How Neuro Science research shows us what happening inside our mind when we receive feedback.

For many employees, the annual performance appraisal is one of the most stressful meetings scheduled in the diary each year. The thought of having to smile politely whilst our performance is being judged and critiqued has many of us wishing that we can make a run for the door. Whilst this fight or flight response may seem like a dramatization of the truth, Dr David Rock, the Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute explains this is exactly what is actually happening.
For while a manager casually lists our areas for development and stretch goals for the coming year, a primordial response can be triggered deep inside the mind of an employee.
According to Rock, whose ground-breaking research combined Neuroscience studies with leadership development, an employee’s brain will be sitting in one of two states – either focused on “minimising danger” or “maximising reward”.
If an employee’s brain is focusing on “maximising reward” this is when they are at their most productive. So during an effective appraisal a manager needs to know how to shift team members out of a reactive and defensive mindset into a proactive and opportunity focused mindset.
In reality, many managers tend to do the complete opposite. In an attempt to define their own position within the organisational hierarchy, managers often overwhelm the employee with feedback and inadvertently trigger an instinctive fight / flight / freeze response. This outcome, can cause the employee’s productivity levels plummet, which isn’t good for the employee, the team or the organisation.
Rock identified a simple five-point plan that can help team managers to keep employees in a productive state, and encourage the employee’s brain to focus on the drive to “maximise rewards”. He calls the ground-breaking concept S.C.A.R.F. – it stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. These insights are based on the discovery that our brans have evolved to be particularly sensitive to these five factors, which if triggered will produce a wide variety of protective behaviour such as defensiveness, anxiety, anger and fear. In high stakes conversations such as a performance appraisal, the way managers navigate these five issues will greatly influence whether their employee will commit to go the extra mile at work or start updating their resume.
Maintain Status
Be in no doubt, status matters. Scientists have discovered that a drop in social status registers in a person’s brain in exactly the same way as physical pain. When a manager informs a subordinate that they don’t meet expectations, suggests that they are not ready for a promotion, or raises the threat of a “below expectations” performance rating, employees can perceive that their status is being threatened.
Maximising Reward: You can help avoid triggering this response by first asking people to give feedback on their own performance to identify and explore their strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Create Certainty
The brain hates ambiguity, it is constantly scanning the environment around us to make sense of it and seek meaning, in essence it is a certainty creating machine - always trying to predict what is going to happen. In an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and uncertain world, certainty is getting harder for us to find.
Maximising Reward: Even if you don’t have all the answers yourself, you can reduce uncertainty and keep team members in a creative zone by taking time to demonstrate empathy with a team member’s situation and providing a date when you might be able to give more information or make a decision.
Enable Autonomy
People need to know that they have some level of control over their lives. New managers can often feel the pressure to deliver results at work and this can increase the likelihood that they micromanage their teams.
Maximising Reward: Although a target or deadline may be non-negotiable, you can increase autonomy by offering choices and asking for input on “how” a task may be completed or an outcome achieved. People tend to become more engaged and take far more ownership of their own ideas compared to when they are merely following instructions.
Develop Relatedness
Whether it’s an appraisal with a new line manager, a cross functional project meeting or introducing yourself to a new colleague on a conference call, when dealing with other people, the brain is deciding whether a stakeholder is a friend or foe.
Maximising Reward: High performing teams, whether in business, society or elite sports, all have a common factor present within them, team members all have a strong sense of mutual trust in each other. These strong bonds must be created and reinforced so that team members are no longer in a “foe” mindset that causes them to compete with each other rather than collaborate towards a shared goal. New managers often make the mistake of not wanting to appear to be too close to their teams, this can cause relationships to become distant reduce trust.
Play Fair
Scientists have discovered that the need for fairness is not just limited to humans, in the past 20 years studies have shown that fairness is a powerful instinctive driver in primates, dogs even birds. An unfair exchange will instantly trigger a threat response and can hinder trust and team work.
Maximising Reward: Understanding the importance of fairness in the way that individuals are treated, effort is rewarded and achievements are recognised is a fundamental driver of our behaviour. Managers must be seen to behave fairly and not play favourites within the team.
Whether you are delivering feedback in an informal 1 on 1 discussion over a coffee, or sitting down for your end of year appraisals, these five simple lessons can be easily applied to help focus the recipient’s attention on the facts and ensure that they are ready to listen and take feedback on board.
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