Recently I had the opportunity to connect with Ann Betz, a neuroscience and leadership expert. I met Ann a number of years ago while going through my executive coaching program. Not only was she a great coaching facilitator in the program, but I was most fascinated by her research and graduate studies around integrating neuroscience into the practice of leadership. Today she is considered one of the top neuroscience and coaching experts in the field which is why I wanted to talk with her about this topic.
In addition to her consulting work, she is the lead author of the book: Integration, the Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life, and has published numerous articles on the subject of neuroscience and coaching. Ann speaks internationally on neuroscience, leadership and, and she excels at making the complexities of the brain come to life with depth, humor and simplicity.
During our discussion, we spent some time focusing on how we can better work with stress, tension, and uncertainty that challenge our work environments daily. From our conversation, I noted several interventions (or neuroscience “hacks” as she calls them) that we can use for ourselves and with others.
1) Don’t suppress your emotions. You can’t just bury your emotions because they will show up in other ways that may not be helpful. One suggestion is to reach out to others and voice, put words to your emotions. Our neurological system will settle down simply by sharing what’s going on emotionally with someone else. Hack #1: Reach out to others (or to your inner circle) and express what’s going on internally, and don’t just stuff them and hope they go away.
2) Look for ways to “control” your environment by changing things up. If you’re feeling stressed when you get to work or even when you get home, you may want to change your commute route – make it more interesting. If you’ve been working long hours in your office, change up your external environment by visiting a new coffee shop, a new bookstore café, whatever. Our brains crave certainty, stability and control. We don’t have a lot of control over certain things, but what we do have control over is our immediate external environment. Hack #2: Change up your environment or your routine.
3) Ask more questions of others. This leadership practice helps you and others calm down. When asking questions, you activate the thinking area of the brain (vs. the emotional area). By virtue of asking more questions leaders can calm others down and get them to manage their own emotions more effectively. Hack #3: Ask more thoughtful questions.
4) Shift your perspective. Challenge yourself and others to see situations, circumstances, problems through a different lens. We can shift our own perspective by asking ourselves, “How can I look at this differently? What is the big picture here?” Also, we can ask questions to others to challenge them to see things differently. For example, “How might the customer see this situation? What’s another way to approach this problem?” Hack #4: Challenge yourself and others to look at things differently.
5) Practice mindfulness. It has been proven that those who have a mindfulness practice are better able to anchor into the present moment and calm their systems down – and it doesn’t have to be a close your eyes mindfulness practice. It could be just sitting still, walking outside, breathing in and then breathing out more slowly. Hack #5: Breathe in and then take a deep, slow breath out.
If you’re curious about learning more about the intersection of neuroscience and leadership, check out Ann’s consulting website and/or grab her book.
References:
Website: https://www.beaboveleadership.com/
Ann’s book: Integration: The Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life
Ann’s book on ICF Competencies
Amanda Blake's book is Your Body is Your Brain