The field of Neuroscience has taken great strides over the past 10 years in understanding how the brain and nervous system works. While in the past neuroscience findings have been mainly used for medical purposes, discoveries are now being applied to many other parts of our lives, including our work.
Dr. David Rock’s book, Your Brain at Work, opened people’s eyes to how the field of neuroscience can help us understand how we work, interact, and lead others. Rock went on to found the NeuroLeadership Institute where he and his research team continue to progress the field of neuroscience as it applies to leadership and personal development.
Applications include the following:
- Thinking and Problem-Solving
- Cognitive Fitness (maintaining a healthy brain)
- Work Performance
- Focus
- Managing Change
- Building Trust
- Creativity and Innovation
- Goal setting and Achievement
- Relationship Management and Emotional Intelligence
And this is only a partial list!
If you want to learn more, I would like to invite you to read a white paper I wrote reviewing some of the key finds of neuroscience. The white paper is called Lead with the Brain in Mind: 5 Ways to Use Brain Science to Boost Employee Engagement and Performance. It has more than two dozen recommendations for how to apply neuroscience to leadership, employee engagement and performance. You can download a copy of the white paper here.
The field of neuroscience is exciting and there is so much more we have yet to discover. Methods like hyperscanning and brain genomics are promising and beginning to produce insights for the workplace about how our brains communicate and interact with the brains of others.
We have learned more about how the brain works over the past 10 years than what we learned since the beginning of human existence. Imagine what we will learn over the next 10 years and how this can help us all live and work better.