The Neuroscience of Change: Creating Safety & Belonging in Your Organization
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Abe Brown, MBA, M.R.Ed, PCC We are in a change-rich environment. What I mean by that is that on a massive and unprecedented global scale, we are seeing change happen in every country. We’re seeing change in every generation, in demographics, people’s desires, in the economy, and so on. This is for the organizational leaders out there—managers, supervisors, directors of HR, entrepreneurs, and CEOs—who are thinking about navigating change in your organization.?
There’s an ancient saying that goes, “I cannot tame the wind, but I can always turn my sails.” What that means is learning how to navigate change, regardless of what’s taking place around you. Change has a way of bringing up the negative emotions we tend to ignore in life. To deal with that effectively, I often help leaders by encouraging them to view change through a neuroscience lens.?
Use Your Brain by Understanding Your Brain
If you can understand how the human brain works and then align that understanding with your organizational goals, you’ll be working with neuroscience instead of against it. This allows you and your team to operate more effectively when change occurs. Neuroscience allows leaders and team members to understand better how the brain works.?
And the result we’re looking for in this process is to create safety. The best leaders and the best teams create “brain-friendly” environments. As a result, these teams see massive levels of:
This is in contrast to when people’s brains don’t feel safe and, as a result, can’t operate at their best. When this happens, you’ll notice that change gets resisted every single time. To better understand this, we have to understand what I call…
Brain Basics: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Safety
Neuroscience tells us that our brains unconsciously scan the social environment five times a second, detecting whether it’s safe or not. This is important because the work environment is a social environment. It doesn’t matter if you’re working in an office space in close proximity to others or your team is remote, with staff on the other side of the planet.??
Every work team, even in a non-profit, has a pecking order. There’s a social structure and hierarchy that defines how each team member operates. And one of the things I wasn’t aware of as a younger leader was that people’s brains were scanning the social environment trying to answer these questions:
When people actually feel like they have safety at a brain level, I’ll tell you what: they perform at their best. It’s amazing the type of performance people can give when they feel safe. We call this “Psychological safety.” But when someone doesn’t feel safe, we end up seeing the 3 F’s.
Walls and Bridges: How Safety is Developed or Destroyed
Another important facet to understand as a brain basic is the idea of bridges and walls.?
One of these concepts is at play in every relationship—we are always putting up a bridge or a wall. A bridge is an invitation, a connection being established. On the other hand, a wall is a barrier, something to keep the other person at a psychological distance.??
Now, this isn’t necessarily a conscious act.?
It’s more of a subconscious response to the stimuli in your environment. Your brain is continuously monitoring the people, situations, and interactions around you to determine whether or not it’s safe. Your brain decides based on this unconscious analysis, whether to build a bridge or put up a wall.?
Now, when we put up a wall, it’s not to exclude—exclusion is an offensive posture.?
Putting up a wall is actually a defensive posture because the purpose of a wall is to protect. But here’s the thing: this “radar” you have that’s constantly scanning the social environment, determining whether or not it’s safe may not always be as reliable as you think.?
Some people you may think of as “unsafe” may actually be very safe for you.?
Conversely, your “radar” may tell you certain people are safe, but they are not safe for you long term. That’s because we all tend to bring the pain and hurt we’ve experienced in past relationships to our new relationships.
The problem is that many of us haven’t yet learned to distinguish between safety and comfort.?
And here’s the principle: Nothing positive or transformational happens until people feel safe. Trust is the platform on which transformation is created, and safety is the bridge on which it’s sustained.?
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People will take the wall down when they feel safe and replace it with a bridge. The wall protects, and the bridge connects. And I’ll tell you what: as a leader, you have to ensure that your business, enterprise, or organization offers a strong sense of safety to your team.?
Why Creating Safety is Essential in Your Business or Non-Profit
Robins Williams (may he rest in peace) once said…
“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone; it’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.”
Feeling unsafe doesn’t mean you’re alone; however, it can make you feel extremely lonely. Now, you may wonder what feeling safe has to do with your company or business, and the answer is it has everything to do with it! As people, we are social creatures. With this being the case, the safer we feel, the more productive and high-performing we become.?
If we don’t feel safe and we’re walking around on the job with all these walls up, it becomes impossible to perform at our best.?
And that’s because we’re not designed to flourish alone!
Understanding the Social Component of Thriving
If I want to thrive, it’s not a solo project.?
I’ll tell you what: your future is about your friends. The dream requires a team. Your potential is about your partners. That means as a boss, leader, or executive, you have to create a brain-friendly environment of safety.?
And if you dispute or debate this, listen; the longest-running mental health study—The Harvard Study of Adult Development—determined that mental health is social. The study revealed that the greatest predictor of mental, emotional, and physical well-being in life is loving others and allowing others to love you in a safe community.?
To a large extent, it doesn’t really matter what inputs you had growing up.?
Why? Because safe relationships and connections can neutralize negative inputs—we heal in community. ?For this reason, your mission (as a CEO, team lead, executive, etc.) should be to create safety for your team and equip them to operate at their best!?
Belonging Brings Better
Here’s the thing…
Belonging will always bring better from your team. Now, what does that mean? It means that creating a sense of belonging will arm your team with the safety they need to deliver:
When you have a team that feels like they belong, I’ll tell you what: that brings better everything in every single area.?
Key Takeaway
The key takeaway is that belonging and safety are essential to workplace connectivity, productivity, and profitability. As a result, it’s critical to ensure these criteria are met within your business or non-profit if you want to bring the best out of your team. If you need assistance, we can help! At Certified Flourishing Coach, we are a team of expert coaches and facilitators.?
Our evidence-based framework for workplace development draws from proven principles rooted in scientific and strengths-based research. So, if you’re ready to see your team and workplace flourish, contact us today to learn more!?
About the Author
Abe Brown, MBA, CMCT, CPHSA is the Coach’s Coach, and is an Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker, International Best-Selling Author, and High-Performance Leadership Coach. He is the founder of Certified Flourishing Coaching??and Flourishing Workplace. Abe is also the author of the Certified Flourishing Coaching? Programs.