Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

More and more business leaders agree that some high schools seem unable to change to meet the demands of  changing markets. Reluctantly I have almost joined their ranks for several reasons.

Secondary schools cannot promote problem solvers suited to changing work horizons when …

1. Tenured faculty find too little incentive to remain current, and who can blame them? In brain based terms, these faculty form the dangerous population of Hebbian Learners that block the best research findings. One business leader asked recently, where else can you receive job security, good pay and lifetime benefits that have little to do with your daily performance?

2. Standardized tests limit growth and improvement through rigid approaches to  assess from too few areas of the human brain. Standardized tests were created before we knew how learners can change their brain for higher outcomes and show evidence of improvement in almost any subject, with mental flexibility.

3. Teacher talk remains the major mode of communication, in spite of research proof that lectures work again human brains.

4. Strategies ignore teens’ multiple intelligences remain the norm in some secondary schools.  Sadly more money is demanded for buildings and upkeep than on learning and assessment tactics that benefit students. Ram, an engineering leader and colleague said at a recent roundtable on this topic, “You can build the Taj Mahal around a guy – but if he’s bored, he’ll sleep rather than learn.

Ok, many likely agree that these deep seated mental limitations may be grounds for moving past secondary schools that appear to be on their way out. But how can workplaces fill the gap and ratchet up mental acumen suited to fast changing horizons?

That topic just happens to be the next blog ... and I’d love to hear practical tips you have to add!