1. Unlocking “engagement” The National Social Services Conference 2016 Llandudno, Wales
29 June 2016
©RedQuadrant Deborah Jones

2. Overview What do we mean by “engagement” and why is it important?
Lessons on how our brains’ organise information and stimuli
Implications for engaging ourselves and others
How to unlock potential and improve “executive functioning” in ourselves and others

3. What do we mean by engagement?
Being keen
Going the extra mile
Better Performance
Caring more / being more passionate
Lets discuss

4. CIPD definition
“being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to other”. CIPD definition 2014
This definition gives three dimensions to employee engagement:
Intellectual engagement – thinking hard about the job and how to do it better
Affective engagement – feeling positively about doing a good job
Social engagement – actively taking opportunities to discuss work-related improvements with others at work.

5. Learning from Neuroscience
For further reading visit

6. The two areas of the brain we are talking about today
The Prefrontal
Cortext is the “executive area of the brain” responsible for complex problem solving and insights
The Amygdala, in the limbic system is involved in signalling reward and fear

7. What Neuro-science tells us about executive functioning
The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is the “executive” area of the brain
Solve problems
Understand
Decide
Insights and ideas
Memorise
Recall
Regulate and inhibit emotions
Its like our short term working memory vs our hard wiring…
The amount of info you can hold in the PFC at any one time is equivalent to about 1 cubic foot – by comparison, the amount of info held in the rest of the brain is equivalent to the milky way!
When you’re trying to make someone think or change you need them to be able to use their PFC’s…. but

8. The PFC (working memory) has limitations
The PFC is
energy intensive
small
serial
fussy
Every time you make a decision or solve a problem you are using up limited resources (your blood glucose level goes down and remains down for the next activity)
Using the PFC takes effort… as human beings we try to avoid using this part of the brain if we can

9. The overarching organising principles of the brain
Our brains process information to MINIMISE threat and maximise reward
The limbic system is always on and extremely jittery, any and every slight threat will initiate a threat (or away) response
The threat response is much stronger and lasts much longer than a reward response
Away
Towards
Threat
Reward

10. Psychological / Social threats are treated the same as physical threats and pain
Just seeing someone walk past who you don’t like will initiate the threat response in the brain, so imagine the response created from the words “can I give you some feedback”

11. We need to be engaged (have the reward response) in order for our PFCs to function optimally
Source: Rock 2009
Reward
Threat
Towards
Away
Neutral
Actively
Disengaged
Engaged
Deeply
Problem Focus
No Responsibility
Commitment
Responsibility
Mental approach
Shut Down
Self
Others
Wider world
Locus of focus
Minimum
Maximum
Prefrontal function

12. How to keep employees engaged
It turns out that the degree of activation of your limbic system (the threat / away response) is the same as the degree of de-activation of your PFC, therefore being stressed has a significant impact on your ability to solve problems and think creatively
In order to unlock potential and improve the “EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING” in ourselves and others, we need to REDUCE the likelihood of inducing an AWAY response or a THREAT response

13. SCARF
Source: Rock 2009
As well as keeping track of pain, hunger, thirst and other basic needs, the brain is constantly vigilant about the above “social” needs

14. Status

15. Certainty

16. Autonomy

17. Relatedness

18. Fairness

19. Away Status Certainty Autonomy Relatedness Fairness
SCARF – a model to help you understand and regulate engagement in yourself and others
Reward
Threat
Towards
Away
Status
Certainty
Autonomy
Relatedness
Fairness
Source: Rock 2009

20. Implications
The more you can be mindful of the SCARF elements and their potential to cause an AWAY / threat response in yourself and others the better you will be able to navigate relationships and engage others towards being more creative and thinking clearer for themselves
Your thoughts and questions…

21. References NeuroLeadership Institute – www.neuroleadership.com
Brown, P (2015) The Fear free organisation
Rock, D (2009) Your brain at work, New York, Harper Collins
Rock, D & Schwartz, J.M. (2006) The Neuroscience of Leadership, Strategy + Business, Issue 43, 71-81
Arnsten A.F.T. (1998) The Biology of Being Frazzled, Science, 280(5370),
Eisenberger, N.I., & Lieberman, M.D. (2004) Why rejection hurts: A common neural alarm system for physical and social pain, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8,

22. Appendix – SCARF explained
Status
It is easy in a team situation for status to be threatened, particularly if there are different levels of the company hierarchy working on the team. Ensure that everyone feels secure in their status by asking permission, getting everyone’s input and listening to all team member’s opinions and challenges.
Certainty
To work together constructively team members need to have certainty about project outcomes, their role, what they will be required to do and by when. Make sure you do lots of placement to ensure everyone is aligned and clarification to check that everyone’s understanding is correct. Also, ask questions to check everyone’s understanding and find out if there is anything the team are uncertain about.
Autonomy
Give the team the autonomy to come up with ideas and make decisions. Ensure they have choice and understand the choices thoroughly. Sometimes individual team members may feel like they have no choice and have to go with those team members that are more outspoken. It is important that these individuals feel that their concerns have been heard and that they do have a choice. Having a coaching conversation with individual team members can be helpful in this circumstance.
Relatedness
In order for a team to work together constructively they need to feel some sense of relatedness to each other and you as the team leader. Having team games and energisers to start the team meetings can be helpful in creating this sense of relatedness or external team building events/outings.
Fairness
If a team member feels like they have been treated unfairly then they will not be working to their full potential in the team. This will then mean that the team outcomes may not be achieved. Ensure that everyone in the team is being treated fairly by all team members, particularly when allocating the workload or actions that need to be completed by the team.

23. Thanks for listening! Deborah Jones 07715 165858