David Rock: Your Brain at Work We Read For You – November 2010
Context of YBAW "
• Different acts featuring Emily and Paul
• Take 1 versus Take 2
• Real life examples
• The neuroscience behind Emily and Paul’s behaviors
Content YBAW"
ACT 1: Problems and decisions
ACT 2: Staying cool under pressure
ACT 3: Collaborating with others
ACT 4: Facilitating change
Content YBAW"
ACT 1: Problems and decisions
ACT 2: Staying cool under pressure
ACT 3: Collaborating with others
ACT 4: Facilitating change
Working memory limitations"
Understand
Decide
Recall
Memorize
Inhibit
Working memory vs. hardwiring"
Working memory
Versus
Several pieces of information at once
Trillions of pieces of information
Working memory limitations"
1. Energy intensive
2. Small
3. Serial
4. Fussy
Working memory limitations"
Working memory limitations"
“We have a limited bucket of resources for activities
like decision making and impulse control, and when we
use these up, we don’t have as much for the next activity.”
Dr. Roy Baumeister
Three levels of thinking"
Level 1: Deleting emails
Level 2: Scheduling a meeting
Level 3: Writing a pitch
Working memory exercise"
10 + 10 = ?
15 + 15 = ?
100 + 120 = ?
550 + 550 = ?
?????
The morning email overwhelm"
• Goldilocks inside us
• The Stage
• The actors
A project that hurts to think about"
• Stage is small
• To many maps competing
• Chunking
• Choose your actors carefully
Juggling five things at once"• One role at a time
• Impact of doing to much
• Get audience involved – Basal Ganglia
• Order
• Attention
Saying no to distraction"
• Always on technology
• Internal distractions
• Novelty – Anterior Cingulate Cortex
• Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex
Half a second
Voluntary Movement Brain signal Desire to move
0.3 sec 0.2 sec
Veto power
Libet (1983)
The zone of peak performance"
Inverted U
Arousal
Per
form
ance
The Zone of peak performance"
• Getting interested
• To much arousal is not a good
• Arousal is individual
• Just right - flow
Getting past the roadblock"
• Insights the engine of the economy
• Going unconscious
• Impasse
• Distant connections
• Awareness
Most problems arenʼt solved rationally"
In the lab, 60% of problems are solved
in a way that people can’t explain
Where do insights come from?"
“…variables that improve the ability to
detect weak associations may improve
insight solving.”
Mark Beeman,
NeuroLeadership Journal, Edition 1
CRA problems"cracker - fly - fighter
safety - cushion - point
fish - mine - rush river - note - account
water - mine - shaker home - sea – bed
force - line - mail down - question - check
Content YBAW"
ACT 1: Problems and decisions
ACT 2: Staying cool under pressure
ACT 3: Collaborating with others
ACT 4: Facilitating change
Dr Daniel Siegal Hand model of the brain"
The skittish limbic system"
Limbic threat response"• Psychological = physical threats
• Generalizes more
• Errs on the side of pessimism
• Impacts working memory
• Derailed by drama
• Drowning amid uncertainty (SCARF)
• Expectations out of control
Bad is stronger than good"
Away
Threat Toward
Reward
Run away – walk towards
Friedman & Förster
Over-arousal – derailed by drama"
• Reduction in resources
• Director goes missing
• Pessimism versus optimism
Uncertainty and Autonomy"
• The only certainty is more uncertainty
• Autonomy and the perception of control
• Making choices - reappraisal
How to stay cool…"
1. Labeling
2. Reappraisal
3. Mindfulness
Expectations getting out of control"
• What you expect is what you experience
• Placebo
• Neurochemistry of under-promising
• Create the right expectations
Content YBAW"
ACT 1: Problems and decisions
ACT 2: Staying cool under pressure
ACT 3: Collaborating with others
ACT 4: Facilitating change
SCARF model"
SCARF model"
Status – The battle for status
Your brain is constantly monitoring your status in any
group. It literally assigns you a number in that group.
When you feel like you’re going up in status you start to
feel some of the ‘toward’ emotions.
SCARF model"
Certainty - Maintaining the status quo
Any time we experience some uncertainty we get a limbic
system response. In other words, we experience more of
the ‘away’ emotions.
SCARF model"
Autonomy
The brain likes to predict and have a say in the future.
When an individual feels there is some choice in a given
situation, then they’re more likely to experience ‘toward’
emotions.
SCARF model"
Relatedness – Turning enemies into friends
When you connect with people you like or can trust you
get a decrease in the stress hormone ‘cortisol’ and an
injection of the ‘feel good’ hormone dopamine. In other
words, you experience more ‘toward’ emotions.
SCARF model"
Fairness – When everything seems unfair
Everyone likes to feel that they have been dealt with in a
fair manner. When we feel that we have been treated
unfairly, for example in a pay review, we experience ‘away’
emotions.
Content YBAW"
ACT 1: Problems and decisions
ACT 2: Staying cool under pressure
ACT 3: Collaborating with others
ACT 4: Facilitating change
Attention changes the brain"
The mental act of focusing attention holds in
place brain circuits associated with what is
focused on.
The problem with problems"
Focusing on a problem hardwires it – stop
thinking about a pink elephant
Attention changes the brain"
Attention density:
Quality and quantity of attention
The trouble with feedback - CPF vs. FPC"
Constructive Performance Feedback
Facilitating Positive Change
Change is hard"
The power of focus
Safety first
SCARF
Keeping attention
Attention changes the brain"
Video Brainplacticity
Resources"Books: Quiet Leadership - David Rock (Collins, 2006)
Coaching with the Brain in Mind - Rock & Page (Wiley, July 2009)
Your Brain at Work - David Rock (Harper Business, October 2009)
Other resources: www.NeuroLeadership.org - summit, graduate certificate, journal
WorkplaceCoaching.com - brain-based coaching programs
DavidRock.net - blog, interviews, audio, articles, research
Final insights and questions"
What have been your main insights from today?
What two things will you now do differently?