Andy Murray is learning to manage his emotions. You can too.
There have been numerous articles telling us that Andy Murray is learning about how the brain works to improve his tennis. Well, Andy lost the chance of being Wimbledon champion but he may still be pointing the way to better performance. And pointing the way to leaders in business understanding more about their brain and […]
Are your work habits messing with your brain?
It's Neuroscience Learning Month on HRZone. You're reading one of the pieces that's been written to help you develop a sound understanding of why neuroscience principles are important to business, and a basic understanding of how you can apply them effectively. There's loads more content going live over the month to help you on your way, […]
Is the 70/20/10 learning mix out of date?
Is this the number you are striving for in your learning strategy? According to a survey in 2014 by Lumesse, the talent software firm, fewer than 5% of companies achieve the 70:20:10 learning mix although many more are trying to achieve it. In case you haven’t come across this or have never really understood it, […]
How honest is your culture?
Jan Hills writes on neuroscience and how it can improve personal performance, team performance, organisational outcomes and leadership behaviour. She has had a varied career in HR, including over 10 years as a consultant and coach. Jan now runs Head Heart + Brain, a consultancy dedicated to brain-savvy HR and to improving all aspects of […]
How understanding the brain can help you understand your colleagues across the globe
It's Neuroscience Learning Month on HRZone. You're reading one of the pieces that's been written to help you develop a sound understanding of why neuroscience principles are important to business, and a basic understanding of how you can apply them effectively. There's loads more content going live over the month to help you on your […]
How teams really work, from the perspective of the brain – part 2
In part two part of this article exploring the neuroscience of high-performing teams, Jan Hills of Head Heart + Brain explores how to manage the pitfalls that stop teams from achieving their best. Read part one today. Create a sense of identity There is no doubt that a common purpose and goals creates team cohesion […]
The neuroscience of organisational values – part 2
In part one of this article series, Jan Hills explored what the research says about how people respond to organisational values, how they connect values to rewards, how values change over time and the link between values and risk. In this follow-up piece, she looks at how this new research impacts organisations and what they […]
The neuroscience of organisational values – part 1
In part two of this article series, Jan Hills looks at how the research detailed below impacts organisations and what they should be doing to adapt. There is a lot of talk about values in business. As a preoccupation it is taking over the whole culture debate, but given that values essentially form the bases of […]
How teams really work, from the perspective of the brain – part 1
I have to confess I have always been rather sceptical about the management theory on teams, specifically the whole forming, storming, norming and performing idea. In my experience teams either skipped the storming stage or if they go through it, they never move on to the performing stage. And teams that did perform didn’t stay […]
What’s new in neuroscience? Reporting from the NeuroLeadership Summit 2014
I'm just back from the NeuroLeadership Summit. Before I went Jamie [HRZone editor] asked me to write an article on what's new in neuroscience that’s relevant to HR. Judging by last year, I thought I would have loads of new science from the summit, but to be honest the approach to the agenda this year […]
How can I cope better with setbacks?
Jan Hills is one of our regular contributors – this article was adapted from the content in her new book, Brain-Savvy HR, available to buy in hard copy and for Kindle on Amazon. You and a colleague have been working on a new project proposal which gets rejected by the board. You're gutted, and finding […]
Stress is helpful – but if you think it’s not, it’ll mess with your head
Stress seems to be something we are all subject too. In a recent survey by ThoughtLeaders 83% of people said that they had experienced stress that affected their performance at work. We mostly talk about the negative impacts and whilst they are many there is some interesting research that may have us thinking differently about […]
Brain-savvy leaders: what science has revealed in 2013
During 2013 we have seen a continued interest in neuroscience and the implications of its findings for leaders and business. Many of my articles in HR Zone have been read by thousands of people. Obviously I am very pleased about this and the interesting comments people have made about the articles and the science behind […]
What does science say about making New Year resolutions stick?
One of the reasons it is hard to stick to your resolutions is that you are essentially stopping a habit. We often talk about habits. We say we’ve developed a bad habit. Or a good one. But what is a habit? When you first decide to do something new, maybe something like challenging the CEO […]
Feedback doesn’t work. Here is why and what you can do about it
Feedback is the backbone of most people management processes. Yet is there any evidence that it works? Anecdotally many people tell me it doesn’t and my own experience over many years of managing people is that positive feedback focused on what is being done right does work but negative or constructive feedback doesn’t. I say […]
Are you in cat or lion mode? Using neuroscience and physiology to manage your performance
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish football captain used the terminology above, to describe how Jose Mourinho made him feel when he worked with him at Inter Milan. – "He turned me from a cat into a lion, dragged things out of me at Inter that no one had done before". Why am I writing about a […]
Five ways neuroscience can improve your engagement results
How to create the super powered engagement leader Engagement is a hot topic but do HR functions really care about it or has it become just another process to run i.e. ‘it’s the survey season again’, rather than the outcome of leadership and work practice? Clearly something isn’t working as all the data says our […]
Finding the X Factor – the neuroscience of presence
You will have experienced the feeling of a person, maybe a leader, shop assistant or friend who is completely focused on you and your needs. Their level of connection is palatable. For me it is best summed up in the words of a West African greeting, ‘Sawa bona,’ which translates to ‘I see you.’ The […]
Leadership development is not working. Here’s why…
If your reaction to my rather controversial title was to want to close the internet page and go do something else you are probably having an avoidance reaction! Your brain experienced the title as a threat. You probably felt you really don’t want to read about this but as a professional you decided to scan the […]
Can your leaders achieve change? Here’s what the data says
Most companies are going through change of some type and some sectors are experiencing unprecedented transformational change; that is change that shifts the underlying assumptions and norms of the way the organisation and even the industrial sector operates. We wanted to understand how leaders were perceived to be doing in leading this change and their […]