Using Neuroscience to Get The Most from Your Team: A Narrative
Chapter 1: A Tapestry of Minds
CEO Amelia stared out the window, her reflection framed by the city’s glittering skyline. Her team, a vibrant mosaic of experiences and perspectives, buzzed in the conference room below. They were her A-team, handpicked for their brilliance and diversity. Yet, a knot of unease tightened in Amelia’s gut.
When I met with Amelia just a year ago, she described her team as her “B-team”, struggling to find their rhythm. Their differences, once celebrated, had become walls, their strengths siloed fortresses. Decisions were deferred, progress stalled, and the weight of leadership had begun to wear Amelia down.
She agreed to my 12-month program called “The Leader’s Journey,” a program based on neuroscience and adult learning. Through the program, a team is led through a deep dive into their values, communication styles, and the very wiring of their brains.
During the monthly sessions, I painted a picture of brains as vibrant landscapes, each processing information in its own unique way. Some minds, like Amelia’s, crave order and logic, while others, like the fiery marketing director, Sarah, thrive on chaos and intuition.
We spoke of emotional intelligence, the invisible dance of feelings that could build bridges or spark fires. And I emphasized how the interaction between habits, history and personality created unconscious pathways that led some to calculated risks and others to bold leaps.
As the weeks passed, Amelia saw the tapestry of her team come alive. Sarah’s unorthodox ideas, once dismissed, sparked unexpected solutions. The quiet accountant, Michael, emerged as a master of risk analysis, his meticulous calculations grounding Sarah’s flights of fancy. Even Amelia, the self-proclaimed queen of logic, learned to appreciate the power of intuition, a skill she discovered in the gentle wisdom of the team’s eldest member, Tom.
Chapter 2: Bridging the Gaps
But understanding wasn’t enough. The gaps between their minds, once chasms, remained. Communication stumbles were frequent, misunderstandings festered, and the specter of decision paralysis loomed.
The toolbox held the key. I equipped them with metacognitive skills, training them to become aware of their own thinking patterns and biases. The team learned to foster active listening, a sacred space where each voice, no matter how different, could be truly heard. Emotional intelligence training became a team sport, building empathy and resilience. And finally, they crafted decision-making frameworks and flexible structures that honored diverse perspectives while ensuring timely action.
Slowly, the walls began to crumble. Sarah’s presentations, once met with skepticism, were now infused with data from Michael’s spreadsheets, each point landing with the force of a well-aimed arrow. Tom’s wisdom, once seen as quaint, became the anchor in their stormiest brainstorms. Amelia, no longer the lone decision-maker, reveled in the collective genius that emerged from their differences.
Mid-year, Amelia told me it wasn’t always easy. There were stumbles, moments of frustration, and the occasional emotional flare-up. But with each challenge, their bonds grew stronger, their respect deeper. They were no longer just a team; they were a symphony, each instrument unique, yet playing in perfect harmony.
Chapter 3: The Harmony of Difference
A year later, Amelia stood before her board, a different woman. Her team, once a liability, was now their greatest asset. Their differences, once a burden, had become their superpower. They tackled complex challenges with the confidence of a pack of wolves, each member knowing their role, their strengths, and the value they brought to the table.
At this meeting, a board member asked, “What made the difference?”
Amelia explained that their journey had revealed a profound truth: true diversity and inclusion are not about sameness, but about understanding and leveraging difference.
“Getting each member to really engage and stay engaged was hard work. It required me stepping out of my comfort zone and pushing them out of theirs,” she shared. “As you know, we lost some people who didn’t want to change. But the new hires were selected because they believed in what we do and wanted to do the work.”
After the board meeting, Nicholas, the board vice chair, stopped me to ask what I thought of it all and was there more that can be done.
I informed him that Amelia and the rest ended the training with a new annual plan. The differentiator between an average team and a high value leadership team is their ability to implement the plan amidst the managing the tyranny of daily distractions.
He nodded his head and quietly repeated, “The tyranny of daily distractions.” We all could learn how to manage that one.