a) Have you or anyone you have known experienced an amygdala hijack
Yes
b) Impact?
A friend took off whenever he saw a man with a machete. He had escaped death in a tribal war. The amygdala led him to the non-conscious act of running for his life to avoid being killed
c) Tips for avoiding?
Training the brain to disassociate the machete from an attack by thinking of the machete as a hand tool used for tilling the land. Conditioning the brain to remember that the machete was used in attacks but no longer get the emotional response of fight and flight.
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As a manager, I should avoid rude, harsh words to others since people will always associate that with bad outcomes as losing their job. It shows that my words and actions can be misinterpreted to mean a different thing.
- Our Social Brain
Managers should avoid painful social events to avoid causing people painful experiences. Threats affect people more than rewards, avoid them where possible.
a). What are your SCARF domains from the assessment in priority order, i.e., what are your triggers? Insights?
- Relatedness- I like being trusted in all my actions.
- Autonomy- I believe in giving people space to decide their actions within the agreed parameters.
- Status- I allow feedback from others, I love to assess my development against myself after some time in profession and social life.
- Fairness- Setting the rules of engagement before a job will make people more satisfied to avoid disappointment when a new step is affected.
- Certainty- Giving workers a clear expectation of their actions and the reward that will follow.
b) How can the SCARF model be useful for a manager?
SCARF model can be used to manage the relationship between workers, the employer and the job. Setting clear rules for the job, giving people freedom to accomplish their duties autonomously within agreed limits, allowing feedback and acknowledging hard work, gaining trust with the workers that they keep their words, and increasing transparency and a certain level of communication. All these enhance relationships at the job, leaving everyone satisfied at his or her level of responsibility.
c) What insights or ‘Ahas’ have you had?
Positive feedback offers more social reward even than money reward, against most people’s belief.
- Implication of positive feedback, mirror neurons, and social intelligence for managers? Managers coexist peacefully and productively with workers since everyone listens to each other, they have an icon they can mimic, they are listened to with positive emotional signals.
- Why is EQ (emotional intelligence) important for managers?
It enables them understand their self’s, understand others, be aware of the society in which the work. Therefore, they are able to manage their selves and other people’s relationships and interests.
- Think of someone with high EQ and their impact on you and others. My first job mentor. He changed my perspective in the job. I leant how to discover others and myself at the work place to enable me manage myself and my interaction with the society. This involves knowing the triggers to all the people at work.
- Overall insights on what you learned?
As a manager I should put on a scarf, it provides a means of giving the right interpretation to a possible fraught interaction. I should guide my brain on the desired results, allow my brain to detach and discover better ways of dealing with situations. Avoid the top-down strategy planning, Involve people in designing systems that they will use.
- Take-away from this material?
Put on my scarf to be a great manager, involve people actively, and give them space to be themselves at work.
