Companies around the world are facing changing environments, knowing how to retain and stimulate talent in a context such as the current one is becoming more difficult every day. According to Deloitte's annual Millennial Survey, conducted in 36 countries, four out of ten Mill ennials (born between 1983 and 1994) plan to leave their current job in the next two years.
Therefore, company managers must rethink their role and the way they manage their emotions and those of the group. Technological advances have made it possible to learn more about how the brain works and how it can help to make better decisions or to better understand emotions in order to lead in a better way. These are some of the roles of the leader in which neuroscience can be applied:
Create a shared vision: the vision should not be defined by the management team in the CEO's office, but at the group level. By involving the members of the organization in the definition of the vision, positive emotions are generated, which in turn produce serotonin in the mind and enhance the feeling of well-being and the desire for growth.
2. Design innovative strategies: classic strategies are no longer considered innovative by themselves. We need to change the efficiency-based mindset to a growth mindset, which is achieved through neuroplasticity, i.e., the brain's ability to reinvent itself and create new neural connections throughout life.
To develop it, look for new challenges and take the team out of the comfort zone; constantly ask yourself, "Am I doing things the same as I did six months ago, only a little better, or am I really challenging the team to do different things?"
3. Develop and motivate talent: the leader must develop psychological security and make them trust him. Employees must know that making mistakes, contributing different ideas and showing their human side, with their strengths and weaknesses, does not put them in danger.
Having psychological security helps fear to diminish, hope to emerge and positive energies to be generated in a person's mind. The leader must be persistent, the minds of the collaborators will believe the leader when they hear the same message every day; it takes at least six months for the brain to develop a habit unconsciously.
4. Making decisions: the neurologist António Damásio assures that when making decisions, emotion and reason, mind and body must be combined, because they coexist together in our organism. He considers that we have a "somatic marker", a kind of emotional imprint that generates a reaction and influences when it comes to showing certain behaviors and making decisions.
That is why every leader should aim to cultivate positive emotions in order to think and be better. Remember thatto be a good leader you must first be able to lead yourself by having control over your thoughts and emotions.
Is your mind prepared to be a better leader?
This article is based on the ExEd webinar INCAE "Neuroscience applied to leadership", given by Dr. Camelia Ilie-Cardoza. It was originally published in the Blog "Renovarse o Morir" of the newspaper La República.
