Is your school a brain-friendly workplace?
Humans and other primates possess “mirror neurons” which is why it is vital as a school leader to ‘smile’ if you want your employees to perform better…
As a school leader, I’ve become very interested in other fields of leadership outside of education. Working solo on this website, developing a large audience I’ve also had to find new ways of thinking and working, using what leadership skills I have (or haven’t) to grow this site.
A new and interesting research paper, Six Concepts for Brain-Friendly Leadership: Leading Your Organisation Smart and Easy (Yeon and Shepherd, 2021) discuss how employees lose sleep in favour of additional work time.
How many teachers do you know who comment that they work many hours a day but see a little beneficial impact?
We know sleep is vital to movies and wellbeing. This research digs deeper into the brain to learn how the brain functions (for example, sleep) to see how a person processes information and how this may influence how well processing occurs. This research connects six concepts from neuroscience and cognitive psychology in the field of leadership:
- Positive environment
- Movement
- Rest
- Non-monetary reward
- Repetition and,
- Using gut feelings.
I’ve taken a closer look at this short, 5-page paper and offered a summary for school and college leaders to think more deeply about how they support and motivate their employees.
1. Positive environment
“The answer is a resounding yes!” write the researchers. I’ve worked in brand-new school buildings as well as dilapidated buildings that are on their last knees. I can categorically tell you when I worked in a new school building, I jumped out of bed every morning.
The researchers discuss new ones which transmit and process electrochemical signals which increase with effectiveness and efficiency. Dopamine, a major neurotransmitter, “helps regulate the feeling of pleasure and is strongly associated with a person’s emotional state.” For clarity, it is worth noting that there are also negative emotions which are triggered, a different brain hormone: cortisol.
If I was your headteacher and I told you off, this will release cortisol in your brain. The researchers highlight the human actions can be placed into two distinct categories: maximising reward and minimising threat – flight or flight! All headteachers at some point we’ll have to have stern words with their employees. The researchers posed this question: “What can I need to do to make these experiences less stressful?”
Several leadership interventions are offered:
- Give employees opportunities to ask questions
- Listen actively to their concerns reduces stress and lowers the threat
- Avoid sudden meetings and unexpected calls
- Previously announced meetings give employees time to prepare
- Being positive generates dopamine in others
Any type of threat increases cortisol levels and reduces decision-making. Employees can react poorly under the influence of increased stress.
When people experience fairness, their reward circuits are activated, and they feel a sense of happiness. If unfairness goes unpunished, people’s negative emotions are aroused. The limbic system becomes supercharged and the ability to think logically is significantly reduced, making work more unproductive. A school leader who is “a brain-based leader ensures the promotion of fairness throughout the workplace.”
2. Movement
How many steps do you make across the school in one day?
I remember tracking this on a newfound app on my smartphone. “researchers determined that our prehistoric ancestors moved about 12 miles a day” (Medina, 2009)
This means from an evolutionary perspective, we are hardwired for frequent movement. I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly felt a few ailments developing throughout lockdown, been more fixed to my desk than usual…
Movement increases blood to the brain and makes our neurons communicate better. We all know exercise is good for us!
The school leaders, the research recommends increasing movement in the workplace. I think this is a pretty easy fix for schools, given that teachers spent many hours on their feet moving around the classroom, corridors and playground. I wonder what school leaders could consciously do to consider support staff who may traditionally be fixed to a desk?
Practical suggestions include: 1) Moving desk printers away from employees so they have to move to collect the print. 2) Allowing walking time throughout the 3) Promoting yoga or workout sessions in the workplace.
3. Rest
Brain research suggests that even if we are not enough, or sitting on the sofa like a couch potato, our “brain is still hard at work” (Baird et al, 2012)
When we relax, we are still organising thoughts for a later “A ha!” moment. Most of us will be familiar with what some large organisations do to facilitate rest and break for their employees. For example, Google “gives one day a week to allow employees to do something they are interested in…”
Imagine that in school? We’ve got no chance!
The research recommends that leaders talk more about the importance of sleep and rest. Recently, I discovered a piece of research that suggested that taking a 6-minute nap boosts memory. I don’t know about you, but I have nodded off at school!
Research repeatedly reinforces the idea that those who sleep at least eight hours experience at least 1.9 work productivity compared to those who have less than five hours of sleep.
4. Non-monetary reward
I don’t want to get into the details about teacher bursaries, performance-related pay bonuses and other incentives to attract teachers into the profession. Keep in focus solely on this research, the researchers conclude that the results are inconclusive in relation to money and job performance.
The brain recognises money differently from person to person and that salary is a motivating influence. We all know that having more money provides us with more enjoyment and therefore is a reward loop to our neurons, producing dopamine and making us feel more happy and excited.
Have you ever met anybody who is disappointed with a pay rise?
Interestingly, the promise of monetary reward reduces intrinsic motivation. Positive verbal feedback increases intrinsic motivation. The research also highlights the importance of goals and when we accomplish them, our networks are ‘fired up’ and this produces feelings of happiness, contentment and satisfaction.
Introducing excessive and challenging goals can be harmful to employee motivation. The paper recommends is the best brain-based goals strategy is to break goals into small chunks, providing choice, ownership and control. “Having control is a positive experience for the brain and less of a threat…”
5. Repetition
How do you feel after a five hour training day?
There is little chance that we will be able to memorise any new information for later application.
This ‘sit-and-get’ paradigm is not supported by any current educational research. Teachers do not need to know more stuff, they need time to practice! The research recommends ‘brain respecting techniques’ that involve repetition. This allows people to consolidate information. If we expect our students to do this in class, why not for teachers in training scenarios?
The chance for a one-off training day to have any success, particularly in my case where I might be a visiting speaker, is hindered. I work really hard to ensure in the timeframe I am given, teachers are given the time to consolidate new information. I know I don’t always get it right!
One method of repetition is constantly superior for memory transfer. Teachers will know this as spaced or distributed practice.
School leaders who want “real performance change within their organisation should re-expose [teachers] to new information within a certain period of time” (Karpicke and Roediger, 2007). There is little information on the timelapse between sessions offered, but I do know many schools I work with, this happens at least once or twice on a monthly basis in those happier schools I have worked with.
Most importantly, because everyone has a small capacity for working memory, it is hard to process large quantities of information in a short period of time.
6. Using gut feelings
The research highlights the unconscious thinking is more important than we have previously known. We tend to think that “logical and conscious decisions are superior to unconscious and illogical emotions.”
Returning to fight or flight, or having a hunch or a gut feeling, researchers speculate that the modern person uses less than 10 per cent of conscious thinking. I have no idea how they calculate this, but it is suggested that the vast majority of our time is involved with unconscious thought. Verifying incoming information, making predictions, developing shortcuts to help address simple events. Each time, we choose what to do, devote more time, disregard something or select what to do next.
Put simply, ‘gut feelings’ are doubted and rejected in data-driven workplaces. Neurological research suggests that these hunches should not be ignored; they should be discussed and evaluated may lead to better decision-making” (Wyatz and Mason, 2013).
Conclusions
The researchers conclude that these 6 brain-friendly concepts are “not at all difficult to achieve in the workplace.” I wonder what they would conclude for life in busy schools and classrooms. Have no doubt, teaching is more stressful than many other professions.
What I’ve been self-teaching myself about memory has been vital to improvements in my teaching, and my work. One key recommendation I firmly agree with is:
Leaders are encouraged to explain to employees how their brains work, giving them an edge on improving their own work.
