HROTodayGlobal

Transformations These four elements activate either the "primary reward" or the "primary threat" circuitry of the brain. For example, a perceived threat to one's sense of equity activates similar brain networks to a threat to one's life. In the same way, a perceived increase to your reputation activates the same reward circuitry as receiving a monetary reward. Our reaction happens in a nanosecond and is an automatic response. Why So Important? Whether people feel a threat or a reward will have significant impact on their problem solving, decision making, stress management, collaboration, and motivation (see graphic below). Knowing the drivers that cause a threat response enables us to design initiatives to minimise threats. Knowing about the drivers that can activate a reward response enables us to motivate people more. In a stable environment there is clearly great value in being able to recognise these many responses (using them to light up reward pathways in ways that don't just confer material rewards like money or promotion, for example). In times of change, understanding these responses is even more important. When the status quo is disrupted, we are constantly and unconsciously scanning for ways in which we are threatened in all of these CORE elements. Our brains are wired to look for threats rather than rewards, and when a threat is found, there is a significant decrease in the resources available to the prefrontal cortex: the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision making, and moderating behaviour. Our focus is on dealing with the threat until it is resolved. Performance and productivity invariably suffer as a result— causing maximum disruption in a time of change. If we can take the sense of threat from an unconscious to a conscious level, we are able to deal with it. To do that, leaders must mitigate the threat by removing it or triggering a reward to compensate for it. The table below shows some of the typical threat triggers in each of the CORE elements. It also shows actions that are more likely to trigger reward or mitigate the threat. Understanding these responses in ourselves, being sensitive to them in others, and equipping all leaders to consider them provides an enormously valuable tool in successfully implementing change. In our work we have found that adopting this approach reduces resistance, maintains productivity, and eases the transition to a new way of working. Jan Hills is a partner at Orion Partners. She is responsible for the capability and change leadership practices. [44] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | FALL 2011

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