Applying Neuroscience to the Design of Extraordinary Meetings
By Laura Gramling, President, EnSpark Consulting
Neuroscience theories have given a robust, scientific voice to the field of human systems and organizational development. Application of these theories is changing the way we conduct meetings, make decisions and lead.
Why? Because when these theories are activated, they generate positive impacts on outcomes and the quality of decisions. And they are key to sustainable, long-term success.
Let’s look at a key theory and how applying it can make the difference.
NeuroLeadership
The learnings of how our brains work, process information, and make decisions, can be applied to just about all of organizational life and leading organizations:
Making decisions & solving problems
Staying cool under pressure
Collaborating with others
Facilitating change
Imagine an organization facing multiple threats (low morale, high competition, sluggish economy, thin resources, complex processes). And imagine staff and leaders running around trying to fix things as quickly as they can—based on gut reactions.
Sounds like a lot of workplaces, right? And you wonder, “Why can’t the leaders make better decisions about what to change or focus on? Why can’t they design a lasting strategy?” Well, the answer is largely … they are just being human.
5 Social Concerns to Pay Attention To
David Rock, scientist, researcher and leader in the neuroscience field (he coined the term “NeuroLeadership”) has distilled the complex world of brain science to manageable and useable knowledge for organizational leaders.
He maintains that if you pay attention to these social concerns and create practices to lower ‘threats’, you will achieve better results with your employees and managers.
| Social Concerns | Impact as Threat | Environment as Rewards |
| Status | “Is my social status or others social status being threatened?” If so, what you’ll get is less critical thinking, high survival actions. | Create a workplace where experimentation and creativity are rewarded. And failures are not punished, but rather explored for “what’s needed to make it work?” |
| Certainty | We crave it because we like to predict what is going to happen. | Be clear and consistent in your communications, requests and in responding to feedback. |
| Autonomy | We love not being dominated by our circumstances or by others. We want a say in what we do. | Engage your employees and managers in making decisions whenever possible. |
| Relatedness | The more we know each other, the more we trust each other. And therefore, the less anxiety there is that each other is a threat. | “Bonding” experiences aren’t just “nice to do”; they are essential if you want a high-performing group. |
| Fairness | We want it to be fair! And just! | Be transparent and honest in your employee practices and decision-making. |
The conditions that foster great insights and innovation are:
Be quiet - Your brain can more easily make new connections and patterns if it is not dealing with details and navigating data.
Be relaxed - When you are not on ‘high alert’ for threats, your brain can access more patterns and ideas.
Don’t think of anything specific - You can’t produce an insight under pressure or by ‘thinking of it’.
Be happy - When your brain is free from immediate threats, new connections and patterns can emerge.
Extraordinary Results
It’s not just about mitigating or lowering threats. It’s also about creating conditions for success, creativity, and insights that lead to extraordinary results.
Extraordinary Meetings
With that neuroscience primer, we can begin to make correlations to how to create highly effective meetings.
| Critical Success Factors | Why It’s Needed? | Concern it Addresses |
| Creating Trust & Openness | “Can I trust this group?” is a foundational need to address for free, open discussions to unfold. Participants want to know that their time and contributions are valued | Status Relatedness |
| Inviting Collaboration | Being heard and acknowledged provides a sense of ownership to the content being created and a willingness to contribute.
A variety of ‘participation formats’ allows everyone to contribute in ways that best suit them | Status Autonomy Relatedness |
| Establishing Clear Decision Making Process | Another foundational need of all groups is to address, “how are decisions going to be made?” Once participants know the boundaries of their roles, they are freed up to pay attention to the content of the discussion vs. wondering how their contributions are going to be used | Certainty Fairness |
| Knowing “who’s in the room” | Pay attention to the dynamics of who is attending. Consider:
|
Status Relatedness |
| Modeling Good Listening & Feedback Skills | How the facilitator ‘shows up’ to lead the meeting sets the tone for the entire event. Be empathic, open, and responsive. Encourage sharing and be willing to be influenced by new ideas. Be straight and specific in giving feedback. | Certainty Relatedness Fairness |
| Developing a Clear Agenda | Maximize engagement by developing a clear agenda with specific times for presentations and specific times for collaboration/brainstorming/sharing. Use a mix of ‘participation formats’ as you move into higher levels of trust & openness. | Certainty Relatedness |
| Documenting Meeting Outcomes | Prior to ending a meeting, review accomplishments, decisions reached, and next steps. Ensure all next steps have defined deadlines and clear owners ofresults. Identify any outstanding issues or “parking lot” items. | Certainty Fairness |
As change leaders at EnSpark, we leverage an array of theories and tools to impact the status-quo and generate transformation.
Recommended readings and websites to delve deeper into neuroscience and effective meetings:
Neuroscience
Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long by David Rock. HarperBusiness. 2009.
Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner with Lenny Lind, Catherine Toldi, Sarah Fisk, and Duane Berger. Wiley & Sons. 2007.
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems by Peggy Holman, Tom Devane and Steven Cady. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 2007.
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