"Keeping the Brain On-side“ (Working with the Brain so that HR is the Core Business) (FHRI CEOs Conference) Fiji April 2014 Bill Synnot

"Keeping the Brain On-side“(Working with the Brain so

that HR is the Core Business)

(FHRI CEOs Conference)Fiji

April 2014

Bill Synnot

Professional Background• A change management practitioner, trainer & consultant

with 40+ years experience. • Worked in Australia (included regional & outback) plus

internationally in Middle East, USA, South-east Asia, China, Japan, Indian sub-continent, Pacific, etc• 700+ world-wide clients in range of sectors (private,

public, local, co-operative, professional, not-for-profit, etc)• Coming to Fiji since 2001 and worked with 50+ clients

including TFL & subsidiaries, NFPF, WWF, USP, FEA, Housing Authority, Motabhai, Vinod Patel, Punjas, etc• Co-authored book (2nd printing of 2nd edition), USB &

published articles in a range of journals.• Regularly presents at conferences (including international)• For 15+ years has conducted public and in-house

Masterclasses/workshops on change management

Topics to be Covered

• Introduction• 9 cognitive bias in decision-making • Neuroscience, • Evolutionary physiology• 9 basic human instincts• Resistance• Some techniques

What do these Successful People have in Common?• Richard Branson (Virgin group of companies)• Kerry Packer (Consolidated group of Aust companies)• Charles Schwab (discount brokerage firm)• John Chambers (Cisco)• Paul Orfalea (Kinko)• Walt Disney (Disney Entertainment)• Ted Turner (CNN)• Kerry Stokes (Media baron in Australia)• Brian Grazer (Film producer – Splash, Apollo 13, 8 Mile

& A Beautiful Mind)• Gary Cohn (President of Goldman Sachs)• David Boies (famous US trial lawyer)

Answer

All suffer from varying degrees of Dyslexia

NB It is claimed that around 1/3 of successful

entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have turned a neurological mal-

function into a success!!!!

Dyslexia – a disability?• Brain-based learning disability where people

have a problem hearing & manipulating sounds. • Most commonly displayed by poor reading

(fluency, comprehension, speed, etc.), writing & spelling ability. It has no impact on memory, number calculations, etc• As it can cause feelings of insecurity &

humiliation, many sufferers are in prison, ie unable to handle the disorder & exhibit anti-social behaviours

Develop Skills to Handle & Compensate for Dyslexia

• As the condition limits reading skills, successful sufferers

- extract only vital information, ie simplify issues to their basics

- prefer face-to-face meetings (importance of non-verbals like gestures, tone of voice, etc)- become good listeners- develop good memory skills

(Develop Skills to Handle & Compensate for Dyslexia cont.)

• Used to failure so they are willing to take risks, ie nothing to lose• Learn to delegate• Develop resilience & persistence as they

are regarded as outsiders, ie rule breakers• Think differently (good for creativity)

(30 high profile & successful firms over 100 years old)

1 Consistent set of values

2 Willingness to change

3 People are the most important assets

4 Conservatism in financing

5 Actively foster a learning environment

6 Organise for continuity, ie succession planning

NB Most are linked with HR!!!!!!

SUCCESSFUL ORGANISATION

THE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE ART OF HR MANAGEMENT

• Neuroscience, ie understanding how the brain works & the network of causation inside our brains• Linked with this is an increased focus on

understanding i) evolutionary physiology ii) 9 basic human instincts iii) 9 cognitive bias in decision-making

Cognitive Bias (9) in Decision-making(Tunnel Vision)We all have cognitive biases, such as1. Confirmation bias2. Anchoring3. Heuristic effect4. Motivated errors5. Salient analogies or Survivorship6. Halo effect7. Hindsight or Intuition8. Stereo-typing9. Automation

C o gn iti ve Illu sio n s o r B iase d in D e cisio n -m akin g (9 )

We all have cognitive biases, such as1. Confirmation bias (focus on evidence that supports our

point of view, beliefs, etc)2. Anchoring (too much weight on 1 piece of information)

3. Heuristic effect (for a preferred option, we minimise risks while exaggerating its benefits; do opposite for something we dislike; this applies especially when under pressure)

4. Motivated errors (involves intentional deception, self-deception, ie decisions are biased in direction of self-interest)

5. Salient analogies or survivorship (do not properly assess mistakes & focus on repeating past successes &/or most recent experiences)

(Cognitive Illusions or Biased in Decision-making (9) cont.)(Tunnel Vision)

6. Hindsight or Intuition (too much confidence on in past experience; habit; rewriting the past ; routine thinking; gut feeling)

7. Halo effect (over-simplify a story plus link results to personalities; sequence matters, ie first impression dominates; good/bad people do good/bad things)

8. Stereo-typing (a typical personality description for a group of people, ie classifying them all as the same)

9. Automation (too much faith in accuracy of output from machines & computers)

(Cognitive Bias in Decision-making cont.)

Some examples of cognitive bias – please answer the following 6 questions1. A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs a dollar more than

the ball. How much does the ball cost?2. It takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets. How long

would it take a hundred machines to make a hundred widgets?3. A patch of lily pad on a lake doubles in size every day. It takes 48

days for the patch to cover the entire lake. How long would it take to cover half the lake?

4. A person can only count to 11 yet he/she has to check that there are 48 oranges in a box. How does he/she do it?

5. A person living on the 9th floor of a building always uses the lift/elevator to go to the ground floor. Except when it is raining, on returning to the building he/she always uses the lift/elevator to go to the 7th floor and walks the stairs to the remaining two floors to his/her apartment. Why?

(Cognitive Bias in Decision-making cont.)

6. What do the numbers 3, 7, 8, 40, 50 and 60 have in common that is not true for any other numbers?

7. What is the importance of the following sequence of letters (O, T, T, F, F, S, S, E, N, T) ?

8. Why are manholes round?9. How many animals of each kind did Moses take into the ark?10. Who am I? Some clues

- a successful political leader of a major world power- one of the youngest political leaders in the nation's history - sworn into office on a cold and cloudy day in January- raised as a Catholic- successful in this new position in part because of my vibrant charisma- revered by the people- played a critical role in a military crisis - my name became legendary

Neuroscience (biopsychology)

• It is the study of anatomy & physiology of the brain & its integration with other disciplines, such as psychology (the study of the human mind & human behaviour).

• It involves understanding that the brain (the physical organ) works with the mind (the human consciousness that thinks, feels, acts, perceives, etc).

• Since 1990s, imaging of blood flows & electrical impulses in the brain by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)

• There are 1 hundred billion neurons in the brain

Diagram of the Brain

Changing Behaviours• Changing one’s behaviour is hard, eg only 1 in

9 people who underwent heart surgery changed their life-style. Yet these people had the ultimate motivation, ie possible death. • Changing other people’s behaviour is even

harder and changing a group’s behaviour is harder still !!!!• Neuroscience helps explain this as it brings

into focus the science behind the art of management by recognising the importance of the brain and how it works

Brain Preferences

Signature

• Write your usual signature on a piece of paper• Now redo it using your other hand

Using your “unnatural” hand takes longer and requires more effort

(Neuroscience cont.)

• The 3 main functions of the brain/mind are

i) Automatic/Auto-pilot Functions (Reptilian – controls breathing, heart beat, sleeping, etc)

ii) Routine/Habit Functions (Amygdale, Basal Ganglia, etc - controls emotions/feelings like rage, pleasure, fear, etc)

iii) Executive Functions (Cortex, especially pre-frontal, etc - controls thinking, speech, vision, memories, creativity, problem solving, etc)


• The brain is energy hungry, ie is 2% of body weight but uses 20% of its energy

NB Executive function thinking is the most exhausting of the 3 functions

• Cognitive Ease/Law of Least Effort/Lazy Brain, ie the brain will choose the path of least resistance, like water flowing in a river


• Whole brain approach (not left v right)• The brain is like a muscle (use it or lose

it). • There is no limit to its plasticity &

connectivity

Importance of oxygen, water, food (glucose), exercise & sleep

• The brain needs oxygen (it can do without water & food for longer than oxygen)

• Importance of deep breathing, ie handle stress

• The brain is around 80% water- most unprocessed foods are around 70% water- colour of urine test

(Importance of oxygen, water, food (glucose), exercise & sleep cont.)

• Need to keep glucose (energy) & water levels up to ensure that brain is functioning OK

• Takes 15 minutes for glucose to go from stomach to brain

• The most important meal is breakfast• Exercise clears the brain, ie our bodies are

built for walking up to 20 km per day.


Sleep • Our brain and bodies need adequate sleep. At least

3 purposes of sleep i) restoration ii) regulation (circadian rhythm) iii) learning and memorising• Inadequate sleep causes “sleep squeeze” that has a

negative impact on learning, creativity, problem-solving and imagination

• Power nap (10 minutes) - very effective• Catching-up on sleep – go to bed early


• Lack of energy and/or water and/or sleep impacts adversely on executive functions, eg- making poor decisions- choosing impulsively-being cranky- struggling with problem solving/memory

tasks• Ideally don’t want an organisation of

hungry, tired &/or thirsty people who don’t breathe correctly!!!!!


• The brain/mind is an error-detecting machine (survival) with a default position that focuses on 6 areasi) threat response dominates rewardii) foe/competitor response dominates friendiii) not rational iv) making quick decisionsv) follows path of least resistancevi) better with stories than processing data

(Neuroscience - brain/mind error detecting cont.)

i) threat response dominates reward- concern of perceived threats, especially to status levels, by asking “why” questions, feedback, solving others’ problem(s), etc

(NB Perceived threats are subjective)- if one feels under threat, there is a tendency to be “hawkish”, ie fight rather than flight or freeze- word used, ie framing, can give impression of threat or not

(Neuroscience - brain/mind - error detecting cont.)

- minimise danger/maximise reward, ie “away/towards” approach; with towards being more productive than away -need to reduce threats & increase rewards (interesting, pleasurable, important, etc)- neuro-chemicals play an important role


Neuro-chemicals • Reward response involves increased levels of

“good” neuro-chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocins (bonding hormone) & testosterone that lower stress, etc and reduce “bad” ones used in “flight/fight/freeze” like cortisol, epinephrine, adrenaline, etc

• These “bad” hormones are at chronic levels or constantly elevated owing to the increasing life stresses. They are OK in short bursts to protect life against some immediate threat but are harmful if at a chronic levels


• Ways to improve this situation is by - showing more compassion (caring for

others)- reducing the rugged individualism

approachThis decreases stress hormones, boosts the immune system & increases longevity.• Importance of creating a work environment

that reduces stress & increases passion about working there

(Nine Basic Human Instincts cont.)

Loss Aversion TestQ. You are offered a gamble on the toss of

a coin. - if the coin shows tails, you lose $100 - if the coin shows heads, you win $150

Would you accept the gamble?

(Nine Basic Human Instincts cont.)

Loss Aversion Test – Answer

If the fear of losing $100 is more intense than the chance of gaining $150, then

you are risk averse, ie losses loom larger than gains

Generally, if the potential gain is increased to $200, almost all accept the gamble


ii) foe/competitor response dominates friend- we tend to withdraw (withhold information) & treat others as foe (with suspicion) unless we establish a rapport to develop a “friend response” like - a “toward” response (chance to

connect at a human level)

(Neuroscience - brain/mind - error detecting cont.)iii) making quick decisions

“...we are wired to detect patterns and to respond to opportunities & threats without hesitation...”

Nate Silver

This means that we are good at - simplifications- generalisations- approximations but poor at - looking at probabilities- handling risk & uncertainty, ie unknowns- questioning our assumptions & beliefs

We favour casual explanations even when not true


iv) not rational • Rational conveys an image of greater deliberation, more

calculation & less warmth; with a person’s beliefs and preferences being reasonable

• Yet non-psychologists, especially economists, look at rationality as being internally consistent rather than reasonable

• Humans are not irrational but need help to make more accurate judgements and better decisions

• People act in ways that seem odd, ie not in their long-term interest, but they could have a good reason to do so, ie people choosing not to save for old age or exposing themselves to addictive substances

• To be rational requires more effort


The brain/mind• Lower the threat response and increase in

positive emotions, frees up the prefrontal cortex for thinking, etc• Protect or enhance status, ie people will go to

extra-ordinary lengths to protect or enhance status• Social organ - importance of quality & quantity of social

connection/interaction- it is a basic need like food, shelter & water

(Neuroscience - the brain/mind – social organ cont.)

- thrives on quality social connections while loneliness generates a threat response

- in a non-threatening environment, people perform better (includes creativity)

- talking about an idea strengthens it- a greater positive response is activated

when giving rather than receiving

(Neuroscience - the brain/mind cont.)

• Need to focus attention from sensory inputs (sight, sound, smell, etc) to strengthen, or start, neural connections.

NB When cells fire together, they wire together (Hebb’s Law)- importance of repetition

NB Too much focus means that we can miss things that are not in the focus area but this state allows us to respond quickly to threats or opportunities to improve the chance of survival • Best to build on strong, in-place connections as

harder to start with new connections


• Prefers questions on solutions to problems as latter are seen as a threat- use solution-focused questions rather than giving advice on ‘what to do “ or “what not to do” - questions about solutions are a good way to increase attention/focus.


• Need to reduce distractions and/or task switching• Competing parts, eg conflict of thoughts

(positive v negative), keeping a secret (stress), etc• Likes certainty and favours novelty• Be curious & show interest


• Experiences emotional and physical pain in same part of brain- emotional pain stronger than physical as memory is attached• Fairness is a primary need

- a sense of fairness or unfairness creates a strong reward or threat response

- concept of fairness is a key driver of behaviour

(Neuroscience - the brain/mind cont.)• Arousal v performance (inverted U-theory)

Most Common Management Errors in Change Management (cont.)

• Right amount of arousal maximises performance but too much arousal can reduce performance. ie more is not necessarily better; it can make things worse. It is all about limits. The same strategy that works well at first stops working after a certain point. Some examplesi) happiness v. income, ie in USA happiness

improves with increasing income but peaks at US $75,000 and then decreases

ii) alcohol v. health, ie a small amount is good for you, while too much is bad for your health


• Imagining can be just as powerful as actually doing it for creating or strengthening neural connections, ie placebo impact (works on pre-frontal cortex)• For insights/brainwaves to occur- the brain needs to be “quiet” (reduced

electrical activity) beforehand via reflection, mindlessness, etc

(Neuroscience – insight s- cont.)

- think big picture (don’t focus on detail)- humour is important- need to increase positive emotions- reduce anxiety as it makes people’s views

narrower and the brain noisier- simplify a problem in a few words as possible,

ie less is more (this helps reduce the load on the prefrontal cortex)

- encourage people to think about their own thinking better, ie to see things they have not seen before

1st Exercise re Insight

Answer the following questionsi) What gets wetter the more it dries?ii) What’s a reward for waiting?iii) What can you put inside a barrel to make it

lighter?iv) In what place does Thursday precede

Wednesday?v) What eats but never swallows?vi) Name 3 days in sequence which are not

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday?

Comments on Insight Activities

• How did you solve the problems, ie- did you logically work it out or did the answer

come to you in a flash?- when you got the answer, did you know it was

correct straight away?

(Comments on Insight Activities cont.)

• Insights often appear to come from nowhere and at the most unusual times, eg when you are putting no conscious effort into solve a problem, such as in the shower, when doing exercise, relaxing, driving, waking-up, etc

• Insights come from instinctive thinking, ie unable to explain how the thinking process works

• This is different to deliberate thinking, ie using a structured approach (systematically/logically). This approach works best when you have- time- computer assistance- a clearly defined task.


• Linear tasking (not multi-tasking) as brain operates sequentially, ie prefers one thing at a time. Be careful of -“bottle necks” - clutching-up the brain (information overload) - switching (every 12 minutes), etc

(These habits will reduce the strength of connections)


• Memories - brain holds around 3 terabytes of information but around 2.5 quintillion bytes extra information generated per day. Needs to be selective and thus feeds our biases - are storage of past experiences that the brain uses to evaluate new experiences - memories are fragile & can change - intuition works on memories

(Neuroscience - memories cont.)

- it is easier to hold old memories than create new ones- traditional brain-storming focuses too much on “old” memories- short-term memory has limited storage space

• To help memory, use labelling and/or chunking • Lag (0.2 second) between when mind makes

a decision and when you know about it

SCARFElements used to move “away from threats” and “towards rewards”• Status (feeling superior/inferior to others)• Certainty (like familiar situations; reduce the

fear of the unknown)• Autonomy (having control, ie making own

decisions)• Relatedness (belong to same group or not)• Fairness (the way people are treated)


Summary

Choice of working with the brain or against it, ie be brain-friendly to

encourage a culture more receptive to change


• Using the brain more effectively in change by reducing: i) information overload ii) inhibitions & distractions iii) demands on its attention iv) retrieval from deep, long-term memory v) amount of time “always on” (24/7) vi) excessive stress/novelty/arousal vii) life-style imbalance as we have limited

resources


• Using the brain more effectively: i) reduce information overload - need to prioritise

- holds no more than 4 concepts at once- reduce the number of decisions in the “queue”- empty short-term memory- write things down- keep agenda items under 7, etc


ii) reduce inhibitions & distractions - need to reduce external & internal thoughts/

activities- learn to say “no”- delegate- prioritise, etc

iii) reduce demands on its attention - by regularly alternate between modes of

thinking/learning/activities like visual, auditory, kinetic, etc

(Neuroscience cont. )

iv) reduce retrieval from deep, long-term memory - activate short-term memory by making

activities/thinking more routine, etcv) reduce amount of time “always on” (24/7)

- take regular breaks- get enough sleep,- have adequate relaxation- do suitable exercise- maintain hobbies, etc

(Neuroscience cont. )

vi) reduce excessive stress/novelty/arousal- achieve stimulation via positive stress- use positive expectations or humour to generate

arousal (alertness & interest) rather than fear/ anxiety, etc

vii) reduce life-style imbalance as we have limited resources- need to eat for energy- drink water - breathe (oxygen) correctly- adequate sleep, etc

Activity on Impasse

What does the array or group of letters (H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O) stand for?

Record the strategies you tried and when you got stuck?

Evolutionary PsychologyEvolutionary Psychology is based on 5 convergent sources of scientific research.

i) Anthropologyii) Behavioural Geneticsiii)Neuropsychologyiv)Palaeontologyv) Social Psychology

(Evolutionary Psychology cont.)

“…you can take the person out of the Stone Age……but you cannot take the Stone Age

out of the person…”Nigel Nicholson

After 10,000s of years of hunting, gathering & cave/village dwelling, mankind began to work

in offices & factories only 250 years ago.

Offices/factories are not our natural habitat.


We are still hard-wired with the mentality of persons living in caves, jungles and/or on the savannah!!!!!!

This conflicts with some management theories that state that people can change with training and/or

motivation

(p. 58)(p. 58)


“…technology giveth, technology taketh away…”Chris Ruen

• The major consequence of this is our brains have not kept pace with change, especially technology

• Evolution occurs on millennial time scales, whereas computer processing power doubles roughly every other year

• This is linked with another problem. To handle potential danger, we have developed quick pattern-recognition skills, eg does something mean danger?

• In the modern, fast-paced world awash with data, this skill can cause problems, ie we can see patterns where there are none

Resistance to Change

“…we embrace change we control and resist change forced upon us...”

Peter de Jager• We resist change if it is done without our

consent and we have little or no control over the process

• Change pushes our brain into the most energy expensive area, ie executive function. The brain prefers not to go there as it will use too much of its available mental energy. It can become unpleasant & painful

Crossword(Activity to encourage divergent thinking)

1 2 3 41

2

3

4

5

CLUES: ACROSS DOWN1. a vegetable 1. a blow or hit2. female sheep 2. Judy’s friend3. laying eggs 3. for making holes4. ocean 4. a party drink5.for dropping

Mindset Changes

1. Writing in space2. Bulgarian bulldozers3. Railways and optic fibres4. Post it notes5. Shoes in Africa6. Nelson Mandela7. No game, more pain8. Houdini’s lucky escape9. Four-minute mile

Thinking Outside the Box

Book – The Toolbox for Change(a practical approach)

Seven sections in book covering the following topics1. General (10 tools)2. Personal awareness (11)3. Understanding culture (13)4. Creative thinking (9)5. Understanding resistance (8)6. Understanding teams (5)7. Understanding value, vision & mission statements

(4)

Six Thinking Hats Process (p. 171)

The 6 thinking hats that help structure a meeting so that it is more productive

1. White (factual information gathering)2. Red (emotion, feelings, intuition, gut feeling)3. Green (creative thinking, other possibilities, ideas,

imagination )4. Black (risks, caution, dangers, critical appraisal, what can go

wrong)5. Yellow (benefits, advantages, good points, optimism,

potential)6. Blue (defining goals & thinking process plus overview,

summary)“...a person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds...”

Mark Twain

Mind Mapping

Guidelines for Mind Mapping

73

• The visual language of our thoughts.

• Made popular by Tony Buzan (Mind Map (1990) & Radiant Thinking (1994). Sometimes called “story lines”.

• Mind mapping reflex the radiant nature of the brain at work

Mind Mapping (p 19)

Reasons for not Giving a Dog to a 5-year old

Six Thinking Hats Process (p. 171)

The 6 thinking hats that help structure a meeting, investigate a challenge, etc so that it is more

productive1. White (factual information gathering)2. Red (emotion, feelings, intuition, gut feeling)3. Green (creative thinking, other possibilities, ideas,

imagination )4. Black (risks, caution, dangers, critical appraisal, what

can go wrong)5. Yellow (benefits, advantages, good points, optimism,

potential)6. Blue (defining goals & thinking process plus overview,

summary)

Overview on 5 Volumes on CD1. Background to change (including pre-test, characteristics of a

successful organisation, trends, common management errors, etc); 60+ alternative change frameworks with detailed explanations; case studies

2. Using 7 Ingredients as a framework to plan, establish, develop, implement, check progress, audit performance, and monitor & evaluate an organisational transition

3. The change implementation techniques (around 70) for Ingredient 1

4. The change implementation techniques (around 70) for Ingredient 2

5. The balance of 250+ change implementation techniques for Ingredients 3 to 7; creativity; customer management; answers to pre-test and case studies; 2,000+ pages; 1,300+ references and acknowledgments, etc.

More Information1. Book (The Toolbox for Change: a practical approach) – 60 user-

friendly techniques discounted to F$ 70.002. USB (5 volumes; 1300+ references; 60+ change frameworks &

250+ implementation techniques, etc) discounted to F$ 499.00

3. Masterclasses (public & in-house) – Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide & Brisbane), USA (Orlando), NZ (Auckland), Fiji (Suva – April 15 & 16, 2014 at USP), Solomon Islands (Honiara), PNG (Port Moresby)

Contact Bill on or Taito TabalekaP: +61 418 196 707 P: +67 9 9301 890E: [email protected]: [email protected]: www.billsynnotandassociates.com.au

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

"Keeping the Brain On-side“ (Working with the Brain so that HR is the Core Business) (FHRI CEOs Conference) Fiji April 2014 Bill Synnot