The Neuroscience of Organisational Change

Every thought behind every human action relies upon the wiring and firing patterns of connections in the brain (imprinting); therefore, a change to any action relies upon a change to those connections (neurogenesis) .... where the mechanics of that change process are not considered, many methods employed to facilitate change, particularly in the workplace, have a negative rather than positive impact on our capacity and potential to change.

Duxinaroe consider what this means in practice  to ensure change is realised efficiently and effectively, it must be understood ...
- In respect to Yourself (and those internal and external conditions effecting your capacity to change)
- In respect to Others (and those internal and external conditions effecting their capacity to change - including your attitudes and actions interacting with their imprinted world view)
- In respect to the Organisation (and those internal and external conditions effecting the culture and context in which you and others exist).

This type of understanding, or 'world-view' (reality tunnel) is only just becoming main-stream as 1. the latest technology to make it the clarified science it is today didn't exist more than 5 years ago and 2. the market has been flooded with 'Tools' focused on process change, rather than people change for decades. 

The absence of any clear 'people science' has led to numerous studies which confirm the 'Tools only' approach achieves a >75% failure rate. Those days are over!

New technology has provided us a step-change in knowledge. It's time to understand the 'People' aspect of change in detail. We can now address change as it occurs in people as a science! This allows us to move beyond the claims plaguing HR directors the world over, that anything to do with 'people' is soft, fluffy and nothing to do with the bottom line (not helped by the popularity of generalist terms like engagement, ownership, empowerment, autonomy etc. which are rarely understood in detail as a neurological, psychological, social and cultural outcome of deeper, often 'leadership' and 'system' centric issues).

Having the science to explain such terms in respect to leadership & systems, we can now actively close the gap on perceptions around the ROI opportunities between process change -vs- people change and 'find the balance' between the two, highlighting how the 'People' part of change has a significantly larger impact on the bottom line than any process and tools focused change has ever had.

It's a shock to become consciously aware of the fact, but popular market perceptions promoting 'Process change' via 'Tools' have been accepted while fundamentally invalid and misguided. This has ensured the approach has remained pervasive and popular throughout the change industry in both public and private sectors globally for these last few decades. A swing to a people only focus would be similarly misguided; fortunately the science we have at our disposal today allows us to understand people and process as an interactive system and organisational financial performance (bottom line) as an emergent property of that system. 

But be warned, as the term 'neuroscience' rapidly becomes the latest corporate buzzword, those who will read a few of the latest articles and claim expertise are already starting to appear, repeating the claims of the past with a couple of new 'neuro-words' added to create the right headline, ensuring the shallow sales pitch is picked up across social media platforms. 
 

There's gold in them thar hills! 
These prospectors will readily sell snake oil while digging about in this field of expertise, as they have for eons before. (This pattern of human behaviour can also be understood as part of the neurological and psychological driver mechanisms in the brain. Loosely termed 'human nature' it's a principle of people we must understand if we're to know how to lead and create conditions in which people [brain, mind and body] perform at their best while aligned to organisational outcome requirements).

Addressing and understanding change in the workplace at this level, is absolutely the right thing to do, but it's a big and complex subject, which needs to be understood in detail and context. 

So, be warned and be careful, those messages which make this new science sound good and simple might tick a box and let you get board approval to spend an HR or Operations budget, but neuro-psychologically speaking, what these 'simplified' messages are really doing, is making sure you're in your comfort zone and releasing the 'feel good' chemicals in your brain so you make a purchasing decision based on the hidden emotions you're not even aware of. To have the clever packaging make you feel comfy, doesn't guarantee the content behind the headline is going to be the right solution. 

As I was told by a sales trainer once, 'Don't sell the sausage, sell the sizzle'. I never did follow that advice as I personally believe it's that kind of mentality which perpetuates conditions which fail to address deeper sociological issues. You see, the trouble is, buying the sizzle has seen >75% failure rates reported for organisational change programmes globally and it's the same commercial mindset which sold us the 'Tools' (as a silver bullet / one-size fits all cure) which is now packaging up principles from the world of neuroscience.

Remember, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem ... and the problem for the last 40 years has been a change industry peddling a solution which delivers a 75% failure rate to customers who keep buying it ... don't make the mistakes of the past. IF something is worth doing, it's worth doing properly, and 'Simple' / 'Comfortable' is rarely enough when it comes to dealing with the complexities of people and how they perform.

Don't get caught out by the sizzle this time around, come to the experts, we can sell you the sausage!

Contact Duxinaroe to learn more about our services and support. We've been delivering change based on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and psychology for over a decade and leading Lean, Cap Ex, H&S and Leadership development programmes since 1990. Why would you go anywhere else?