How to get the best from people when mapping

1. Development Conference 2015: Doing it Differently
People, Engagement and Process Mapping:
how to get the best from people
when mapping
Lorna Prince
Organisation Development Practitioner, The University of Stirling

2. Session Outline
1. Bring in recent learning from the field of neuroscience and the
behaviour sciences to explore social engagement in the work/lean
context
2. Introduce a model of people engagement and explore its 5
domains of engagement
3. Within each of the 5 areas, start to consider various methods to
connect with your audience and create a more rewarding
interaction
• Qualifying statement no 1 – I am not a lean specialist practitioner
• Qualifying statement no 2 – I am not a neuroscientist
• However I am a qualified, experienced people management and
development practitioner

3. What is
our brain
for?
Scene Setting: primary purpose of our brain

4. Scene Setting: minimise threat – maximise reward

5. .. .
Reptilian Brain
Brain stem – oldest part
Controls the body’s vital
functions such as heart
rate, breathing, body
temperature and balance
Autopilot
Cogitative Brain
The neocortex - thinking brain
• Logic, Consciousness
• Language, Abstract ,
Imagination, learning
• Cognitive reasoning
• Complex decision making
Reasons, rationalises
Mammalian Brain
The limbic system
• Emotions, Value judgements,
Habits
• Strong influence on behaviour,
often unconsciously
Amygdala. Guardhouse to the
emotional centres
Decisions
Scene setting: brain evolution

6. Scene Setting: 1:2:4 approach

7. Scene Setting: social brain
‘Most processes operating
in the background when
your brain is at rest are
involved in thinking about
other people and yourself.’
Lieberman
The brain experiences the
workplace first and
foremost as a social
system.

8. The SCARF model
identifies 5 domains of
social experience that
enable lean leaders to
minimise a potential
threat response and
instead enable the
reward response to be
activated.
Dr David Rock, 2009
The SCARF Model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wu33SdjeCs

9. Status is defined as one’s
relative sense of position
in a community that is
considered important to
the individual.
It is about where you sit
in the ‘pecking order’.
The way to gain a good
reputation is to
endeavour,
to be what you desire to
appear.
Socrates
SCARF: Status (or reputation)

10. Lessons to consider
• Status is significant driver of
behaviour at work
• People will spend a lot of attention
to protect, and build, their status
• Status is relative – no universal scale
that fits all
• When everyone is trying to be
higher status than others, there is a
decrease in relatedness - social
connectivity
Activities
• Status is relative, no one universal scale –
it is determined by the individual
• Acknowledge and recognition where due
• Ensure all participants opinion are
included
• Provide opportunities for learning and
growth
• Be willing to be wrong, open to correction
• Delegate where you can
• Seek permission on when to provide
feedback – feedback creates a threat
response
SCARF: Lessons for Status

11. Activity: build a paper aeroplane

12. Certainty is about our
need for clarity and the
perception of how well
you can accurately
prediction the future.
‘Tell people what you are
going to tell them, tell
them, then tell them
what you have told them’
Adage
Scarf: Certainty

13. Lessons to consider
• The brain is a pattern-recognition
machine that is constantly trying to
predict the near future/make sense
of our world
• Without certainty, the brain uses
dramatically more energy or
cognitive resources
• Mild uncertainty can attract
interest– a new situation creates a
mild threat response, increasing
adrenalin levels just enough to
spark curiosity and energize people
Activities
• Transparent practice is the
foundation on which the
perception of certainty rests
therefore provide a level of
certainty by being transparent
with the lean project/change
• Provide regular updates
• Be clear on expectations
• Share plans and rationales for
the project
• Chunk large projects down
SCARF: Lessons for Certainty

14. Activity: Find another piece of paper and
build plane no 2

15. Autonomy is a sense of
control over the events in
one’s life and the
perception that one’s
behaviour has an effect
on the outcome of a
situation.
‘Control leads to
compliance; autonomy
leads to engagement’
Pink
The proverb warns, 'You
should not bite the hand
that feeds you.' But maybe
you should, if it prevents
you from feeding yourself’
Szasz, Prof
Scarf: Autonomy

16. Lessons to consider
• We are constantly attuned, mostly
at subconscious level, to the ways in
which social encounters either
threaten or support our level of
autonomy and control
• Uncontrollable stress can be highly
destructive, whereas the same
stress interpreted as escapable is
significantly less destructive
Activities
• Sound ground rules at the start of the
mapping project establishes the
boundaries within which individuals
can exercise creativity and autonomy.
Sound ground rules hard-wires
autonomy into the processes
• When in a stress situation that has
been caused by a threat to the
individual’s autonomy, find choices –
alternatives. The perception of choice
is crucial if you want to reduce the
level of threat and stress.
SCARF: Lessons for Autonomy

17. Concerns one’s sense of
connection to and
security with others - this
is whether someone is
perceived as similar or
dissimilar to oneself –
friend of foe, trust versus
distrust.
‘We must establish a
person connection with
each other. Connection
before content. Without
relatedness no work can
occur’
P Block, OD Specialist
Scarf: Relatedness

18. Lessons to consider
• We are wired to be social
• Social connections are a primary need, as
important as food and water
• Safe connections with others are vital for
healthy collaborations
• People are classed as friend or foe
quickly, in the absence of positive cues
foe is default
• We process information from out-groups
using different brain (neural) networks
than we use for our self and for people
who we perceive as like us
Activities
• Consider opportunities that create
social bonding at the human level:
handshakes, names, snippets of
information, the weather, shared
stories, hobbies
• Set up clearly defined buddy groups,
mentoring or coaching programs, or
small working groups
• Small groups appear safer than large
groups
• Trust and empathy cannot be
assumed. They develop only when
people’s brains start to recognise
former strangers as friends
SCARF: Lessons for Relatedness

19. Activity: Introduce yourself to a stranger
Make sure you:
• Stand up
• Shake hands
• Say your name and what you do for a living
• What your key learning point has been so far today at the conference
• Smile and use eye contact!

20. Fairness refers to the
perception of nonbiased
and fair connections
with, and exchanges
between people – such
as recognition for
contribution, equal pay
for equal value work,
sharing with everyone.
‘Treating others with
fairness and dignity
is the ‘rain’ that helps
them grow and be
fruitful’
‘Restart Compassion and Justice’
Scarf: Fairness (or equity)

21. Lessons to consider
• Fairness is about perception
• The experience of fairness produces
reward responses in the brain -
similar to those that occur from
eating chocolate
• As with status, people perceive
fairness in relative terms
• Morale can remain relatively high
when people perceive that hard
decisions are being handled fairly
and that no one group is treated
with preference - that there is a
rationale for every hard decision
Activities
• Be open and transparent about the
lean project with the group/team:
• unfairness is easy to trigger
• Find ways to sense increasing fairness
around you
• Don’t let any ‘unfairness’ go – pick it
up and remedy it
• Be careful of fairness being linked with
issues such as certainty, autonomy or
relatedness – as emotions can get
intense
• Ensure you are clear, open and fair –
maybe more than is necessary
Scarf: Fairness (or equity)

22. Summary

23. Lean in Higher Education Conference 2016
• Title: People, Culture and Lean in Higher Education
• Dates: Tuesday 1st November to Thursday 3rd November 2016
• Place: The University of Stirling
• Website: http://www.stir.ac.uk/lean2016/
 to register an interest and find out lots more!
• Comprehensive day programme: keynotes, workshops, panel
discussions and master classes
• Interactive, networking social events – dinner in Stirling Castle

24. Questions
‘When will we make the same
breakthroughs in the way we
treat each other as we have
made in technology?’
Zeldin , 2000

25. Additional Reading
• Your Brain at Work, David Rock
• The Handbook of NeuroLeadership, David Rock and Al Ringleb
• The Neuroleadership Institute