Brain Performance Part 3 — The impact of psychosocial needs
In this article, we will explore the impact that our psychological and social needs have on our brain and our behaviour.
Before we dive deeper into psychosocial needs, to set the scene, below, we have included an image that summarises some of the most important skills in the modern world of knowledge work and the executive brain functions that enable us to build these competencies. We also show some of the key factors that impact our brain’s capacity to execute these capabilities.
In the previous article we looked at the impact on the brain, of having a sense of purpose. This is a key psychological need. You can see that we have added Purpose at the top of our model; as it not only helps direct the use of our higher-level skills and competencies, it also enables us to enhance all of the rider’s executive functions (analytical thinking, focusing attention, self-control, etc).
Thus we are also better able to execute the higher level competencies like innovating, active learning, managing conflict, providing feedback, dealing with ambiguity, exerting influence, etc.
A sense of purpose helps us to do this, even in the most challenging times and it helps us to continue even when our lower-level needs are not in place.
At the bottom of the model, we see the two key areas that impact our level of capacity to use our rider’s foundational capabilities. In the next article in the series we will look at our physical needs.
It is important to point out that our brain’s ability to use its foundational capabilties is effected by both our physical needs and our social needs (in the same way). This due to the impact of the elephant’s threat response.
The Elephant’s Threat Response
If you recall from the first article in this series, the elephant is the subconscious, automatic system in the brain (system 1 in Daniel Kahnaman’s model). One of the elephant’s key functions is to constantly keep a look out for potential rewards (e.g. food) and threats (threat to survival).
The elephant wants to maximise the rewards and minimise the threats.
When the elephant detects a threat, his amygdala launches the fight/flight/freeze response. When this response is triggered, there are less resources (like oxygen and glucose) available to the rider.
This means our ability to use our foundational capabilities are significantly reduced (e.g. analytical thinking, creativity, focusing attention, self-control, planning and language) and therefore so is our ability to execute our higher level competencies.
Essentially we become less efficient and effective.
The threat response can be tiggered by:
- Predator or someone physically attacking us
- Lack of physical needs (e.g. Food, Rest, Sleep)
- Lack of social needs (Acceptance, Autonomy, Belonging, Recognition, Respect)
- Uncertainty / Ambiguity
- Past experiences (Nervous, Angry, Afraid)
So the impact on our brain’s performance is the same no matter whether the threat is coming from a physical source (like hunger) or a social source (how others treat us).
This is thought to be in place due to our mammalian social attachment system as shown by Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman. As human beings, we have a long period of need for maternal care and the attachment system that helps maintain this bond, also influences our need to connect with the others that surround us.
Our brain sees our social needs as key to our survival. By becoming more aware of what meets these needs, we can reduce the threat response and maximise our ability to perform.
Social Needs
We naturally seek social settings in which we feel safe. As soon as we enter a room with others, or any form of group, our elephant is sensing whether we are safe or not.
Vanessa Druskat’s work has shown that when people feel their social needs are being met, they experience positive emotions and act with pro-social behaviour which increases the groups efficacy.
When the needs are unmet, distress is experienced together with self-focused or self-preservation behaviour. As we have just learned, this is due to our elephant’s threat response being triggered.
An absence of safety could come from: a lack of support, a lack of control/autonomy, a lack of resources or skills, a fear inducing boss, a shouting colleague, a weak contract, a culture focused on individual performance (me vs. you), power inequality, etc.
For example, if we work in a zero failure work culture, we might not feel safe; as a mistake could have serious consequences (losing our reputation, losing our manager’s respect or even losing the job). In such a culture, our elephant’s threat response is constantly being triggered which will mean our brain’s performance will be sub-optimal.
We will have less ability to solve problems, control impulses or be creative. When mission critical is the only way, the related stress can be mitigated with having a very clear sense of purpose and regular short breaks (we will touch on the importance of breaks in the next article).
So feeling safe, is crucial to our brain’s performance. This is even more important where team work is critical as one person’s emotions can impact how the whole group interacts.
A sense of belonging
We all share a basic need to want to feel accepted for who we are and to feel a sense of belonging to a group that makes us part of something greater than ourselves. We also want to feel that we are not easily replaced in this group. If we don’t feel accepted or that we don’t belong, we don’t feel safe. Our elephant triggers the threat response.
Building close relationships is also a foundational source of meaning. The researcher Emily Esfahani Smith, in her book, The Power of Meaning: The true route to happiness, considers a sense of belonging to be amoung the four most significant sources of meaning. A sense of belonging is also essential for psychological safety and promoting inclusion at work.
Enhancing a sense of belonging in team can come from a number of factors, although nothing can beat a shared sense of purpose. We detail two more below (autonomy and recognition), although others include providing each other with feedback on a regular basis; sharing successes/failures and respective learning points; 2 min check-ins at the start of each team meeting.
Autonomy
We have an innate desire to be able to influence our own future and to make decisions for ourselves. Anyone who has experienced micro-management will understand the negative impact this has on brain performance.
At work, even though the WHAT (objectives coming from above) might be fixed in place; if our role provides the ability for us to find the best HOW (how to achieve the objectives), we feel a rewarded sense of accountability and our brain will have the right factors in place to achieve the task. Especially when the purpose is clear.
Recognition and building trust
Receiving recognition helps to build a sense of self-esteem, self-worth and safety for the person receiving the recognition. It also builds respect for the provider of the recognition. A simple but genuine thank you or acknowledging someone’s work goes a long way to building that person’s sense that others see them as worthy and that they are appreciated.
These above factors help increase engagement and ensure that the person’s brain performance is optimal and it can use the Rider’s capabilities to execute the work needed.
Summary
Meeting our social needs is just as crucial to our brain’s performance as meeting our physical needs.
A lack of these needs will trigger our elephant’s threat response and equal, negative emotions, anti-social (self-preservation and reactive) behaviour and ultimately inefficient and ineffective performance.
Establishing an enabling environment that supports the social needs of your colleagues and yourself, can be done by considering the sense of belonging in the team (what could be done for each member to feel more belonging?); the levels of autonomy (do they have accountability and enough decision making power?); and how often is genuine recognition provided, especially by the leader?
When establishing an enabling environment, it helps to identify the different groups and teams that everyone is a part of (both defined and undefined). Clarifying, the different stakeholders that are key to connect with on a weekly basis and identifying how much time to spend together, helps provide the opportunity to build the necessary environment.
Meeting the social needs of the team will ultimately lead to to a more engaged, effective, and happy team.
The other articles in this series:
