Applying Neuroscience Principles for our practice?

Why we all require to figure out the Neuroscience Principles to develop into stronger change leaders and agents for transformation?

Once we know how the brain performs, chances are significant that we will obtain the maximum benefit from these formulated principles.

Across approximately seven million years, the human brain has tripled in size, with most of this growth occurring in the past two million years.

40,000 years ago was the turning point in human creativity, when modern Homo sapiens arrived in Europe.

Science demonstrates that genetically, the human brain has not changed much in 40 000 years, which means that our ‘cavemen’-brains are battling to accord with the tremendous and continually changing challenges and challenges of the 21st Century workplace.

Skulls from 40,000 years ago show no change in brain size and are extraordinarily unlikely to show a genetic change in the brain’s functioning. So we are the same human brain that our forefathers managed to operate.

The latest neuroscience discoveries encouraged to establish principles that can stimulate us to react to challenges more adequately, perform more energetically, and subsequently obtain stronger results.

• The individual brain is extremely flexible from the moment we are born until we are fully into old age.
• The brain is set up for change, it usually resists changes. The brain chooses to remain with what is comfortable and has a built-in fear of the unknown which we must surmount.
• For humans, change is an option – a decision we make. Decisions, from the brain’s perspective, involve weighing risks and making a comparison of the expected rewards–what we will obtain–and the negatives–what we might lose. Only if the anticipated rewards are significant enough and the risks are modest enough are individuals motivated to change.
• Minimize danger and maximize reward. The brain determines whether a condition is safe or threatening. The brain is put into a state of threat, our ability to think and function is compromised. Exerting too much control or micromanagement can force our brains into threat situations.
• Our brain has two operational systems: conscious and subconscious. And, surprise, most of its operations function at the level of the subconscious.
• The act of paying attention creates chemical and physical changes in the brain. Anything we pay attend brain absorb better.

Our expectations, whether conscious or submerged in our deeper brain centers, can perform such a substantial role in perception has significant ramifications. Large-scale behavior change calls for a large-scale change in mental maps. This, in turn, demands some kind of event or experience that obliges people to inspire themselves, in effect, to change their attitudes and expectations more swiftly and completely than they typically would.

• Habits happen automatically, and that can be extremely beneficial. But they happen largely without our consciousness. So, anything alters our routine or habits it creates stress to the brain!
• Our brains are built to process information sequentially rather than simultaneously. Also, switching tasks constantly leads to increased brain fatigue, resulting in weak quality of results and on average much longer time to accomplish a particular task.
• The neuroscientifically grounded SCARF? model provides a basis to reduce threats and maximize the reward of business conditions. It encompasses five elements that have implications on individual motivation and which every leader should employ to establish a positive environment for their teams. The SCARF model stands for:

1. Status. Getting a good status and relative position towards others.

2. Certainty. Feeling certain about future events.

3. Autonomy. Feeling to be in control of the situation.

4. Relatedness. Belonging to a social group.

5. Fairness. The subjective feeling of equal/fair treatment,

• Neuroscience shows that a certain level of stress is absolutely essential for any form of performance. Only if high levels of stress are prevailing over a longer period of time, they will contribute to negative effects. Everybody has a definite threshold of stress required to perform at a peak level. However, when exceeding this point, performance will dramatically decline, leading to fatigue and ultimately panic.
• The brain works better when learning experiences are entertaining and in the social surrounding, So as an individual we should not explain what to be done, we require to show the team members and allow them to identify themselves on their own
• A 2014 study in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals that musical education “improve nervous system function by focusing attention on meaningful acoustic cues, and these improvements cascade to language and cognitive skills.” Better communicator, Learn to play a musical instrument!!
• According to studies at the York University and University of Toronto, “individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective.” Reading good literature certainly can make us a better individual.

Three principles of neuroscience have significant importance for Learning professionals:

• Attention
• Memory
• Exploration

Neuroscience demonstrates that individuals don’t pay attention to boring situations. Neuroscience demonstrates that individuals forget most of what they are taught. When we are energized and inspired, we will explore more about the unknown, the better discover the unknown on our-self, we will able to learn better.

• Emotion helps motivate learners and embed things in long-term memory. 
• Storytelling is a better way to bond with people. Social storytelling harnesses the natural social drive to ask questions like “How will this make me look?” and “What are other people doing?” 

Please read more about these and see how are you currently applying all these findings.