Brain Performance Part 1 - Exploring the brain and our higher level competencies

This article is the first in a series, exploring our brain's performance and how it influences our behaviour and outcomes. 

During this exploration we will look at how we can improve the management of our brain's functions to develop effective behaviour that enable the achievement of more of what matters most. 

Above, our sustainable productivity model, represents the key factors in building effective behaviour. You can read about the model here.

In this series, we will consider the enabling behaviour and environments that build our mental capacity and our brain's foundational capabilities (also known as executive or cognitive functions); that we need, in order to be at our best. 

These foundational capabilities are key to our performance and include analytical thinking (decision making, solving problems), creativity, focusing attention, self-control (stimulus and emotional), planning and ability to use language. 

We often use these foundational capabilities to perform higher level competencies like influence, providing feedback, dealing with ambiguity, conflict management, etc. 

Essentially these are competencies that we all need to use when interacting with others at work and at home.

For example to be able to give feedback (higher level competency) we need to use use our foundational capabilities of analytical thinking, focus of attention, language and emotional regulation. To be present or to listen we require focus of attention and self-control.

Simplifying the brain's function

Metaphors help us to learn. To simplify the brain's functioning, we use a metaphor called the Rider and the Elephant, coined by Jonathan Haidt, NYU. Amoungst other books, Jonathan wrote the excellent book: The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science.

The Rider and Elephant metaphor helps us to understand our behaviour and the behaviour of others. Thus it supports us in identifying and performing the required enabling behaviour(s) to achieve what matters most. 

In Daniel Kahneman's popular book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' he refers to System 1 which would equate to the Elephant and system 2 which would equate to the Rider. 

Introducing the Rider

Brain system known as: Conscious, Controlled, Executive, Deliberate 

Introducing the Elephant

Brain system known as: Non-conscious, Automatic

Optimising the Rider's and the Elephant's performance

The brain is an immensely complex organ. But it is certainly not a machine that can work optimally at high speeds for long periods of time. 

For example, the Rider (see above) is one of the most energy hungry systems in our brain and tires easily.

The Rider has a limited, common resource. For example using effort on self-control will limit the resources we have left for solving problems. 

Enabling behaviours and environment

To optimise our brain's functions there are simple practices (which we call enabling behaviours) that we can use to increase our capacity to use our foundational capabilities and therefore our higher level competencies (influence, providing feedback, dealing with ambiguity, conflict management, etc).

There are also certain social needs that need to be met, so our surrounding environment needs to enable these.

As an example of an enabling behaviour, 7-8 hours of high quality sleep can increase our ability to learn and in some cases, by at least 40%. 

Regular meditation enables us to better focus our attention and improve emotional regulation. 

Eating a healthy meal or snack every 3-4 hours helps to balance blood sugar and results in better decision making; for example, Daniel Kahneman, in his popular book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' famously demonstrated that even Judges' decisions have been found to be impacted by a lower supply of blood sugar to the brain. 

We will look at these enabling behaviours and the enabling environment in depth (including how to implement them) in subsequent articles in this series. 

In addition to being aware of the enabling factors, it helps to understand how we can turn these behaviours into automatic habits (something the elephant helps us with). This reduces conscious effort from the rider (think willpower and self-control) and provides us with more mental capacity for other tasks. 

Ultimately, success and increased fulfillment is supported by automating key enabling behaviours (habits) which enable us to do more of what matters most.

In this series we will also explore: 

• The impact of your beliefs on your brain and behaviour
• The impact of feeling safe in your work environment, on your brain and behaviour
• How a sense of belonging, recognition, respect and factors such as self-esteem/self-worth impact our brain in social settings such as work
• The impact of having a sense of meaning and purpose in what you do on your brain and behaviour
• Practical tips and tools for optimising brain performance when you need to be at your best
• Polls, questions and engagement from you in the community on what works for you

We hope you will join us and share your ideas and experience in this exploration.

Next article: Impact of having a sense of purpose.

The other articles in this series:

• Part 2: Having a sense of purpose
• Part 3: Social needs
• Part 4: Physical needs

Key Terms: #Management #HumanResources #behaviour #behavior #performance #beatyourbest #JonathanHaidt #DanielKahneman#riderandelephant #behaviourchange #brain #brainperformance #meditation #competencies #fulfillment #habits #DanielKahneman #system1system2