The Neuroscience behind leaving positively.

Understanding the Importance of leaving a positive impression on your last day at work involves understanding how our brain processes social interactions and what neural processes are at play that impact on our emotions.

Emotional Regulation: The prefrontal cortex plays the major role in regulating emotions effectively. By staying composed and calm allows us to engage our prefrontal cortex to regulate our emotions, expressing gratitude, and maintaining a positive attitude.

Mirror Neurons: are neurons that fire when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing the same action. E.g. when we smile and they smile back, or we pick up a pen for someone and they reciprocate in the future, their mirror neurons fire as well, leading them to experience similar positive emotions and empathy. This is called reciprocity, which creates, feelings of group connectedness and positive cultures in the workplace.

Empathy and Perspective: Empathy is understanding and sharing the feelings of others. When we express appreciation to our co-workers on our last day, we demonstrate empathy by acknowledging and valuing them and their work. The brain regions associated with empathy, such as the anterior cingulate cortex and the temporo-parietal lobe are the same areas where our sense of perspective takes place.

Memory Making and Consolidation: Positive interactions that include strong emotions and a little shot of dopamine are consolidated more firmly into long-term memory. The hippocampus, (named because it does look a bit like a sea horse) involved in memory formation, plays a crucial role in encoding and consolidating episodic memories. By leaving a positive impression, we increase the likelihood that our co-workers will remember us fondly in the future.

Oxytocin: often referred to as the "bonding hormone," is released in response to positive social connections such as, acts of kindness, gratitude, and appreciation of our co-workers. Oxytocin promotes positive social behaviour and enhances bonding, that contributes to a positive impression on our last day.

We humans are social creatures, that typically want to be part of a tribe. Leaving the tribe on our last day can trigger a sense of loss or grief, or possibly relief. Leaving positively creates feelings of empathy, bonding and positive memory encoding. By understanding these interactions, we can leave a lasting positive impression that maintains a strong professional reputation going forward and maybe the chance of developing opportunities in future.