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Memory was the next most
important as it enabled us to
recall where the best places
to hunt were, or which tribes
of people were friendly and
which were hostile.
For most of our evolutionary past the most critical
of these functions was our instinctive abilities, such
as running or throwing a spear, and the parts of the
brain where these abilities reside were the fi rst to
develop in our early ancestors. Memory was the next
most important as it enabled us to recall where the
best places to hunt were, or which tribes of people
were friendly and which were hostile. The frontal
lobes - the part of our brain that enables us to think
and reason – was the last part of the brain to develop.
It is also the region that is most cognitively limited,
which is why, when we concentrate deeply, we may
be oblivious to other things going on around us. In
fact, research conducted at MIT in 2011 suggests that
humans can only retain four items ‘in mind’ at any
point in time.
To overcome our limited capacity for thinking,
human brains memorise routine tasks. Over time, we
become so practiced at those tasks that we no longer
need to consciously think when we perform them.
For example, walking is a skill all humans have to
learn, but once learned, we can do it unconsciously,
thereby freeing up the ‘thinking’ part of our brain for
other purposes. Humans are creatures of habit – as
we get older, we learn and routinalize more and more
functions. This is why we become ‘set in our ways’.
Routinalizing functions has served us well at work
because companies have traditionally operated on
the philosophy that there is a ‘right way’ of doing
anything. When new people join the company they
are taught the ‘right way’; managers supervise them
to ensure they continue to do things the ‘right way’,
and eventually, they may become supervisors of the
‘right way’ themselves.
As Peter Drucker observed, this approach has
suited companies for the last 150 years as it has
provided consistency and predictability. But in
the last decade, two major changes have occurred.
Robotics and computers enable us to automate most
routine tasks, thereby freeing up employees for
tasks computers cannot do – such as being creative,
innovating and driving change. At the same time, the
pace of change has accelerated to the point where
companies can go from having near monopolies to
becoming virtually irrelevant within a matter of
years – think of Kodak, Blockbuster, Netscape and
Blackberry.
Today, modern organisations want their employees
to spend an increasing proportion of their time on
what behavioural scientists call ‘heuristic tasks’.
These are tasks where there are no defi ned processes
and no right or wrong answers. They require people
to think and to rely more heavily on their frontal
lobes, the most limited part of their brain. As a result,
more people are suffering from stress, experiencing
burnout, and in the most extreme cases, committing
suicide.
This is not to say that people cannot fully engage
their frontal lobes without it being stressful. They
can, but this level of commitment only generally
occurs when people are doing something they are
passionate about. When that happens, people become
highly focused and fully immersed in a task. It is not
stressful, because it is what that person wants to do
and they will perform to the best of their abilities.
The challenge for companies is that they are
used to dealing with employees collectively, whereas
getting the best from people in this way requires
that they tailor their approach to every individual.
Traditional psychometric instruments are of little
help in these instances because they tend to be based
on studies of behaviours, rather than the motivations
that lead to those behaviours.
Neuroscience is able to help as, through our work
in MyBrain International, we can provide people
with an insight into the energy and motivation that
forms the foundation of those behaviours. In this
way, we are able to help individuals, teams and even
whole organisations drive performance improvements
based on the unique approach and preferences of each
individual. P & M
* For more infor mation, contact MyBrain
International or visit our website at www.mybrain.
co.uk.
Vol. 10 Issue 1 • JANUARY 2019, Noida |
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