I just finished reading an article called "The Neuroscience of Leadership". It was quite an interesting article but made me realize how many people are out there that are roughly 6 million times smarter than me. From what I grasped, the article was trying to link the brain (the physical organ) with the mind (the human psyche of thought). That is, are there explanations in the organ of the brain that explain human thought - especially as it pertains to leadership and how to promote change in behavior of an individual or an organization. Quite compelling really.
I did take a couple of things away from it that could be useful in promoting change, but one thing that came through loud and clear is that there is no easy answer; there is no magic pill or magic bullet. Change management and leadership requires specific discernment to the individual's or organization's situations, culture, beliefs, environment, perceptions, history, etc. With this and from other reading and personal experience, it reiterates to me that not everyone is cut out for every situation (or, better put, each person is not suited for every situation) regardless of how much we understand the brain vs. mind or have developed leadership skills.
In my world, the power or organizational leadership and change comes from vision - pure, focused, and clear vision of some future state. From there, change management can occur with boldness and focus; effort is spent to help people see the changes and why they are necessary to move toward the vision, but ultimately each person will have their "fear center" triggered in different ways and will make the decision to sign-on or cut ties.
I think about the change management at Thrivent and when we decided to start our hedging program; I think about New Hope when it was decided to start this budgeoning ministry as its own church; I think about the decision for New Hope (then barely 1 year old) to use resources to help start another church; I think about the current decision to "re-launch" New Hope to 3 services when the two we have aren't fully packed. These are all leadership decisions based on a ton of fact and input, but forged in and aligned with the vision. For effective change to occur, we need to keep pounding the vision of transforming the community (not a few, but the entire).
Thanks for listening..... hope this made some sense. At some point they need to study "The Neuroscience" of my mind....
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You're speaking my language, Steve! Call me strange but I have a great passion for change management. The cognitive behaviors of people are of great interest to me. It is always easy to complain and place blame or give excuses, especially in times of change; however this gets us nowhere. More importantly in time of change is to be mindful as Leaders to ensure that we are not falling into the cognitive behavior trap. I like to focus on the power of attention. Everyones brain is shaped by the things we think about and our expectations are often based on these thoughts. In research, we often have patients that are in control groups and are not receiving the therapy; however, due to the placebo effect, many of them think they are getting the therapy and actually feel better. In order for those we lead to see change as something positive, we have to reach our own "Ah Ha" moment and fully see, understand, and accept the change. This is crucial and conducive to allowing a persons brain to see things in a different way. I always refer back to the saying that "you can't keep doing things the same way and expect different results." Have volunteers burned out or has the motivation and brain hard-wiring changed? It is normal behavior for people to resist change because their brain automatically sends a signal that something is not right and stress and frustration increase. By supporting the change using multifaceted support, those you lead will feel a sense of confidence that these changes are in alignment. It's very important as leaders to make sure that those involved have been able to reach their own "Ah HA". Trust me, once they have - it is amazing.
I could go on and on as Change Management is a big part of what I do, but I will stop. I will leave you with a quote from Bill George's recent book on authentic leadership True North "When you become a leader, your challenge is to inspire others, develop them, and create change through them. You've got to flip that switch and understand that it's about serving the folks on your team." (J.Irick)
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