Change hurts - Insights from brain science

–
LENA ROSS Change Consultant
For NAB November 2015

www.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRosswww.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRoss
NEW
INSIGHTS
OUR
HARDWIRED
BEHAVIOUR
SCARF
MODEL
PARTING
THOUGHTS
WHAT we
CAN DO
ABOUT IT
2
reflection
Whatwewillcover
Change is the
new normal

3
Thenewnormal
The intense dynamic of today’s VUCA world means that leaders
have a greater responsibility to lead transformation in
conditions where
change is the new normal.

You can take the person out of the Stone Age...
but can you take the Stone Age out of the person?
So…are we hard wired to resist change?
Sometimes we embrace it, sometimes we don’t!
If we always resisted change, would we have come out of the trees?
4
Theparadox

Four key areas
• Decision making and problem solving
• Emotional regulation
• Collaboration and influence
• Change leadership
5
Based on work carried out by David Rock
and the NeuroLeadership Institute
Neuroleadership

90% of what we know about the
brain has only been discovered in
the last 7-9 years.
6
Recentinsights

• Can measure our neural activity in real time
• Our Primal response is to be on alert for safety
• We Can see neural activity caused by change and the
‘unexpected’ with FMRI technology
• Change often registers as ‘pain’
7
Neuralactivity

So now we have a hard science to evaluate the
human response to change.
We can take a closer look at human performance
and what we experience when productivity dips.
8
Scienceandart

WITH OUR NEW INSIGHTS FROM BRAIN SCIENCE, WE CAN UNPACK
WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE WHEN PEOPLE ARE LESS PRODUCTIVE
9
Theproductivitydip ORGANISATONAL
PERFORMANCE
TIME
WHAT ACTUALLY
HAPPENS
WHAT WE
AIM FOR
$CURRENT
HIDDEN COST TO THE BUSINESS
OFTEN NOT MEASURED
CHANGE
INITIATIVE

10
• The amygdala hijack
• Emotional centre in brain
• Regulates
• Fight, flight and freeze
• Gateway before new information
goes to the rational brain
• We respond to
loss/threat/change with primal
instincts
The amygdala hijack can reduce our IQ by 10 to 15 points!
Rational people do irrational things

Humanperformance
Organisations are made up of people
Threat comes at a cost to the organisation
Reduce the threat to optimise our people’s performance

• A change in the environment
usually = UNCERTAINTY
• We have a Strong emotion attached
to UNCERTAINTY and LOSS
• That emotion = THREAT
12
• Risk were high
• Conditions were perilous
• Survival was paramount
Primalinstincts We are
for life on the savannah as hunter and gatherer
We have a built in bias for safety

The physiology of our brain hasn’t changed since our hunting
and gathering days!
13
Primatesinsuits

We have a
response to
Hardwiredresponse

15
TheSCARFmodel David rock’s scarf model provides a valuable
framework to understand and label our primal
threat triggers and responses
This framework offers us human-centred insights

TheSCARFmodel Loss is the primal default
The threat response is more intense, lasts longer
and occurs more frequently than reward
rewardthreat response
winloss

17
TheSCARFmodel
About relative importance to others
Being able to predict the future
A sense of control over events
A sense of safety with others, friend or foe?
A perception of fair exchanges between people

How does each element of the
model apply to you?
When faced with change or new information,
How do you rate yourself on each element in terms of
or ?
18
Reflection

There are
tw0
key benefits
For leaders and team members
to know more
about our
hardwired responses
19
Thebenefitsofawareness

Labelling your own response improves self awareness and is
proven to reduce the threat response
20
Sowhat,nowwhat? LABELLING
BENEFIT

Improved awareness of how colleagues and team members may
respond when under threat
Sowhat,nowwhat?
empathy
BENEFIT

www.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRosswww.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRoss 22
Sowhat,nowwhat? Awareness translates to action
for Multiple applications
• self awareness
• coaching
• framing communication
• leading teams
• engaging with stakeholders
• curating a library of actions

23
Partingthoughts
Change is not a linear process.
Everyone responds differently
Response to change has
a neurological basis
We now have new insights into how our brain
processes change and new information
The increased use of neuroimaging technology
means that 90% of what we know about the brain
has been discovered in the last 7-9 years
Whilst we can’t influence what is
change, we can label our response
to lower threat levels
Uncovering this type of information about
our hardwired responses
encourages us to look at things with a
fresh perspective

www.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRosswww.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRosswww.lenaross.com.au | @LenaEmelyRoss
24
aboutme
If you enjoyed this presentation,
please share it or like it, or both
Lena Ross
speaker | facilitator | thought catalyst | conversation &
conference host | curious lifelong learner
24
@LenaEmelyRoss
https://au.linkedin.com/in/lenaross
www.lenaross.com.au
Visit my website for white papers on this topic, and more!

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