leader, be able to bring out the best in your people.  Stay tuned for the rest of the series.

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Next Week:  why it literally hurts to be left out of the big meeting

Have a kickass week and find ways to minimize the threats experienced in your workplace.