How Leaders Who Ask More Leverage the Power of the Brain

The leader who asks more and tells less utilizes what we know about the brain from the studies in neuroscience.

I often hear complaints from leaders along a similar theme: “I have been over this with him in the past and each time he agrees. Yet each time nothing changes.” Leaders are frustrated that their good advice is being overlooked and their instructions ignored by members of their team.

So what going on here? (The clue is in the brain!)

1.     They are hearing you, they just don’t care

To pay attention (And to change behavior), the brain needs the right amount of dopamine. Dopamine levels are increased when a person sees relevance in the messages (Source: Davachi, D.L., Keifer D.T, 2010. Learning that lasts through the ages. Neuroleadership Journal). If they don’t have any ownership over the messages they are receiving, even when they ‘hear’ you, just don’t care.

2.     There is nothing new, you have said it all before

The brain learns best when there is novelty or variety. Are you ‘telling’ them the same thing in the same way, over and over? I saw a funny cartoon recently. A parent was explaining to a child, in detail, what behavior was expected on a visit to Grandma’s house. The kid was hearing ‘blah blah blah’. What are your people hearing?

3.     Their emotional brain is not engaged

When you give instructions, they may be listening with their ‘rational brain’, but this won’t necessarily help with recall. Engage their ‘emotional brain’ to increase the chance they will remember and apply what you have said. Emotions focus attention on the stimulus, and through engaging the amygdala, emotions signal to the brain that an event is significant. This leads to enhanced recall.

Think about your own learning? Under what conditions are you more likely to listen, generate ideas, and take ownership?

So what does this mean? Simply that people are much more likely to remember things—and apply them to other situations—that they have worked out for themselves, than things their boss has told them. The leader who asks more utilizes that understanding.

How does the leader who asks more and tells less support insight?

The fundamental distinction between a coaching approach and many other forms of skill development in the use of asking and not telling.

Many problems can be solved by taking an analytical approach and systematically working through the problem and possible solutions. The types of problems that are best solved with a coaching approach often in a different way: a new way of thinking about the problem and the solution. The questioning associated with a coaching leadership style helps find a fresh approach that generates a new understanding, and that’s where insight comes in.

When people solve a challenge for themselves—rather that being ‘told’—‘insight’ is involved. Insight is the sudden understanding—a ‘Eureka’ moment—when the brain takes seemingly unrelated ideas and puts them together in new ways to reach an understanding.

Insights engage the brain’s reward systems and trigger a release of dopamine: a neurotransmitter associated with the brains rewards system known as a “happy chemical." The simple act searching for our own answers is rewarding to the brain.

Insight activates the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for long-term memories.  Insights are memorable because there is an emotional component; the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for emotional arousal—is engaged.

Memory is also augmented with insight because we make rich neural connections to things we already know.

Problems solved via insight support application of the solution more broadly. The ability to generalize occurs when we are able to recognize new patterns in the problems we encounter and strategies we use to solve them, and to recognize this in subsequent situations. So, one insight can address multiple challenges across different time and context.

Let’s not underestimate a coaching approach

It’s easy to underestimate the power of a coaching approach and think that coaching skills are for 1: 1 formal conversations only. This would be a mistake.

Coaching skills make formal 1:1 conversations flow, and the leader who asks more and tells less is much more likely to get an outcome to which both parties are committed. That’s only one of the many ways in which coaching skills can be applied. Coaching skills allow a leader to make an instant connection in a quick hallway conversation, and get outcomes that in the past might have taken multiple conversations, over many weeks.

Culture changes need leaders who ask more and tell less throughout the organization

Typically, culture change starts at the top, and the ongoing support and modelling of the desired culture by the senior leadership group is critical. It’s also critical that leaders throughout the organization understand the vision, the values, and the expected behaviors, and can coach that throughout the organization.

Culture is the sum of every little thing we do each day. Leaders who ask more and tell less create culture and change momentum through informal interactions as well as formal conversations.

Leadership is tricky. It's challenging and rewarding, and at times its fun (Interestingly, the more skills we have to draw on the more fun leadership becomes!) Building a vibrant culture is tricky too, and it rises and falls on leadership and leadership rises and fall on communication. Becoming a coach-like leader who asks more and tells less helps you to be brave enough to connect deeply, lead fearlessly and achieve results that transform.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

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Interested in learning how Smart Development can help your managers become more coach-like? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.