How Our Brains Experience Overwhelm
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The document discusses how our brains respond to overwhelming changes, emphasizing that reactions vary among individuals due to emotional triggers and neurological responses. It introduces the SCARF model, which identifies emotional drivers affecting people's responses to change, such as status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. Understanding these responses can improve self-awareness, empathy, and coping strategies during times of uncertainty.
How Our Brains Experience Overwhelm
- 1. LENA ROSS Change Advisor APRIL 2020 HOW OUR BRAINS EXPERIENCE OVERWHELM
- 2. GOOD TO KNOW • In times of unprecedented overwhelm, it’s helpful to understand how our brains experience change, especially the scale of unplanned change that has been imposed upon us. • Many change practitioners look for curves and models to help people understand their experience. • Sometimes a linear curve that assumes a uniform experience is not helpful. • Insights from brain science teach us that the same change can result in a range of emotions among a team. Our emotional triggers differ. • We experience a neurological response to loss. When the change is perceived as loss, it triggers the threat response. But it’s what triggers this threat that is interesting. • Self awareness is extremely helpful. • Understanding how our brains respond to change helps us unpack the drivers of our overwhelm, be more mindful of our responses and build empathy for others. 2lenaross.com.au
- 3. You can take the person out of the Stone Age... but can you take the Stone Age out of the person? So…are we hard wired to resist change? Sometimes we embrace it, sometimes we don’t! If we always resisted change, would we have come out of the trees? THE PARADOX lenaross.com.au 3
- 4. The physiology of our brain hasn’t changed since our hunting and gathering days! WHO ARE WE REALLY? So we are really just primates in suits. lenaross.com.au 4
- 5. • Risks were high • Conditions were perilous • Survival was paramount WE ARE HARDWIRED FOR LIFE AS A HUNTER & GATHERER We have a built in bias for safety. In times of high uncertainty and disruption, our brains are wired to treat it as a survival threat. • Any change in the environment usually equates UNCERTAINTY • We have a strong emotion attached to UNCERTAINTY • That emotion = THREAT and/or LOSS lenaross.com.au 5 THIS WAS WHEN THE LEGACY OF THIS MEANS
- 6. WHEN WE EXPERIENCE THREAT It’s no wonder that we may do irrational things • We respond to loss/threat/change with primal instincts • The neuro-response occurs in the emotional centre in the brain – in the amygdala • The response is the ‘amygdala hijack’ • This is when we fight, flight or freeze • There is a decrease in the neural energy in our rational brain because the emotions override logic • When in ‘hijack’ our IQ can drop by 10-15 points lenaross.com.au 6
- 7. STANDS FOR The SCARF model A MODEL TO HELP US UNDERSTAND OUR PRIMAL RESPONSE • David Rock’s SCARF model explains the brain’s reaction to situations of threat or reward. • Each SCARF element is an emotional driver. • When one of more of each of the five SCARF elements are reduced or lost, we experience threat. • This model helps us understand our responses and pain points when we experience change. lenaross.com.au
- 8. EMOTIONAL DRIVERS Leaders and/or team members may be thinking Status About relative importance to others. Will I be seen as competent through and after this? How will my capability be perceived by others? Does the change negatively impact on my sense of status? Is my role changing? My team members’ status? What will others think if I ‘lose’ status? Certainty Being able to predict the future. What level of certainty is there for me, or my team? What level of certainty is there about my job? How long this will continue? What will happen with business decisions/shutdowns/stand downs etc.? Autonomy Provides a sense of control over events. What can I control in this change? What can’t I? Do my team members have enough autonomy to complete their work, and decide how they will work through the change? Do they have too much autonomy? To what extent has my level of autonomy changed? How do I feel about this? Relatedness A sense of safety with others, of friend or foe. Do I feel connected to anyone or isolated? What’s the impact on how we interact with one another? To what degree have team members ‘lost’ the connection with their peers? How safe is it to discuss any concerns with my team or peers? Fairness A perception of fair exchanges between people. Am I being treated fairly? Are my team members being treated the same? To what extent are my efforts recognised? SCARF MODEL: WHAT YOU MAY BE THINKING What else is on our minds? 8lenaross.com.au
- 9. SCARF MODEL: THINGS TO DISCUSS AS A TEAM Which of the SCARF elements affect me the most? 9 Are all our concerns the same? Which of the SCARF elements are causing me the least concern? What are some things we can do to reduce our threat response? What are we already doing well? lenaross.com.au
- 10. There are TWO key benefits for leaders and team members to know more about our hardwired responses SCARF MODEL: WHY THIS IS GOOD TO KNOW BENEFITS lenaross.com.au 10
- 11. Labelling your own response improves self awareness and is proven to reduce the threat response…it’s being more mindful. If you can NAME it, you can TAME it! BENEFIT It enables us to label our own response 11lenaross.com.au
- 12. We have an improved awareness of how our team members may respond when under threat. BENEFIT 12 It helps us build empathy lenaross.com.au
- 13. What else can we do as a team to: Lead differently with these insights? Reduce the threat response in ourselves and for our peers? So what, now what? lenaross.com.au
- 14. 14 If you enjoyed this presentation, please like it, share it or show it to your team. lenaross.com.au