2.Emotional regulation.

3.Collaboration.

4.Facilitating change.

Neuroscience is a very broad field. There are tens of thousands of researchers in many fields of study, covering the anatomy and physiology of the brain, neurotransmitters, chemistry, brain waves and brain communication, and how the different parts of the brain work together. “There are dozens of sub-domains, and majority of the field is not really relevant to leadership,” says Rock. “They are looking for breakthroughs for drug development from the clinical perspective.”

It is cognitive neuroscience that Rock says can be useful to leaders. This means the processes involved in how we hold information in our minds, how we process the social world, how emotions occur in the brain, and the study of language. “Those areas, particularly the social cognitive and effective are particularly relevant. They are studying the art of persuasion, what is involved in the moment of creativity. There are many studies coming out every week.”

In medium-sized and large companies, communication is often further distorted by corporate structures that get in the way of sharing information such as separate offices or competing divisions and individuals.

Talking down the threat response

Rock says cognitive neuroscience identifies five domains that are constantly and carefully monitored by the brain: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness (SCARF). “Each can be a threat or a reward,” he says. “These five domains are the primary colour of engagement – the key drivers of threat or reward.

“Many managers have evolved strong technical skills but not their ability to read social cues. The higher you go in a company the more important the ability to understand social cues becomes.”

New research suggests that the emotional pain and pleasure triggered by a change in these domains are as real as physical pain or pleasure.

However, the cues that trigger responses can be subtle. “Many managers will spend time trying to give feedback and tell people all the things they are doing wrong and wonder why no one is changing,” says Rock. “They don’t realise they are creating a threat response by attacking people’s status and that is likely to reduce peoples openness to change.

Change, certainty and autonomy

For a manager trained in neuro-leadership, a solution to the feedback conundrum might be to encourage reports to critique their own performance

“This raises their own status through self-disclosure,” says Rock. “You provide some activities or exercises or assessment tools.

“Deploying SCARF particularly relevant to any organisation going through change because change creates a threat in all five domains. The idea is learning to recognise that the pain people experience is real, and to really respect that, and then learning to offset the threats of using knowledge of the SCARF domains by creating rewards wherever you can, for example, by giving a greater sense of certainty or autonomy that reduces the threat.”

For some leaders others, the notion that they are shutting down the ability of their reports to respond to their feedback and to perform to the best of their abilities, is a revelation.

Others have twigged to Rock’s ideas through experience and his SCARF system simply reminds them to focus their attention on this aspect of communication.

Want to know more?

The Australian Institute of Management, NSW & ACT, is presenting a seminar with David Rock, Managing with the Brain in Mind, on January 17, 2013. It is sold out, but there is a waiting list.

Rock will be back in Australia for a NeuroLeadership summit in Sydney from June 19-21.