A slide deck to help teams discuss how they are feeling and to identify their pain points in times of unprecedented overwhelm and imposed change.

1. LENA ROSS Change Advisor
APRIL 2020
HOW OUR BRAINS
EXPERIENCE
OVERWHELM

2. GOOD TO KNOW
• In times of unprecedented overwhelm, it’s helpful to understand how our brains experience
change, especially the scale of unplanned change that has been imposed upon us.
• Many change practitioners look for curves and models to help people understand their
experience.
• Sometimes a linear curve that assumes a uniform experience is not helpful.
• Insights from brain science teach us that the same change can result in a range of emotions
among a team. Our emotional triggers differ.
• We experience a neurological response to loss. When the change is perceived as loss, it
triggers the threat response. But it’s what triggers this threat that is interesting.
• Self awareness is extremely helpful.
• Understanding how our brains respond to change helps us unpack the drivers of our
overwhelm, be more mindful of our responses and build empathy for others.
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3. 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?
THE PARADOX
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4. The physiology of our brain hasn’t changed since our hunting and
gathering days!
WHO ARE WE REALLY?
So we are really just primates in suits.
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5. • Risks were high
• Conditions were perilous
• Survival was paramount
WE ARE HARDWIRED FOR LIFE AS A HUNTER & GATHERER
We have a built in bias for safety.
In times of high uncertainty and disruption, our brains are wired to treat it as a survival threat.
• Any change in the environment
usually equates UNCERTAINTY
• We have a strong emotion attached
to UNCERTAINTY
• That emotion = THREAT and/or LOSS
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THIS WAS WHEN THE LEGACY OF THIS MEANS

6. WHEN WE EXPERIENCE THREAT
It’s no wonder that we may do irrational things
• We respond to loss/threat/change with primal
instincts
• The neuro-response occurs in the emotional centre
in the brain – in the amygdala
• The response is the ‘amygdala hijack’
• This is when we fight, flight or freeze
• There is a decrease in the neural energy in our
rational brain because the emotions override logic
• When in ‘hijack’ our IQ can drop by 10-15 points
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7. STANDS FOR
The SCARF model
A MODEL TO HELP US UNDERSTAND OUR PRIMAL RESPONSE
• David Rock’s SCARF model explains the brain’s
reaction to situations of threat or reward.
• Each SCARF element is an emotional driver.
• When one of more of each of the five SCARF
elements are reduced or lost, we experience threat.
• This model helps us understand our responses and
pain points when we experience change.
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8. EMOTIONAL DRIVERS Leaders and/or team members may be thinking
Status
About relative importance to others.
Will I be seen as competent through and after this?
How will my capability be perceived by others?
Does the change negatively impact on my sense of status? Is my role changing?
My team members’ status? What will others think if I ‘lose’ status?
Certainty
Being able to predict the future.
What level of certainty is there for me, or my team?
What level of certainty is there about my job?
How long this will continue?
What will happen with business decisions/shutdowns/stand downs etc.?
Autonomy
Provides a sense of control over events.
What can I control in this change? What can’t I?
Do my team members have enough autonomy to complete their work, and decide how
they will work through the change? Do they have too much autonomy?
To what extent has my level of autonomy changed? How do I feel about this?
Relatedness
A sense of safety with others, of friend or
foe.
Do I feel connected to anyone or isolated?
What’s the impact on how we interact with one another?
To what degree have team members ‘lost’ the connection with their peers?
How safe is it to discuss any concerns with my team or peers?
Fairness
A perception of fair exchanges between
people.
Am I being treated fairly?
Are my team members being treated the same?
To what extent are my efforts recognised?
SCARF MODEL: WHAT YOU MAY BE THINKING
What else
is on our
minds?
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9. SCARF MODEL: THINGS TO DISCUSS AS A TEAM
Which of the
SCARF
elements
affect me the
most?
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Are all our
concerns
the same?
Which of the
SCARF
elements are
causing me
the least
concern?
What are some
things we can
do to reduce
our threat
response?
What are we
already doing
well?
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10. There are
TWO
key benefits
for leaders and team members
to know more
about our
hardwired responses
SCARF MODEL: WHY THIS IS GOOD TO KNOW
BENEFITS
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11. Labelling your own response improves self awareness and is proven
to reduce the threat response…it’s being more mindful.
If you can NAME it, you can TAME it!
BENEFIT
It enables us to label our own response
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12. We have an improved awareness of how our team members may
respond when under threat.
BENEFIT
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It helps us build empathy
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13. What else can we do as a team to:
Lead differently with these insights?
Reduce the threat response in ourselves and for our peers?
So what, now what?
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