One of the things that prompted me to study for my Masters in psychology was the realisation of just how much our brains influence us. Perhaps the most surprising thing to me though was how hard-wired genetically we are still to keep ourselves safe.
Our brains are pre-programmed, most likely from our days as cave dwellers, to keep us safe from anything that may harm us. When a threat is perceived by the brain then our ‘fight-flight’ responses are triggered to prepare our bodies by increasing adrenaline and releasing cortisol which narrows our focus onto self-preservation. At this point the part of our brain that enables logical thinking, learning and problem solving is deprioritised.
This makes sense if you think about it, you don’t need to be able to do complex mathematics whilst running away from something that might want to eat you!
But what many don’t understand is that even today we still have the same programming, but also and perhaps more importantly our brain responds in the same way to both physical danger and emotional harm.
Now from an employee perspective, if this happens as single isolated events this is concerning but if they are perceiving threats on a regular basis then this is bad for their physical health and well-being but also it is going to affect their productivity.
So how can you ensure that your employees feel safe at work?
Amy Edmondson a professor at Harvard business school suggests that these feelings of safety come when employees believe that they will not be humiliated or find their career compromised when sharing their concerns, ideas, mistakes or questions.
She also goes on to share ‘four conditions of comfort’ which when absent can trigger a threat response from our brains.
1) Control – from the age of 2 we hate being told what to do, being controlled by someone else could be a threat to our survival. Only when we feel in control of our lives and our destiny will we feel safe. So it stands to reason that that a command-and-control style of management will trigger a threat response. Instead opt for a more collaborative leadership style which includes autonomy, empowerment and effective delegation.
2) Consistency – when something is unexpected or inconsistent then the brain will err on the side of caution and treat this as a possible threat. Our brains are good at picking up potential ‘errors’ and so will pick up on conflicting messages, incongruence between words and actions and continual changes in direction. All of these things will trigger a threat response so look to remove them from the work environment.
3) Competence – this is something that was (and still is) key to our survival and so when our brain perceives a threat to our sense of competence it will trigger a response. This is why as humans we often react badly to negative or constructive feedback. This is something that the typical accountant will struggle with because of the perfectionist nature of their DiSC profile. Whilst we do sometimes have to give constructive feedback to employees what is perhaps important to consider here is the overall culture of the practice. The perfectionist tendencies of typical accountants mean that there can be more of a focus on what is wrong than right and so this can feel like a threat to competence. Instead attempt to create a culture of celebrating success and achievements.
4) Connectedness – As humans we are something of herd animals, in that there is a sense of safety in numbers. We are hard-wired to be connected to a group or a person. This is what leads to ‘cliques’ or sub-groups in larger teams with the innate desire to be connected to those who help us to feel the safest. Things to watch out for here is any changes to team dynamics or structure, for example a new boss, changing or merging teams as these are all threats to the safety we get from connectedness.
Next time I will share a couple of ideas about how you can increase the feelings of safety amongst your teams.
But for now I would love to know how much of this resonates with you and your experiences of the fight-or flight triggers. Leave me a comment below or drop me a direct message or email joanne@smartsupportforbusiness.co.uk
