Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Today I read an interesting article, What it Means to Work Here, by Tamara Erickson and Lynda Gratton, in this month’s Harvard Business Review. The authors claim that “every company needs a signature experience that sets it apart.”  I agree that a firm’s signature “can dramatically improve employee engagement and performance.” But what does that look like?

If you were to walk in a brain based workplace, for instance,  the space and approaches would differ from traditional firms. So would the development or learning roundtables differ from what many know only as training trends.

To work with the brain in mind, means to draw from talents at work that transform problems into solutions … with evidence of improvement that benefits your bottom line.

But what does the space look like?  And what do you find people doing there?  In brain based settings where wonder and curiosity steer interested people to investigate new ideas, for instance you’ll not meet a bunch of boring meetings.

You could say that five distinctives … would be immediately evident to any person … who entered a brain based learning space … where learners are inspired to:

1. Question and investigate alternative possibilities … through roundtables … under natural lighting … in colloquium centers with experts … near state of the art research materials.

2. Target improvements … through natural settings… technology centers… interactive gathering places for the wider community … spaces for fun … laughter ... and relaxed application of ideas….

3. Expect quality … through motivational symbols that inspire excellence and innovation … show evidence that excellence and high performance is maintained and measured…  with white boards to list rubric measurement criteria… and glass cases to display trophies for awards won….

4. Move mental resources … such as multiple intelligences into action … through individual and team projects … with backgrounds for music … reading … writing … and building … in natural setting areas for movement … and with spaces to illustrate and test ideas.

5. Reflect on growth possibilities  … through A MITA Celebration of Knowledge in lounges created to include a wider community… theaters to teach … entertain …  and express new ideas … spaces to debate and challenge status quo concepts … photography and art spaces … foyers to celebrate knowledge across disciplines. 

Harvard Business Review said it this way…”  Companies that successfully create and communicate signature experiences understand that different types of people will excel at different companies, and that not all workers want the same things.”

In any brain based workplace, employees interact with the wider community and with experts. How so?  They questions, targets, expect, move multiple intelligence resources, and, reflect, and a tone that fosters: "Where to from here…?"   

If you see no passive workers … in bored positions ... such as people expected to listen to one person talking … chances are you have entered a brain based learning setting  that reboots business ... with the brain in mind. What do you think?