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It's in the Brain - leadership and social issues

Guest post by: Douglas Long

Article Overview: It is now fairly well accepted that the brain has three quite clear areas from which to control our behaviour – the area closest to the brain stem (sometimes called ‘the reptilian brain”), the limbic area (sometimes called “the mammalian brain”), and the cortical area (sometimes called “the human brain”. There is hard data that shows where teachers engage with students, the students become more responsive to learning and they don’t want to “let the teacher down”. In turn this has an impact by reducing antisocial behaviour in the community around the school. There is also hard data that shows where employees are engaged with their work and with their co-workers, there is significant reduction in lateness, absenteeism, sickness, and abuse of trust.

It's in the Brain - leadership and social issues

Recently I got a phone call from one of my daughters - not an unusual occurrence - but this time she was distraught. She had gone to withdraw some money from her bank only to find that her money had disappeared.

Unfortunately fraud and theft relating to banks are not uncommon. At least in Australia there are all too regular reports of "skimmers" being found on equipment used by customers to either access their money or to make purchases. Generally investigations show that the money that has disappeared was withdrawn in some remote locality (often outside of Australia) within a short time of a doctored machine being used. Fortunately, at least in Australia, the Banks take responsibility for replacing the money stolen - but this can take a few weeks.

I have been pondering the issue of social problems and the relationship these have with leadership.

It is now fairly well accepted that the brain has three quite clear areas from which to control our behaviour - the area closest to the brain stem (sometimes called 'the reptilian brain"), the limbic area (sometimes called "the mammalian brain"), and the cortical area (sometimes called "the human brain"). As Andrew Mowat, John Corrigan, and I discuss in The Success Zone (2009, Global Publishing Group, Melbourne, Australia) these then combine into two possible areas of control - "the red zone" (which is a reptilian-mammalian brain combination) and "the blue zone" (which is a mammalian-cortical brain combination).

We know, too, that there are specific behaviours associated with each of these areas of control, such as:

The Red Zone Centered on self/survival mode Narrow-dimensional learning Status quo/resistance Fast/efficient Engages impulsive desires Anger/fear/depression Threat aware Highly developed at birth Draws resources from blue zone Seat of pessimism

The Blue Zone Affiliation, generosity, goodwill Multi-dimensional learning Options considered Imaginative Slow/resource intensive Manages impulsive desires Labels emotional states Reflective Not 'fully functional' until adulthood Seat of optimism

And we know that many of the common problems we find in society arise because of "red zone" dominance. It therefore seems likely, at least to me, that the majority of social issues arise from "red zone" domination - the orientation that is centred primarily on "me" and what I want. It is based on an egocentric approach or ethnocentric in which "what I should do is what is good for me or for the people like me" - hence if I can make money easily by stealing it with a low probability of being caught, that's an "ok" behaviour no matter what the impact might be on other people.

The question then arises as to how we should deal with such issues. Given that prisons in most countries today seem to be grossly overcrowded and that offender rehabilitation seems to be secondary to 'punishment' and the use of power by the State and its agents, I suggest that we need to take a new look at the problem. Recidivism seems to be pretty common in virtually every country and we need to address this in a new way.

In the work that lead up to writing The Success Zone we found that there were certain activities that could help people shift their brain's area of control. These were Empathy, Clarity, Engagement, and Learning.

We also found that the behaviours that provide these activities are, like all behaviours, something that can be learned.

Now I am not suggestion that the understanding of "red zone" versus "blue zone" and learning how to shift our area of control from "red" to "blue" is going to be a magic wand that will solve social problems once and for all. Such a suggestion would be simplistic and patently wrong. Unless and until a person genuinely wants to change their behaviour; is totally committed to this; and is given the support and help they need to make the change, nothing much happens in the long run - if you doubt me think about the problems people have with matters such as dealing with being overweight or of stopping smoking.

What I am suggesting is that there is a leadership challenge here.

Over the past 40 or so years, the dominant emphasis of western societies has made a major transition from "Obey" - a compliant society in which failure to do what the authorities (parents, teachers, police officers, elders, etc) want you to will be followed by punishment such as, in the case of parental and school situations, corporal punishment. In its place society has embraced "Conform" - do as you are asked and you will receive rewards: fail to do so and those rewards will be withheld. Both of these operate primarily out of "the red zone" and it is clear that schools, business, and society in general (including much in the religious area) is "red zone dominated". And, as I said above, "red zone dominated" is either egocentric or ethnocentric.

I suggest that today the emphasis needs to shift once more. Given the unprecedented access to information (not all of it accurate) and the speed with which both the good and bad can be spread around the world, we need to move away from cultures that are built on power and hierarchy to societies in which every attempt is made to engage with other people so that they will, in turn, be encouraged to engage with other people, and so on. This is a shift to an eco-centric and/or an every-centric approach.

There is hard data that shows where teachers engage with students, the students become more responsive to learning and they don't want to "let the teacher down". In turn this has an impact by reducing antisocial behaviour in the community around the school. There is also hard data that shows where employees are engaged with their work and with their co-workers, there is significant reduction in lateness, absenteeism, sickness, and abuse of trust - in addition there is a significantly greater probability that desired results will be achieved.

Leaders can learn the behaviours necessary for this 'blue zone" approach. With support such as coaching and mentoring, they can turn this new learning into habits. Once "blue zone" behaviour becomes a habit in the leader, the culture soon follows.

Perhaps its worth some thought if we really want to see things improve.

Related Articles
  CHALLENGE YOUR BRAIN
  Entrepreneur Learning: The Social Brain at Work
  Entrepreneurs, Great Leaders of Today!
  Peak Performance for Full Engagement
  Nurturing Nature-Does Your Brain Need a Workout?

Article Tags: absenteeism, antisocial behaviour, blue zone, cortical area, human brain, leadership, mammalian brain, neuroleadership, red zone, reptilian brain, social issues



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