BELFAST, Northern Ireland–Credit union executives were told to better use their brains when it comes to leadership—literally.
Leadership, said Sandra McDowell, is not a position, but “a way of being. It’s not about the title, it’s about the way you are.”
In remarks titled “Neuroleadership: Leading with the Brain in Mind,” McDowell shared research in neuroscience that is now being combined with organizational leadership to understand what is working and not working during WOCCU’s World Credit Union Conference here.
McDowell is vice president of communications and culture with First Credit Union in Canada, and has extensive communication, executive coaching, marketing, and leadership experience.
“There has never been more information about leadership, yet we are challenged organizationally for the way people feel,” said McDowell. “Sixty-five percent of employees worldwide are disengaged. That is a huge number. And 24% of those employees are actively disengaged, sabotaging your efforts. Seventy-five percent of change initiatives fail, so with all the good work you’re trying to do, only 25% of the time it is successful.”
The good news, according to McDowell, is that even a 5% increase in employee engagement will lead to a 3% increase in revenues in an organization in the following year.
Information Overload
“In the Industrial Era, people were paid to work. In the information age, we get paid to think. And at the end of the day what’s tired? Our brains,” said McDowell. “The brain makes up only 2% of your bodyweight, but uses 20% of your energy. So if you’re challenged a lot during the day and are on information overload, you use more energy.”
In that environment, said McDowell, it’s become critical for leaders to be able to see what’s going on in the brains behind the faces they see, and to create conditions to make brains function better—including better managing stress.
McDowell said there are four ways to lead with the brain in mind: focus, people, brain health and change. Here’s a look at what she said about each.
Focus
“Are you mindful, or is your mind full?” asked McDowell. “We are distracted by everything from Facebook to Twitter feeds to open-door policies. How do we manage all this and buffer ourselves from all this pressure? One study found just 10% of people do their best thinking at work. So we have to be mindful of all these distractions.”
McDowell, who is publishing a book around a theme of “lessons from Mom,” said the first lesson is this: “You can’t do two things at once. Multi-tasking is a misnomer. If we’re expecting employees to multi-task, which is when we make 50% more mistakes, that impacts our brand, especially if we’re dealing with members; money. We need to help employees to focus.”
McDowell recommended credit union execs spend more time meditating, something her own credit union does. In neuroscience terms, she said, meditation is about putting one’s thoughts in “neutral. This is really powerful, because it can actually strengthen your brain.”
“Pay attention to attention,” McDowell added. “When your mind wanders, notice that it has wandered, bring it back to your desired point of focus, and keep it there as long as you can.”
People
McDowell said the human mind is wired to be social and that many basic motivations are largely driven by a desire to feel connectedness.
“So acceptance matters more than money. Your mother was right: don’t leave anyone out,” she said. “We have a responsibility as leaders to make sure people feel connected and accepted.”
McDowell said the “dirty work” of leaders lies in managing relationships.
“Relationships do matter. We can drive down costs or engage in technology, but if people don’t feel connected, it’s not going to happen.”
Brain Health
All the things people do to take care of themselves physically, noted McDowell, are no secret. But very little thought is given to taking care of the brain, “even though it’s our most important asset in the value proposition of being an employee.
“This is where mindfulness and training the brain to focus is so important,” she said. “The overall well-being of the brain is your individual responsibility. We know we are feeling stressed and busy, and we don’t eat right, don’t exercise, don’t sleep. And the brain doesn’t function, and it’s a downward spiral. So it’s important from a leadership perspective to know this. For brain health, eating, sleeping and moving are important. So your mother was right: go outside and play. The only thing that’s proven to repair the brain in any way is activity.”
McDowell said many employees arrive at work each day in a state of sleep deprivation, and it affects everyone in the organization.
Change
It’s hard to change, McDowell said, even for people who claim to love change.
“Find something they really care about it, and they won’t want change,” she observed.
The reason it’s so difficult to change is that change means thinking differently, and thinking differently means exerting energy.
“So when we’re introducing change it often fails because people default to what they know,” she said. “They are saving their energy for what really matters. You can teach an old dog new tricks, it’s just that it’s hard to teach a dog new tricks. This is neuro-plasticity. The brain is malleable. We can change. This is shocking, but we cannot remember what we don’t pay attention to. We are so devoid of attention we are not learning new things.”
Neuroplasticity, or change, said McDowell, starts with caring.
“The second part is noticing, where we learn what needs to be changed. Third, is responsibility, or taking accountability after we’ve noticed we’re not helping our brain. Fourth is focus, which comes back to meditation. Fifth is expectation. This is about your mindset and believing it to be possible. This is why the placebo effect works. In any change, if you believe it to be possible, it’s likely to happen.”
McDowell said the putting into effect all that she shared requires “practice, practice, practice.”
“HR often inherits all this as part of employee wellness," said McDowell. “This isn’t an HR function, it’s for the whole organization.”