5 minute read
Food for thought Harnessing your brain for good at work
Food for thought
Harnessing your brain for good at work
by Erin Saunders, Leica Geosystems
John Hain on Pixabay
Brains are elastic
This means that we can literally change the structure of our brains by learning new habits and responses. The brain’s ability to change is called neuroplasticity. This means that your brain can form new brain cells called neurons and it can form new connections between neurons. Both of these changes can help your brain manage challenges more effectively. For example, when you’re burned out, doing simple things like sleeping better, listening to music, decreasing your stress, eating better, or changing your mindset can all change your brain in positive ways. Therefore neuroplasticity, your ability to change your brain, will help you perform better at work. When you know that this is possible, the specific brain changes that you can make will be that much easier.
Restructuring your brain
There are some very concrete behaviors that will impact the structure of your brain in ways that might be beneficial to you.
The first is based on a theory of a Harvard psychologist names Daniel Wegner. He found that when you’re under stress, telling yourself not to do something is not effective. In fact, it often has the opposite effect. If you tell yourself, “I will not eat cookies at work today,” then that’s exactly what you will end up doing. Your brain doesn’t have the resources to manage your stress, move you forward, and prevent you from doing something all at the same time. So, you should frame your goals positively rather than negatively. For example, rather than saying, “I will not snack on cookies today,” you can say, “I will eat an apple when I get hungry today.”
Another strategy is called affect labeling. Affect labeling is just a fancy way of saying, label your emotions. It simply means calling out any stressful or negative emotion you might be feeling. For example, if you’re feeling stressed about the workload or number of tasks you need to get done, simply recognizing and telling yourself, “I am stressed” will calm your mind down. Leaving feelings floating freely without recognizing them keeps you feeling negatively.
Another tool that can be helpful, particularly at work, is to learn to recognize and manage contagious emotions. We’ve all had days where we’ve arrived at work in a good mood, only to come across a cranky colleague and before you know it, we’re in a bad mood too. There’s a biological reason for this based in a phenomenon called mirroring. When we’re around others, we don’t just have our own emotions in our brains. We carry their emotions too. That’s because our brains have chains of nerve cells called mirror neurons, and these neurons are wired to reflect the emotions of others.
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Our brains are fantastically complex organs
which not only keep our body functioning, but also are constantly processing information coming to us at any given time. Many people haven’t given much thought to how the wiring in our brains impacts the decisions we make and the responses we have to internal and external pressures, but our brains, in an effort to work efficiently, are often driving behaviors we aren’t aware of.
By learning a little more about how our brains adapt and react to our environment, we can have better control and a deeper understanding of the decisions we make at work.
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Negative emotions like fear and anger are more contagious than positive ones. Researchers believe that we register negative emotions more strongly because our brains are wired to protect us above all else. They process fear and anger more strongly in an effort to identify the source of fear or anger and protect us.
There are three things you can do to prevent someone else’s negative mood from spoiling your own. 4 Fist, create a dominant emotion, like happiness by looking at something that makes you happy before interacting with the cranky person. When you interact with them, keep that happy image in mind. 4 You can also go into the conversation by bringing up something positive. For example, “you did a great job on the project you wrapped up last week.” 4 Finally, you can look for positive things in the environment around the person, like a picture of a pet or cartoon, that help you reset to a happier emotion.
These techniques seem very simple, but by preparing our minds for negative interactions, we can offset mirroring them. Sometimes our brains can get in our way when we’re in disagreement with an approach suggested by another team member. Diversity of thought on a team helps for better outcomes but can also cause some natural conflict. Next, develop good arguments that support the other differing points of view. Considering the merits of both points of view can help us avoid the certainty bias that our own views are always the best. When you try to infer what someone else is thinking, this activates a part of the brain that is specialized for understanding others’ points of view and increases the power of the intelligence of the group. It also helps others feel heard and understood in a way that feels better and gets better outcomes for everyone.
We don’t often consider the ways in which our unconscious thoughts and reactions impact our decisionmaking, interactions, and effectiveness at work. By gaining a better understanding of how our brains work and can change, we can be more effective and productive team members and happier individuals.
About the author
Erin Saunders is Regional Human Resources Business Partner with Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon.
P: 770.326.9517 E: erin.saunders@leica-geosystems.com
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Many people have a negative connotation when it comes to conflict, but it can be very healthy and lead to better outcomes. Healthy conflict leverages the collective intelligence of teams, which is often stronger than the decisions of one person.
There are concrete things that can be used by teams to have healthy conflict that leads to better decisions when there is disagreement on the best path forward. One of the ways we can leverage the combined intelligence of the group is to facilitate enhanced collective intelligence.
There are a few steps you can take to enhance the group’s decision-making ability. 4 First, collect the opinions of everyone in the group. 4 Then develop good arguments that support your own point of view.
Start off the new year right!
