The Neuroscience of Positive Leadership

In order to understand team engagement & motivation, Google asked 180 teams: What is most important for team performance? The top responses included: making an impact, having meaning, role clarity and structure, and dependability of others. But the #1 response was psychological safety; that team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other.

Neuroscience informs this idea of psychological safety in teams. In fact, one of the most exciting developments in leadership coaching has been the rise of neuroscience-based research which provides insight into how the brain is impacted by common leadership behaviors. We can utilize this understanding to promote leadership behaviors which motivate, inspire and engage (and not those that create fear, demotivate, or disengage).  

Research by David Rock & the NeuroLeadership Institute indicates that leaders can maximize engagement and drive performance when they help team members meet each other’s needs in five areas related to psychological safety:  Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness (or SCARF). 

In each of these areas, there are leader behaviors which trigger a threat brain response (flight or fight), and those which trigger a positive brain response: 

Status is the desire to stand out from the crowd. When we share new ideas and take credit for great work, status is that glow of recognition we’re looking for. Leaders erode employees’ sense of status if they squander new ideas or take credit for others’ work. Lack of recognition generally also impacts status negatively. Leaders can bestow status rewards when they share employees’ accomplishments to the wider team — or better yet, give their employees the floor to do so themselves.

 Certainty is a factor because humans naturally like to know what’s going on. We like to understand our surroundings, and this is deeply wired as part of our evolutionary functioning to "stay alive." At work, we feel threats to our certainty when our role isn't clear, when we don't understand expectations for work, and when meetings start to go long without any clear end in sight. Leaders can offer up certainty rewards by making their expectations known whenever possible, being clear with role definitions, and by setting clear agendas and timelines for their meetings.

Autonomy needs are different for everyone; however, generally we like to feel a sense of control over the work we do. When leaders involve themselves deeply with their team members’ work, they risk creating threats to their autonomy. This is why micro-managing can feel offensive. When leaders give employees the time and space to do their work, unfettered by interruptions, they send a much more rewarding signal that they trust and value the person’s ability to get things done. To be successful, autonomy must be balanced with a strong accountability process that includes clear expectations, roles and responsibilities -- balancing Autonomy with Certainty.

Relatedness is our connection to others. Whether we mean to or not, humans naturally create boundaries around their groups of people, including team members. Some people are “in-group,” while others are “out-group.” In-groups and out-groups are common at work.  Relatedness is our sense that we belong and are welcomed by others — that we’re in the in-group. For leaders (and team members) simple language such as “you,” “I/me,” "us" and “they,” signals boundaries between groups, and can create a threat response. Leaders who use inclusive language such as “we” and “us” promote the feeling of being in a group, and build team members' sense of relatedness to other (and team spirit). 

Fairness is how equally we feel we are treated. Humans innately look for equity and equality in social interactions. Leaders can go a long way in promoting fairness through acts of transparency. When employees don’t get the full picture, they may start to invent alternate stories, which may increase the chance people feel slighted. When making decisions, leaders should communicate the thought process behind making decisions, improving others' understanding of how the decision was made, and reducing perceptions of unfairness. 

These are a few ways that leadership can be improved through the lens of understanding the human brain and how it responds to different situations and behaviors. 

What is an opportunity to use of one of the SCARF ideas in your own leadership?