NeuroLeadership - What is it?
Still don’t know what NeuroLeadership is (don’t worry I’m not sure anybody does!!)
So let’s start with a good old Wikipedia extract:
“Neuroleadership refers to the application of findings from neuroscience to the field of leadership.The term neuroleadership was first coined by David Rock in the US publication Strategy+Business. Since then, according the Australian Financial Review "it has entered the vocabulary faster than you can say brainwave." NeuroLeadership is an emerging field of study focused on bringing neuroscientific knowledge into the areas of leadership development, management training, change management, education, consulting and coaching.”
NeuroLeadership – An Introduction
Still don’t know what NeuroLeadership is (don’t worry I’m not sure anybody does!!)
So let’s start with a good old Wikipedia extract:
“Neuroleadership refers to the application of findings from neuroscience to the field of leadership.The term neuroleadership was first coined by David Rock in the US publication Strategy+Business. Since then, according the Australian Financial Review "it has entered the vocabulary faster than you can say brainwave." NeuroLeadership is an emerging field of study focused on bringing neuroscientific knowledge into the areas of leadership development, management training, change management, education, consulting and coaching.”
So simply it’s about applying brain science to leadership. Thin of it like this it’s about leading and it’s about brains so it’s about leading brains (which is why I’ve just formed a company of the same name). It’s about leading your brain; your employee’s brains your boss’s brains and your customers’ brains. Leading doesn’t’ mean manipulating which inevitably many techniques will be used to do – but that has happened since the dawn of time.
Why will NeuroLeadership be the way forward – well I don’t know if it will be but it certainly has extremely good chances why? Well we are brains everything we do say and think is controlled by our brain. Our hormones are released mostly there our opinions form there, our reactions and associations are there our language is there in fact everything. Our whole body is connected to the brain, get it. Yes we are brains surrounded by interconnected organs, bones muscles and skin. But we are essentially brains. And understanding more about how our brain works is definitely going to be extremely helpful in understanding human behaviour better.
Leadership is all about human behaviour in all forms – business is about human behaviour. All business is ultimately driven by human behaviour somewhere at the end of the supply chain air human being.
NeuroLeadership has been driven by the massive increase in recent years in neuroscientific study and this has increasingly been embraced in new fields no longer just the realm of drug producers and a few lone psychologists and neurologists. We now have NeuroMarketing and NeuroEconomics and NeuroCommunciation and NeuroBanking – and I’m sure it’s here to stay.
The applications of Neuroscience in Leadership is huge though much research falls into the nice to know category because it fails to note (or even know) what interventions can have a positive impact.
David Rock focuses on: Decision Making & Problem Solving, Emotional Regulation, Collaborating with Others, and Facilitating Change.
I believe we can provide more specific solutions to practical issues sin leading. My work with Dr Pillay has also focused on this. Understanding how the brain is likely functioning in given scenarios and then targeting this with carefully focused strategies. This is very exciting work.
Some principles of NeuroLeadership
Christian E. Elger author of „NeuroLeadership“ (in German) gives 7 principles:
1. The reward System is the key Switch
2. Cooperation is hard-wired
3. Information influences our expectations and behaviour
4. Every brain is different
5. There are no facts without emotions
6. Experience drives our behaviour
7. Situations can develop their own dynamics
In my workshops I note that:
1. The brain is structured
2. The brain is focused on survival
3. The brain likes rewards
4. The unconscious is immensely more powerful that the conscious
5. Emotions are an integral part of he brain
6. Experiences drive our behaviour
7. The brain is great simplifier
8. The brain behaves internally logically which may seem illogical externally
Neither of these is the ultimate list but show some broad principles to work with. The NeuroLeader understands this but more so he also will have an ability in each situation to have an idea of what is happening in the brain and develop better and more powerful strategies to deal with this. Because the brain is at the heart of everything we do I believe that NeuroLeadership is here to stay.
Tags: neuroscience, neuroleadership, leadership