The Neuroscience of collaborating with & influencing others

Joan Evans Executive Vice President, Innovation

and Transformation Cone Health

One of the region’s largest,

most comprehensive health networks

Our Purpose & Intent:

Together we create unsurpassed health

care experiences & are the leader

in delivering integrated,

innovative health care

6 hospitals 100+ locations

12,000 employees 1,300 physicians 1,200 volunteers >$1B in revenue

$1.9B in assets

Goals After this session, participants will be able to…

Explain the role of the amygdala & prefrontal cortex in managing

behavior and emotions

Name the five elements of the

SCARF Model

Apply the SCARF model to interpersonal

interactions

Explain how the brain responds to change and

feedback

• This field of study has developed over last 20 years, primarily due to fMRI

• Research has led to significant changes in paradigms about leadership, emotional intelligence & human interaction

Neuroscience & Human Interaction

1 Organizing principle: “Minimize Danger – Maximize Reward”

2 MODES of processing: NonConscious and Conscious

4 Key Processes: Emotion, Feeling, Thinking, Self Regulation

Emotion (0 - .2 seconds)

Feeling (.5 seconds)

Thinking (.5 sec & longer)

Self Regulation (past, present, future)

NONCONCSCIOUS CONCSCIOUS INTEGRATE Model: Evian Gordon et al

Brain 1-2-4 Model

Key Brain Areas

The Amygdala is

the integrative center for emotions, emotional

behavior, and motivation

The PFC is the

most evolved brain region —our

highest-order cognitive abilities.

The Amygdala

• Emotions and feelings happen in the limbic system, namely the amygdala

• The amygdala responds to known and perceived threats AND to ambiguous and novel stimuli

• Like Wyatt Earp, it’s fast, just not always accurate

• It can quickly highjack us and it takes enormous energy to override it

The Prefrontal Cortex

Allows us to make thoughtful decisions, have insights and good judgment

Allows us to organize and plan for the future

Can “override” the amygdala’s emotional reaction

Chronic stress wears out the PFC, limiting its ability to regulate the amygdala

Has important role in memory retrieval

What happens when the PFC is worn out?

What are characteristics of a stressed out adult brain? How do you influence, collaborate & connect with that

kind of brain?

More Science . . . Synapse

Neurotransmitters

1. …you were at your worst…upset, stressed, frustrated,

even angry as a result of an interaction with a colleague.

What happened that triggered this response?

2. …you were at your best…engaged, energized, positive

as a result of an interaction with a colleague.

What happened that triggered this response?

Think About A Time…

The SCARF Model

• A model for understanding the true drivers of human social behavior

• Developed by David Rock, Founder of the Neuroleadership Institute

• Model enables people to remember, recognize and more easily modify the core domains that drive human behavior

The SCARF Model

Status Certainty Autonomy Relatedness Fairness

Toward reward

Away threat

These 5 domains activate either the primary reward response or the primary threat response.

The SCARF Model

Consequences of “Threat” • Lower cognitive performance

• Decreased problem-solving ability

• More defensive behaviors

– More filtered & “less” honest communication

• Catastrophizing

• Reduced creativity & mental flexibility

The SCARF Model

Consequences of “Reward” • Willingness to think differently & develop new

solutions

• Better collaboration & engagement

• Willing to take risks & try new things

• Greater creativity

• More positive emotions

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• Is the most significant determinant of longevity and health (Whitehall Study)

• Our sense of status is elevated when one feels “better” than another

Status

Status is about relative importance to others, “pecking

order,” and seniority

• Threats to status result in same response as physical pain; exclusion and rejection are physiologically painful

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• Low status triggers a threat response and this increases cortisol production (stress hormones)

• Increase in status creates increases in dopamine and serotonin

• Reputation is a measure of social status

• Seeing disapproval in the faces of others triggers a greater amygdala response than does anger

Status

Image source: http://www.google.com

• Certainty preserves energy in the pre-frontal cortex (Schultz, 1997)

• Even a small amount of uncertainty generates an “error” response in our PFC. This inhibits dopamine release.

• Certainty triggers the reward mechanism (BIG dopamine dump)

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Certainty

Certainty concerns being able to predict the future;

our brains like this!

Autonomy

Autonomy provides a sense of control over events and a

sensation of having choices

Even the façade of having

choices creates a “towards” response

Autonomy and certainty are tightly related; more autonomy can alleviate the stress response

Example: Patients with PCA used less morphine (Pain, 46 (1991)

265-269)

Safe human contact is a primary driver. (Cacioppo and Patrick, 2008)

• It’s about deciding who is in and out of our social group; friend or foe.

– Foe is the default

• We see “different” as a threat

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Relatedness

Relatedness is about a sense of safety with others, whether friend or foe.

Fairness is a perception of fair exchange between people

• Fairness is the great equalizer in the SCARF model; If I have low status and I perceive it as fair, I’m OK

• Perception of fairness triggers

“towards” response

• “Unfair” offers activate the “disgust” region of the brain (ventrolateral PFC and

anterior insular)

• We feel rewarded when others are punished for their unfairness 23

Fairness

1. …you were at your worst…upset, stressed, frustrated, even angry as a result of an interaction with a colleague.

What THREATS were triggered that resulted in an upset response?

2. …you were at your best….engaged, energized, positive as a result of an interaction with a colleague.

What REWARDS were triggered that resulted in your positive experience?

Think About A Time…

Group Work

What could you be doing that might trigger a

“threat” response in friends or colleagues?

What specific things could you

do to maximize “reward” responses in friends &

colleagues?

Brainstorm, then prepare to present out

to the larger group

Threat Reward

• Avoiding what our brain registers as threat is almost impossible

• How can we keep our PFC’s energized so we can manage these emotional confrontations with ourselves and others?

How to Thrive with Threats Energize your PFC

Ways to re-energize the PFC:

Exercise

Sleep

Stress management techniques

Label it; name your emotion

Active body postures; release the emotion

Re-appraise and/or re-frame it (write a different story)

Practice mindfulness; the intentional, accepting & non-judgmental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts & sensations occurring in the present moment

How will you approach interpersonal interactions differently as a result of your learning today?

Personal Reflection

Which of the 5 SCARF elements tend to

trigger your biggest “threat” response?

Which of the 5 SCARF elements tend to trigger your biggest

“reward” response? What will you do differently next time you

personally sense a “threat” response

in yourself?

Attention

• Attention is the foundation to learning

• Attention is the ability to focus on a specific input while inhibiting the urge to focus on distractors elsewhere in the environment

• Each time we pay attention, we begin the process of hardwiring. (watching, doing, talking about)

• Brain physically changes its wiring in response to attention

• Attention is like an orchestra where many individual units come together in synchrony; “cells that fire together, wire together.” (Hebbs law)

Attention

• The brain is not designed to pay attention to the same thing for long periods of time; it will inject its own downtime

• This downtime is when insight occurs; insight is essential for learning

• We do NOT multi-task; we do task switch; task switching consumes huge amounts of energy

• Brain pays attention first to what is novel (threat) and then to what is a potential reward

Hardwiring

Dendritic growth is a process that occurs throughout your lifetime.

Whenever you learn something new, such as learning to play the piano, new dendritic growth occurs as a result of stimulating the mind in a new and different way. At the same time, old dendritic connections can become inactive and dissipate.

We hardwire what we pay attention to … consciously or unconsciously.

Hardwiring

How Can we Help Others Pay Attention?

• Create arousal so the brain wants to pay attention (“I am getting ready to tell you something really important.”)

• Minimize distractions

• Visualization

• Story telling

• “Chunk” information

• Allow for insights

• Repeat, repeat, repeat (wiring takes time)

Neuroscience of Change

Science of Change

• Our brains are adept at error detection

• Our brain likes to be on auto pilot, this

doesn’t take much energy and the brain

likes that – it seeks the path of least

resistance (laziness?)

• When unexpected things happen

(change even in our basic routine) we

come off autopilot – this triggers a threat

response

• We have an emotional then feeling

reaction to the change; the PFC may step

in to override the emotional response

Memory is the Basis of Change

Long-term memory

• Housed in basal ganglia

• Large capacity; requires minimal energy

• Must be re-wired for new learning; actively resisted by the basal ganglia

Working memory

• Housed in PFC

• Energy intensive; fatigues quickly

• Quickly overwhelmed by change – creativity and innovation decrease

For the brain, change IS painful!

How Well Do These Work

• Explaining and convincing

• Providing data

• Creating a burning platform or sense of urgency

• Talking about what’s wrong with the current way

• Crafting a message to get “people on board”

• Getting employees to “rubber stamp” a pre-baked change plan

Activity

Using the SCARF Model as a frame, what might work better when it comes to leading and managing change?

So What Does Work?

• Challenge employees to help define original and innovative approaches - first

• Authentic leadership

• Leaders keep people focused on the what on the what on the what on the what

• Leaders create the context for employees to have their own insights: “We’re seeing these things go on in our organization, what are you seeing?” Then ask “What should we do about this?”

• Leaders create latitude for employees to deploy solutions that leverage their talents

• Leaders are clear about “Here’s where we are going?” and then ask “How can we get there?”

Neuroscience of Feedback

Feedback

• Our patterns of behavior are hardwired in our neural pathways. At some point, we’ve gotten rewarded for the behavior numerous times.

• Feedback almost always triggers a threat response.

• 41% of the time, feedback improves performance. 59% of the time it makes matters worse or has no effect. (Kluger & DeNisi 1996)

Feedback

• Most behaviors we want people to change via feedback are hardwired at the unconscious level – they are habitual patterns of behavior hardwired into people’s way of acting. (Stored in basal ganglia in long term memory)

• This habit system strongly resists change.

• The PFC can override these habits ..and it consumes energy quickly and is easily distracted

Activity

• “Hey Bill. Its time for your performance review. Let’s meet in my office at 2 pm tomorrow and I’ll give it to you.”

• Assess this using the SCARF model

• How can you script this differently?

Feedback

People respond best to feedback when:

– They chose what they will receive feedback about

– They request the feedback from specific people

– The feedback is behavioral and situational

– They control the timing and environment in which the feedback is provided.

– The feedback is about the task, not about the task detail. (too prescriptive triggers threat response)

– Feedback is presented in a “If….., then…..” format

Cardinal Rule of Feedback

“Feedback without follow-up is a waste of time.”

It is the follow-up that helps to hardwire the new behavior into our neural pathways.

So, if you aren’t going to follow-up, DON’T waste your time giving the feedback.

For the Brain Savvy Leader

Leadership is fundamentally about:

– Helping others develop the most useful hardwiring

– Telling others what to focus on. . . what to pay attention to

– Maximizing rewards and minimizing threats

– Re-charging their own PFC

Mark Twain said

“I’ve experienced

many terrible things

in my life, a few of

which actually

happened.”

Personal Insights and Reflections

• What is new or different for you? (Remember, thinking about either will be painful)

• What can we apply to how we are leading our organization?

• Anything by David Rock (Your Brain at Work; Coaching with the Brain in Mind)

• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

• http://www.neuroleadership.org/index.shtml

Additional Resources

Questions