Crack The Behavior Code

Let’s dive into the neuroscience of stress. Your brain releases stress hormones, like cortisol, which then fire up excessive cell-signaling cytokines which alter your physiology. Suddenly your ability to regulate your behavior and emotions is compromised. Your ability to pay attention is compromised, your memory, learning, peace, happiness are all compromised.

Why? Because all that change has caused your system to be overloaded with stress. And excessive stress often causes us to withdraw in order to self-soothe, to try to cope, to try to slow things down and remove further stimulus since we’re already overloaded.

But then we get new stress: the stress of disconnection.

Disconnection possibly from yourself, from others, your purpose, your place in the grand scheme of things, and even your relationship with nature. Today we see increasing chaos, distrust, aggressiveness, and many other behavioral challenges in our world due to disconnection caused by excessive stress.

And in stressful times, more than peaceful ones, we ache to be seen, heard, acknowledged in the midst of all this isolation. We ache to belong. In my leadership and culture coaching work I am seeing tremendous amounts of isolation caused by the stress of change.

What’s Happening Inside When Stress Is Happening Outside

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is fired when we anticipate reward or receive an unexpected reward, pleasure, or praise. But dopamine in excess is a problem. It inhibits our prefrontal cortex (PFC), which affects our ability to make good decisions, focus, solve problems, regulate our emotions and behavior and much more.

We get excess amounts of dopamine from constantly checking email, text and other alerts—and in fear and change scenarios we will often constantly check to see if we’re safe. When the PFC is inhibited we see greater irrational risk taking, obesity, aggression, addiction, schizophrenia because increased sensory stimulation and decreased cognitive stimulation (in the PFC) has occurred. It’s a big deal.

FOMO (fear of missing out) is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, it causes us often to have that addictive response to constantly check our messages, our emails, social media, etc. However, what’s beneath it is the desire to connect. It’s the desire for warmth. It’s the desire to be seen, to be safe, to belong, and to matter. We’re actually craving oxytocin, the bonding hormone, to help us know we’re not alone.

3 Ways To Cure Stress-Based Isolation

1. Come Together. Humans are tribal. Being together with other humans is how we have survived for centuries. And yet, technology, in an attempt to bring us together has actually brought us apart. We all want to be in the ‘in-crowd’ and not in the ‘out-crowd’. Yet we are seeing more and more separation. This makes change even harder, because when times are uncertain we need one another more than ever. Here’s a tool to connect with yourself and others more effectively. We help our clients launch a number of cultural programs to bring people together.
2. Practice Compassion. When we encounter people who are angry, there is no point in judging someone who can’t reach out to others. Better to reach out and give them as much as an experience of *same as* as possible to help them re-establish their ability to connect, to bring them safety belonging and mattering, and to give them a positive experience of connection. Which just might help them choose to learn to reconnect to themselves and others throughout their life.
3. Manage Your Energy During Change and Stress. And where does your energy go in times of change? Check out this cool image. Do you see why how the stories we tell about change can affect a person’s experience? How we as leaders can actually affect a person’s physiology, neurotransmitter firing, hormones released? How awesome is this responsibility?

The Net-Net

• Understanding the neuroscience of stress is imperative to avoid feeling isolated.
• Change causes stress which often results in isolation.
• The physiological impacts of stress and isolation effect our ability to navigate change , and once we’re aware of these we can connect with others to reduce these impact
• Change requires a lot of energy. Be sure to manage yours!

Yes, change is prevalent. And when it happens, know that stress and isolation can be prevented by increasing connection, noticing the stories you’re telling yourself and others about the change, and managing your energy via your emotions.

Resources mentioned:

• Stress, Change, Isolation infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/stress-change-isolation/

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Email. Texting. Voicemail. We’re constantly connecting with others, so why do so many people feel so disconnected–which is a key factor in excessive stress?

According to Dr. Edward Hallowell, an expert on anxiety and stress, there are twelve ways in which people need to connect in order to have full, rich, healthy, long lives. I had no idea how much more connected I could feel until I read his outstanding book, Connect: 12 Vital Ties That Open Your Heart, Lengthen Your Life, and Deepen Your Soul. I learned more about connecting in that book than I have from any shrink or at any seminar.

Here’s his list of 12 Stress-Busters of where we should all be connecting. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Family of Origin:

Do I have strong bonds and clear communication with my parents, siblings, relatives? Do I connect with them regularly?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

2. Immediate Family:

Do I treat them with love and respect?

Are we emotionally close?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

3. Friends and Community:

Do I see friends and neighbors on a regular basis?

Do I share my life with them frequently?

Do I make time to enjoy their company?

Am I involved in community groups and projects?

Do I identify with and support the community I live in?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

4. Work:

Do I have emotional equity and a sense of mission at work?

Do I share a connection with my co-workers and company?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

5. Beauty:

Do I enjoy beauty regularly, do I appreciate it and pay attention to it and savor it?

Do I take time to enjoy a favorite art form?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

6. History:

Do I feel part of the history of humankind?

Do I learn about it, feel the power of it, and cherish the history of my country, town, culture?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

7. Nature:

Do I connect with nature on a weekly basis?

Do I spend time outdoors or indoors caring for plants or appreciating nature?

Do I have special places that are healing to me?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

8. Pets/Animals:

Do I enjoy playing with and having a relationship with a pet?

Do I value animals and enjoy seeing them, listening to them, interacting with them?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

9. Ideas and Information:

Do I learn new things often?

Am I interested in new ideas and perspectives?

Am I getting the most out of my brain power?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

10. Organizations and Institutions:

Am I a member of any organizations?

Do I contribute to their growth and welfare?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

11. Greater Truth/Spirituality:

Do I have a spiritual practice?

Do I make time to read spiritual, uplifting books or listen to CDs or podcasts?

Do I continue to seek meaning and truth in whatever way resonates with me?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

12. Myself:

Do I meditate, have quiet time alone, know what matters most to me and live according to it?

Am I comfortable being who I am?

What are some ways I might increase connection?

Years after reading Ned’s book I’ve maintained these connections, to varying degrees, in all 12 areas. And my life is richer and more fulfilling than it has ever been. Email? Texting? Voicemail? Helpful, yes. And now I use them to better connect with others.

How connected are you? How connected would you like to be?

Additional resources:

• Connect More Deeply With Others infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/connection-infographic/

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What is your life experience when the work day is complete? Are you spending time doing things that you love or are you too drained to do anything other than recoup before the next workday begins?

We spend a lot of time at work and the brain-based tools that I teach my executive coaching clients show them how to maximize their efforts, stand in their energetic weight and master executive presence. If you aren’t having fun when you aren’t at work, it may be time to reflect.

Life is a balancing act, and work will become less fulfilling if your downtime is void of ease, grace, joy, and fun.

These are the three actions that leaders can do each and every day that will put them on the path towards guaranteeing work-life balance.

Action 1: Move The Needle: Focus 70% + of your time on HVAs. There will always be a parade of bright shiny objects trying to distract you. Keep those beasts at bay by tracking your high-value activities (HVAs) and low-value activities (LVAs). Resolve to get to 70%+ of HVAs in the next 60 days. Effective delegation increases the amount of time that you will have to focus on the items that will move the needle. [see below for our HVA/LVA Tutorial -- and share it with your team!]

Action 2: Honor Your Boundaries: Are you honoring your personal life commitments? We all avoid uncomfortable human relations issues sometimes, but what is the cost? It’s exorbitant. As we give our power away and compromise our integrity, we inadvertently teach our brain that not honoring our personal life is acceptable. Set up a new system with healthy boundaries and behaviors that will anchor the fact that a commitment in your personal life is equally as important as a commitment at work. [See below for our energetic weight infographic--you can test your energetic weight with it!]

Action 3: Embrace Mindfulness Practices: Do you have a mindfulness practice? If not, it may be time to start incorporating at least one mindfulness practice into your daily routine. One of the biggest causes of stress is ruminating, or repeating a certain stressful thought. The brain sets off down an old thinking pattern and stays there. Mindfulness practices teach our brain to pop up out of that old pattern and recognize it for what it is: a default and well-worn groove that we have a choice to step out of. Mindfulness meditation re-grooves the brain and builds a new neurological network. Do it enough and, like the studies show, you can train your brain like a muscle to stay calm and present in the face of adversity or good old daily stresses of life. [See below for our Beyond Your Brain infographic -- this will help you determine the ROI on mindfulness/meditation]

Leaders learn how to manage their energy. They focus on the actions that only they can do to move the needle in their organization, they honor their boundaries and personal life commitments, and they know how to stop the world and stop their thoughts on command.

Try the three above actions and you’ll find your personal life will be as fun and fulfilling as your work life!

Resources mentioned:

• HVA/LVA Tutorial: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8vf7300q09vhi9/HVA%20and%20LVA%20Tutorial.pdf?dl=0
• VAK Anchoring infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/vak-anchoring/
• Energetic Weight infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/energetic-weight/
• Beyond Your Brain infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/beyond-your-brain-infographic/

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The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate he’d hire her if she lost 20 pounds. She’s “too fat to represent our company.”

The VP Operations tells her team if they were competent they would’ve achieved their quarterly goals.

The CFO sends the Controller an angry email saying his budget “sucks and is pathetic.”

The VP Product Development says “deal with it” when the favorite lead engineer and keeper of the culture quits.

What do all these leaders have in common?

They aren’t emotionally intelligent. They are sending “nasty-grams” to their teams and causing emotional disengagement and shutdown in others. They have low EQ.

And EQ = money, according to Drs. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves (see resources below).

“The link between EQ and earnings is so direct that every point increase in EQ equals $1,300 to an annual salary. If that’s not enough, EQ accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs”.

All. Wow.

So let’s figure this out in a straightforward way. First, i’ll summarize emotional intelligence and you’ll see a handy infographic in the show notes: 

Here’s how to start becoming more emotionally intelligent:

1. Figure out what you’re feeling. It’s essential to be in tune with your emotions—this is Self-Awareness. Now based on what you are feeling, is it the appropriate time to send that angry email? Right now it’s key to remember that communication is redundant: humans cannot *not* communicate—our facial expressions, body posture, vocal tone/pace/pitch betray us. Even in email or texts our vocal tone/pace/pitch can be detected.

You know what it feels like to receive an email when someone is spewing anger or venting frustration. You also know what it feels like when someone handles a challenging situation with compassion, a spirit of collaboration, and overall respect and kindness. People can tell. Your vocal tone does indeed come through in written communication.

2. Take a breather. Holding off on sending a nasty-gram until you cool down is Self-Management. We need to shift out of Critter State [fight/flight/freeze or Amygdala Hijack]  into Smart State [clear thinking, behavioral choice, innovation, collaboration, creativity] in order to practice Self-Management. Now is a great time to unpack the visual, auditory and kinesthetic cues that triggered you. And if you’re in Critter State one of the easiest ways to shift out of it and into Smart State is to practice 7-7-7 breathing. Inhale for a count of 7, hold for count of 7, exhale for count of 7. Do 7 times. Ahhhhh. Now you have choice to respond vs. react compulsively. Excellent!

3. Consider the recipient. While you are practicing #1 or #2 above, consider what the recipient might feel upon receiving your communication. This is Social Awareness. They are a different person from you, so they’ll likely make different meaning—they’ll interpret your communication–based on their Map of the World and not yours. Many components factor into a person’s map of the world, such as education, where they grew up, socio-economics, religion, childhood experiences, adult experience—which is why we misunderstand one another so often: we all have different maps.

This consideration is Social Awareness.

4. Focus on the outcome. What is the outcome you’d actually like to achieve? How would you like to make someone feel in order to empower them and move the ball forward? It’s time to craft a message that will get the result you want and make the person feel powerful, effective, enrolled, engaged, whatever positive emotion you want. This is Relationship Management.

Let’s revisit the above real-world scenarios. When I was asked to come in and coach these leaders to become more Emotionally Intelligent they had team members ready to quit, some were totally checked out and no longer cared, some were downright hostile due to prolonged mistreatment. So I had my work cut out for me.

Once the leaders were in touch with their feelings and had boosted their Self-Management and Self-Awareness, we then worked on Social Awareness and Relationship Management. This transformation took 4-6 months (based on the leader) to become an automatic response.

When I asked each of them how they would’ve navigated the scenarios above were they able to turn back time, here’s how the communications were edited (yes, after the fact, but better than repeating the mistake!).

The CEO tells the VP Marketing candidate she has great skills and he’d like to explore how she can best represent the company.

The VP Operations asks her team what they need to achieve their goals next time. Did she set the bar too high? Were they all too ambitious? Do they need more/different resources? Were there cross-functional dependencies that we all missed considering?

The CFO meets with the Controller and works through expectations for the budget, filling in any gaps so what defines “success” is super clear. The Controller feels safe to ask questions and push back on things they disagree with.

The VP Product Development sits down with the team and lets them express their grief without judging them. Then she asks what the team needs to heal and move forward, noting that they’ll tackle this together, as a team, all for one, and one for all.

How emotionally intelligent are you? Where would you like to increase your emotional intelligence?

Resources mentioned:

EQ Research: https://www.talentsmart.com/about/emotional-intelligence.php

Emotion Wheel: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/

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Cultivating the Witness

To witness yourself, to keep the ego in its appropriate role (the ego is the CEO for the vast majority of humans, like 99.99999999%!), we need to catch it at its tricks.

Here’s an initial list. You may want to keep it on your phone and add to it when you notice a new trick it tries to play on you!

Also note when the ego tries to take over it’s helpful to use the Feedback Frame on your current life experience (ask what’s working and what you’d like to see more of, be sure to have equal amounts). The ego sees everything as negative. Interesting. 

Tricks of the Ego

The ego’s only function is to hurt self or others. Catch it when it tries to bum your high/make you feel lousy...

Favorite ego behaviors/beliefs:

• Feel offended
• Feel left out
• Feel others aren’t appreciating or acknowledging you
• Feel less than others
• Feel more than others 
• Feel self-pity
• Feel self-righteous or justified for inappropriate behavior (“they started it!”)
• Relentlessly seeks approval/validation
• Relentlessly seeks to control
• Judges self and others
• Competes with self and others 
• Fears the future
• Dwells on the painful past, regrets it, is obsessed by it

The ego wants all of the above to be fixed by someone or something else. The ego does not take self-responsibility.

Resources Mentioned:

• Emotional Agility infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotional-agility-in-the-workplace/
• Outcome Frame infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/
• Reframing infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/
• Feedback Frame infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/

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Ambiguous or unspoken agreements often cause pain.

Lots of it.

This is why more and more organizations are creating agreements for expectations of one another. These aren’t employment agreements—these are behavioral agreements. These agreements, or codes of conduct, help an employee both be easy to manage as well as to bring their personal best.

As a Leadership and Culture Coach, I’m often asked by leaders to “change their people.” They want their team to care more, be more present, more accountable, have greater ownership of their thinking, or have greater performance in a specific area. They think they have a sales problem, an operations problem, an attention-to-detail problem, a whatever-you-want-to-call-it problem. But they don’t. They have only one type of problem.

A Leadership Problem.

They aren’t leading their team or the individual’s on their teams to the desired behaviors. And this brings us back to understanding the expectations of one’s behavior, and also, of course, the attention and investment that leaders make in cultivating their team.

If an individual isn’t performing well, look to their leader.

If an individual is dissatisfied with their job, look to their leader

If an individual is feeling disengaged, look to their leader.

Chances are good their leader isn’t investing in them. But wait a sec—doesn’t the individual have to participate too? Yes, we’re all in this together. Let’s get clear on each person’s role in the system.

There are 3 Jobs All Leaders and Employees Have. Let’s talk about who owns what.

Job #1: Foster Engagement Continuously

Leader’s Job:

• Make sure the employee understands the organization’s mission, vision, values and how they connect to them
• Model the mission, vision, values every single day, and talk about them, and praise people for honoring them in their behavior
• Provide an Impact Description for each role so everyone knows how they support the mission, vision, values and how they contribute to the organization
• Pay attention to your people and give them feedback

Employee’s Job:

• Understand the company’s mission, vision, values and how you connect to them
• Be a role model of at least three of the values (let’s assume there are 5-6)
• Bring ideas for how to improve things, solve problems, reduce stress to your leader
• If any of the above are unclear, ask your leader for help
• Give your leader feedback to help them grow their engagement

Job #2: Optimize Execution and Results

Leader’s Job:

• Prioritize and explain why we’re doing what and when and the impact it has for us all
• Help the team understand how to do it if they get stuck and encourage them to seek input
• Optimize High Value-Added Activities, minimize Low Value-Added Activities
• Understand and communicate dependencies, contingencies, and needle movers so all are clear—all need to know what could interrupt execution and how to navigate around it and prevent it
• Keep the communication flowing so everyone can do their best work
• Note the meta-programs and SBM triggers of your colleagues and team, and communicate in them during stressful times

Employee’s Job:

• Think things through, be proactive to ensure priorities are clear
• Be present in your interactions to save everyone time and ensure things are done right the first time
• Understand the outcomes your team and leader want and when, and how they align with your organization’s outcomes and those of other teams so contingencies and dependencies are navigated effectively
• If progress toward outcomes isn’t happening, or if anything’s unclear, ask your leader for help
• If your leader isn’t clearly prioritizing, give them feedback to help them improve

Job #3: Grow and Learn Together

Leader’s Job:

• Help your people map out Individual Development Plans so they can see how they’ll grow at your organization
• Work with Talent/HR to ensure your team has clear, impactful, ongoing learning plans and opportunities
• Help your team collaborate with other teams in your organization
• Give your team opportunities to shine across the organization and increase their status/visibility to all other leaders
• Identify ways the team can be more impactful to the business
• Enroll the team in identifying and optimizing process changes that will improve effectiveness
• Normalize feedback and make it comfortable vs confrontational

Employee’s Job:

• Ask your Leader to advocate for your team individually and collectively with people outside the team
• Take responsibility for shortcomings and give credit to team members when they deserve it—share and celebrate wins
• Point out opportunities for your leader to be vocal about individual accomplishments that might not be visible outside the team
• Envision and plan how you specifically you can deliver value to the organization in a specific period of time—and then do it
• Continuously invite feedback on your performance, and offer it to your leader on their performance
• Note the meta-programs and SBM triggers of your colleagues and leader, and communicate in them during stressful times

The Net-Net

• Behavioral expectations help everyone get the results they want
• Both leaders and their direct reports must agree to your code of conduct—we’re all in this together
• The only type of problem is a Leadership Problem: the leader’s not leading or the direct report isn’t stepping up

This is a rough draft to get you started. What else do you need to add to ensure communication and expectations are clear at your organization? Let me know!

Resources Mentioned:

• Impact Description Example: https://bit.ly/39v9drM
• Feedback Frame infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/the-feedback-frame/
• HVA/LVA Tutorial: https://bit.ly/3bDxDRB
• Individual Development Plan Example: https://bit.ly/33SxiYm

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Secrets. We all have them.

One of our clients recently had to let an executive go for non-performance reasons. The tricky part was the executive was well-loved in the organization and a large number of the employees reported up through his department. Prior to the termination, my client had to, of course, keep a secret of it. He had to self-censor, to watch what he said to whom and when. He had to be careful not to reveal the secret when long-term plans were discussed that the to-be-terminated executive would not be a part of it.

At times our client felt anxious, a little depressed, obsessively thought about it and felt inauthentic since he had to wait for the right timing to proceed with the termination.He also felt isolated.

You’ve had to keep a secret before… how did it make you feel?

The True Cost of Keeping A Secret—it’s Not What You Think 

New research now reveals the truth behind secrets—and it’s not what you’d expect. First, 97% of people have one or more secrets at any given time. But most common is 13 secrets per person… whoa! Secrets included workplace secrets like pending terminations or promotions, personal life secrets like surprise parties, dark or controversial family secrets, you name it. And secrets have different categories, including simple preferences (maybe you really don’t like your mother-in-law’s casserole but pretend you do) to full-out breaches of trust, like infidelity or even embezzlement.

So what does keeping a secret do to your brain? Here are the 2 biggest problems I see (and notice the research backs them too):

• Damages your well-being – think back to my client above. The energy it took to resist, to self-censor, the rumination (the repetitive thinking about it), the anxiety and depression in anticipating what would happen when the secret would be revealed, all took an enormous toll on him. His emotional resilience was reduced significantly and he noticed he was more irritable. He wasn’t sleeping as well, so he was experiencing what we call REM rip-off, which negatively impacted his behavior further.
• Damages your focus and decision-making – when you’re distracted by a secret you aren’t fully present. Then your cognitive biases will likely take over and you’ll have less behavioral choice. You may be telling yourself scary stories instead of being able to reframe what’s happening and how you feel. To make matters worse, you’re out of rapport with yourself, too.

Since you’re experiencing the opposite of being mindful, here’s what’s happening in your brain:

• your amygdala is on overdrive (irritability, quick to drop into fight/flight/freeze),
• your hippocampus is compromised due to the stress of excessive cortisol which then cause excessive cytokines, so learning, memory, and immune system are compromised,
• and last your pre-frontal cortex is likely offline a great deal since you’re in Critter State so your ability to communicate, collaborate, innovate–basically be your personal best–is down the tubes.

So what to do?

Reveal Your Secret To A Trusted Source

Often we hold our secrets close because we have some guilt, shame, or blame tangled up with them.  Find out which of these is trapping your secret. Our client was feeling guilty about having to let the executive go, as he knew he’d disappoint some of the staff. But for all the others, he’d usher in a new world order, which would be more empowering and positive. He was feeling some shame for not having dealt with this sooner. And he was also blaming the executive for not fixing the behaviors he had repeatedly asked him to.

My client suffered for 2 weeks, then his wife urged him to call me. When he did we worked through his painful emotions and rumination with some potent brain-based processes to re-establish rapport with himself, and to create a positive outcome for the situation. Once his well-being was considerably restored we could move on to strategy—who he’d talk with when and the key messages to keep everyone calm when they heard the termination news.

When you reveal the secret it loses its power over you. Then you can brainstorm, get an unbiased perspective, no longer feel excluded from others.

The Net-Net:

Secrets cause isolation and hurt us emotionally

They also affect our performance, focus, decision-making ability

Share your challenging secret to get a fresh perspective and stop suffering!

What secrets do you have? What story are you telling yourself that keeps you isolated with them?

Resources Mentioned:

• Secrets research: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28481618
• What Stress, Change And Isolation Do To Your Brain infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/stress-change-isolation/
• What Being Excluded Does To Your Brain infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/what-being-excluded-does-to-your-brain/
• Decision Making infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/decision-making/
• Maneuvers of Consciousness infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/

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Stressed?

Grumpy?

Need to lighten up?

Our brains need passion, play, and release at work. They’re essential to keeping us emotionally connected and engaged, to feel part of the tribe, to blow off steam, to create shared experiences. As a leadership and culture coach, I repeatedly find that our clients who implement the four tips I’m about to share have more productive and profitable workplaces… oh, and people have more fun and are more loyal too.

Here are four ways to have more fun at work, with the brain in mind:

1-Create games or contests for your company values. One of my clients had a mini-golf tournament, right in the office. Employees navigated treacherous obstacles like the copy machine, the reception area, the lunchroom, and more. Each hole was a plastic cup with a company value on it. Once an employee hit the ball into the hole they had to pause and tell others nearby a short story about what the value meant to them and how they had seen others at the firm model it. Focusing on your company values and how everyone connects to the greater good will release oxytocin (the bonding hormone). In addition, dopamine (a key neurotransmitter behind reward-motivated behaviors) will be released due to the competitive nature of the game.

2-Share community service experiences. Think back on the most powerful memories you have. They’re powerful because they are emotional—whether inspiring and uplifting or challenging with some struggle/trauma. Giving money to charities is cool, but donating time is far more emotional. You get your hands in there. Your brain is firing visual, auditory, and kinesthetic cues as you’re seeing, hearing, and feeling things in your environment as you volunteer. Seeing and hearing positive things (smiles, words of appreciation) make us feel good, releasing both serotonin and oxytocin into our systems. Also, we’re doing something meaningful together, which is fostering safety, belonging and mattering.

3-Take a 20-minute nap. Seriously, a short nap of this length (or shorter—not longer!) will give your brain some time in SWS (Slow Wave Sleep) which is deep and physically rejuvenating. The reason you want to stop at 20 minutes is that it’s the ultimate amount to benefit you immediately —a longer time will cause your brain to go too deeply into SWS and you’ll have a hard time waking up, and will likely feel groggy. And you will miss the immediate benefit too. Most of us aren’t getting enough sleep. The evidence is the amount of irritability, excessive focus on the negative/inability to see the positive/glass half empty/general crabbiness and less ability to enjoy life. Don’t rip off your Hippocampus and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (part of the Prefrontal Cortex where creativity, planning, problem-solving, innovation reside)—these key parts of your brain regulate your emotions. Then your Amygdala becomes overactive (since the emotional brakes aren’t on) and you’re more grumpy, unhappy and prone to only remember the negative.

4-Clear the air if the emotional smog has gotten too thick. To paraphrase Wayne Dyer “when we change the things we look at, the things we look at change”. When we’re focused on the pain or problem, it’s hard to get to the solution. We get stuck. As leaders, it’s our job to help people shift out of challenging, ineffective or painful emotional states in the workplace. We do it respectfully, and we do it together. One tool our clients love, especially right now amidst the government shutdown, is Maneuvers of Consciousness. 

The Net-Net

• We can help people feel good at work easily by understanding some basics about the brain
• We need passion, play, and release at work
• Guiding people out of painful/ineffective/challenging emotional states if part of a leader’s job

How’s your brain doing at work?

Resources mentioned:

• Maneuvers Of Consciousness infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness/
• Get Horizontal infographic: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/get-horizontal/

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Recently our team had tons of complex deadlines where they were doing work that was new to them. New challenges, new people to collaborate with, new aspects of the project that they couldn’t control. These are the situations where you truly want to have a more creative team.

In this case, however, we weren’t experiencing the benefits of creativity. Instead, it was stressful. And even though my team is great at navigating stress, they went into Critter State (fight, flight, freeze).

As the number of new aspects reached overload, several parts of their brain were compromised. Cell signaling was out of whack. Mistakes were made, details dropped, and then I got into Critter State too. Uh oh. Epic mess now.

Why can’t we be in a high state of creativity AND navigate tons of growth and change? Must they be mutually exclusive?

Human beings have 100 billion neurons available in our brains. Yet only about 15% are activated. How do we gain access to more neurons? Would increased access make us more creative? Would this access give us a more creative team?

We need to be creative to solve problems, to have insights, and to adapt and adjust. Those are all the skills we want access to turbulent times.

This is where some Harvard research comes in. From it we learn that even a tiny bit of mindfulness training can boost creative output. To explore this idea further, they conducted a study with a midsize U.S.-base d real estate firm to examine whether a mindfulness training program could influence a team’s creativity.

Side note: let’s remember that mindfulness essentially means awareness. It means paying attention first to oneself and being present to oneself. (This includes how you’re feeling, what you’re noticing inside yourself and outside yourself.)

In the study I reference above, they created 2 teams of 5 people each: a meditating group and a control group. They then gave both groups a creative task: to brainstorm as many unusual uses for a brick as they could think of. Next they administered a 10-minute mindfulness exercise, and then asked them to continue brainstorming the creative task.

• They found that 7 out of 10 people increased the number of creative ideas after only 10 minutes of meditation
• Over time, they found that the meditating group was 121% more able to build on the ideas of others
• They found the meditating team was more innovative overall, better at problem solving, have more cognitive flexibility, and more

I’ve covered the physiological benefits (increased cell density in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, decreased cell density in the amygdala, etc) of mindfulness in the past. So those explain some of the “how” that we gain access to more neurons. Next, let’s look at how to bring this into your culture.

How do we create a culture that supports creativity? How do we build more creative teams? Here’s what our clients find:

• Ensure your organization’s values and purpose support the importance of having insights, stepping back, approaching problems with fresh eyes
• Start meetings with a presence practice (see below)
• Offer a meditation room or at a minimum a “quiet zone” where people can do a 10 minute meditation whenever they want

Thanks to the Hoffman Institute for the basic outline of this process. My organization, SmartTribes Institute, has made some modifications to boost effectiveness in the business world.

Start each meeting with the following Presence Process to foster safety, belonging, mattering:

“Stand up tall and feel your feet on the floor. Feel your full height, stretching from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head. Truly feel your energy and solidity. Feel your dignity, and feel how present you are, right here and now.”

“Next feel your full width, the width of your feet, legs, torso, arms, chest, head. Feel the amount of space you occupy on the planet. You’re supposed to be here. We’re all so glad you’re here with us.”

“Next feel your depth, feel from the front of your torso through the back of it. Feel where you are, and your purpose in life. Feel your commitment to yourself, your loved ones, your colleagues, your organization. Really feel the difference you are making in the lives of the people you interact with.”

“Thanks for being present with us all today. Your being here matters. Your being part of this tribe matters. (Look at each person for a second to establish connection). Ok, let’s start the meeting.”

Mindfulness—even 10 minutes of it—boosts creativity in the majority of people.

More creative teams means better and faster problem solving, cognitive flexibility, collaboration, innovation.

More of the above equals a happier team using more of their brain capacity.

What will you do today to boost creativity of your team?

Resources Mentioned:

• Emotion wheel: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/emotion-wheel/
• Reframing infographics: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/reframing/

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Whether you're new to the show, or you've been with us all along, we wanted to take a moment to review just a few of this season's big takeaways:

Emotional agility is a key trait for leaders, as emotions have energy. What we focus on, we fuel!

Sometimes leaders focus so much on growth, that they miss out on the reality that their team's emotional state is suffering.

Safety + Belonging + Mattering = Trust

Emotional agility is a superpower! We can shift our emotional state to achieve the outcomes we want.

Reframing is crucial, as our words shape our realities. When we reframe, we can find more useful alternatives and shift our perceptions.

We all have rights as human beings, and lack of understanding these rights can cause others to suffer.

You can crack your own behavior code (and you have such much power and agency to create change).

If you think your team needs to be "fixed"....it's likely your leadership is the problem!

And so much more! Listen to all the episodes to get all the details and actionable strategies.

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Some Resources Mentioned This Season:

• Culture Camp: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/culture-camp/
• Beyond Your Brain: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/stiretreat/
• Emotion Wheel Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/secret-controlling-emotions-control/
• Maneuvers of Consciousness Infographic: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/maneuvers-of-consciousness-shift-resistance/
• Outcome Frame: https://www.smarttribesinstitute.com/outcome-frame/
• Organismic Rights: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/organismic-rights/
• Contact Christine: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/contact/
• Strategy Session: https://smarttribesinstitute.com/strategy-session/

You’re busy growing. Let’s have a strategy session when it makes sense, which means you are…

· Committed to getting better results and finding out how awesome your performance can truly be

· Ready to make this a priority and get started in the next few months

· Allocating budget to improving the leadership, culture and results of you and your company

· Able to make the decision to move forward (or can convince the person who can)

Ready? Great! Please fill out the form here. If not, check out our resourcesand subscribe to receive news and more tools as they become available, and we’ll work together when the time is right.

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