Conference Blog

by Suzanne Kryder

I’m hoping that David Rock will talk about neuroplasticity in his keynote address at the CBODN Conference.  Also called brain plasticity or brain malleability, neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.  Research shows that these changes create:

• Structural brain modifications (the hardware looks different) that are accompanied by
• Functional brain and mind changes (software improvements) such as improved emotion regulation (e.g., fewer freak outs), better immune function, and an enhanced stress response. 

Scientists have known for many years that neurons (nerve cells) in the brain reorganize in response to brain injury and disease.  It’s similar to when someone at work is out sick.  Your team reorganizes, and forms new connections to cover his workload. 

The brain does the same thing.  The undamaged axons at the end of healthy neurons grow new nerve endings to reconnect the injured neurons.  This “axonal sprouting" forms new neural pathways to bring back a needed function. 

(Unfortunately, the technology to sprout new employees is not currently available.) 

To reconnect, neurons need to be stimulated by activity.  For example, when my dad had a stroke, he got physical and speech therapy in hopes of building new neural structures and regaining lost functions.  Despite paralysis in his right leg, he eventually learned to walk again.  Unfortunately, the speech centers in his brain were too severely damaged, and he never learned to talk again. 

In the old days, scientists thought that neuroplasticity only happened in very young brains.  Now, there’s growing research on adult neuroplasticity, for example, Jeffrey Schwartz’s successful work with helping adult sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder change their behavior. 

Fortunately, we don’t need a brain injury or disease in order to change our brain.  We don’t even need physical or occupational therapy from a professional. I’m guessing that David Rock will give us several practical tools so that we can train our brains to be more effective and less stressed at work. 

by Priscilla Enner

Last post, Suzanne asked about your experience with resistance in meetings.  I’ll add to her question with some of my own.

Have you ever tried to coordinate entrenched, functional silos?  Overcome information hoarding?  What was at stake?  Was it the national security of the United States?

For those who work in the many US departments and agencies that deal with national security one way or another, discouraging conditions are an everyday reality of an outdated system, created by the National Security Act of 1947 and designed for the Cold War – a world we have long left behind.  Now, interactions with a new and increasingly complex world are housed in 1970’s-era organizations at best.  Some have called this the institutional challenge of our time.

I work for a local DC think tank that is committed to transforming the US national security system to better act and even anticipate the modern world.  This means reducing failures, such as the response to Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 Iraqi invasion that did not address soon enough the need for substantial nation-building expertise.  More recently, it could have meant being better prepared for situations like Egypt and Libya.  It also means overcoming resistance and educating people about the possibilities for a “new way of doing business.”  National security transformation would mean smarter decisions at the top, and improved operations in the field.

Deeply committed, highly intelligent employees who are dedicated to serving the nation staff national security work.  At all levels, many of them are striving to improve their mission areas by bringing new ideas and expertise, but they are achieving limited success because of overwhelming complexity.  General Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, recently wrote an article in Foreign Policy magazine entitled, “It Takes a Network.”  He spent over two years struggling to build interagency teams to bring all the relevant expertise to counterterrorism work – and he achieved unparalleled success.  But today there is no institutional memory of this work, and it will be lost and overcome by the traditional way of doing business.

No organization is more on the edge, nor does any organization put us more on the edge, than a broken national security system.  While many think tanks study symptoms or components of the larger, systemic problem, my think tank looks at the entire national security system.  In part, we are applying best practices from business and other disciplines to government.  A few of our partners are pursuing similar strategies, such as applying complexity science to policymaking.  Efforts like these are attracting increasing interest from all levels of government, but even when they understand that it’s needed, they lack the necessary expertise.

Moreover, change won’t happen with a few think tanks.  We need a range of educated and interested experts.  Practitioners and experts in complexity will especially need to play a critical and prominent role if this challenge is to be overcome.

by Suzanne Kryder

It’s not so easy to do. 

Your brain was probably busy noticing, acknowledging, and melding the participants’ diverse styles, opinions, needs, resources, etc. 

Have you ever run a meeting where there was lots of resistance?

Contentious meetings are extra challenging to facilitate. In addition to leading the external conversation which might include helping to surface and resolve disagreements, you might also be trying to notice and influence what’s happening internally---in your brain---and to hypothesize what’s happening inside the brains of your participants.  

I hope you’re planning on attending the 2011 CBODN Conference on April 29^th, because you’ll have the chance to hear David Rock’s keynote address on neuroleadership--- an emerging field of study focused on bringing scientific knowledge about the brain into the areas of leadership development, management training, and change management.

I had the pleasure to facilitate a training session yesterday on The Neuroscience of Resistance with the Peer Consulting Network (PCN) at the University of Maryland, College Park.  The PCN---a diverse group of highly skilled faculty and staff---is the brainchild of Vicky Foxworth, the director of the University’s Center for Leadership & Organizational Change (CLOC).  PCN members volunteer as consultants for CLOC organizational development activities. This means, that among other roles, they help facilitate meetings and retreats that can sometimes include resistant participants. 

In the training yesterday, I explained how the mind is like a toggle switch. It’s either aware of something that’s happening in the present moment, or it’s involved in a narrative about the past or future. We began with a short period of mindfulness to, first, notice how the mind is usually in “narrative” mode, and, second, to practice gentle redirects from the prefrontal cortex to nudge the mind back into “now” mode. 

Adrienne Hamcke Wicker, an Organizational Development Specialist at CLOC, commented about this activity, "If only the simple truth of mindfulness -- that being in the now allows you to see more information, detect more options, and make better choices -- were also easy. I suppose that is one of our many challenges as consultants - to allow space for the now, for our clients and for ourselves."

After the silent mindfulness, we practiced how to help people surface their resistance. One way to do this is through affect labeling. The simple process of naming feelings---even very unpleasant ones---in the present moment lowers firing in the “fight/flight” limbic system (takes your foot off the gas pedal) by increasing firing in the cortex (puts your foot on the brakes). 

Vicky explained, “What pulled it all together was when Suzanne drew a model of the brain. We made the link of why using the prefrontal cortex to come into the ‘now’ and label affect helps people be calm and more present for training, coaching, or facilitation.”

If we don’t surface resistance in the present moment, the brain is likely to stay in its grumpy narrative much like a skipping record. The tricky part is that resistance is uncomfortable---physically, mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally. So, it’s important for the facilitator to build trust, go slowly, and manage her own resistance to any individual or group resistance. 

Please look for Vicky and Adrienne at the conference so you can learn more about the PCN and other CLOC programs. Look for me, too, if you’re interested in connecting about mindfulness on the job.

And, please post to the conference blog. We’d love to learn how you’re dealing with complexity or using neuroscience in your work. For example, I recently met Priscilla Enner who has a fascinating job dealing with complexity at a macro level. I hope you’ll tell us about it, Priscilla.

by Bob Travis

by Parvez Khan

You’ve heard it around your company or in other companies- organization development, or “OD.”  “OD” can help manage change in your organization.  “OD” is that “touchy-feely” aspect of organizational behavior.  When the OD guys come in, they bring a box of tissues with them.

All this is true, to some extent.  And maybe even the box of tissues.  But OD is SO much more.

According to Matt Minahan and the Organization Development Network, America’s largest OD association network, “Organization Development is a body of knowledge and practice that enhances organizational performance and individual development, viewing the organization as a complex system of systems that exist within a larger system, each of which has its own attributes and degrees of alignment.  OD interventions in these systems are inclusive methodologies and approaches to strategic planning, organization design, leadership development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity, and work/life balance.”

Whew.  That’s a lot.

OD is defined by the real impact it has on an organization’s most prized asset–it’s people.  Yes, it stems from the behavioral sciences and tends to provoke strong emotions from within, but that’s just the beginning.  Utilizing OD, we become aware of our true impact upon others, of our biases, our lenses through which we accept the “normal” as such.  The huge body of knowledge that OD is incorporates such management mainstays as strategic planning, assessment and analysis, interpersonal communication development, and change management.  If in this 21st Century, we accept organizations as complex environments and systems of systems where multiple opinions hold true simultaneously, we owe it to ourselves to look into the body of knowledge wherein all this resides.

And the effectiveness of OD?  Don’t let anyone tell you this is a “just” a touchy-feely science with no real application.  Take these real-life examples:

A trucking company was looking to increase its customer service ratings and its internal employee satisfaction ratings.  When the OD practitioners began their work, they noticed that the customer service representatives, almost all female, never seemed to smile or receive a compliment from their superiors.  Not a big deal, right?  Well, a simple change in behavioral from the supervisors made a dramatic change in ratings almost immediately.  With continued work, the company met its goal of significantly increasing external and internal ratings.

A California county office of education realized that its disadvantaged public schools did not have the technology and Internet connectivity that schools in wealthier school districts already did.  The chief of this office developed partnerships with Silicon Valley IT companies to implement a program where those companies designed hardware and software packages specifically for school systems.  Forty-four of 58 disadvantaged counties benefitted from the donated ware.  That in turn resulted in the companies finding out just how students benefitted from the use of their hardware and software, giving them invaluable data for future production.

A small, not-for-profit counseling group in Virginia needed to cut expenses immediately in order to stay afloat.  For the long term, they needed a more robust strategic vision, and needed someone to lead them all in this effort.  They confided in an OD consultant who lead them through the painful process of eliminating positions while planning for future (intended) growth.  The group’s leadership model was changed, the counselors retained sufficient salaries, and the process of change was amicable.

So how can OD help you and your organization?  Find out specifically at this year’s annual conference of the Chesapeake Bay OD Network on Friday, April 29.  We’ll host a full day of presentations and networking with some of the foremost minds in OD and beyond.  Register now for a day that could bring positive change to your organization.

Friends of the Chesapeake Bay OD Network,

On this page you will find our official 2011 Conference web log ("blog") with articles sure to provoke thinking and commentary.  Please join in the discussion – comment on an article, share the link, and discuss with your peers!

Much more coming, very, very soon....