Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Sleep apnea can cause serious memory loss a new study suggests. According to the University of California, tissue loss is detected in areas of the brain that store memories, and relate to sleep apnea. Does it happen to you?

We're already aware that people who awaken multiple times nightly because of breathing difficulties, tend to suffer more from chronic workplace fatigue. But we had less research to affirm the strong connections between that sleep apnea and memory problems.

Interestingly, vitamin B1 or thiamine may be able to help restore memory loss from sleep difficulties.  It’s a commonly held belief that B1 helps dying brain cells to recover, and if that's the case, it's also true that brain cells for memory storage may be enabled again through large amounts of this vitamin.

B1 results are still being tested for its ability to move glucose into cells, preventing cell death through oxygen starvation. Researchers Rajesh Kumar and Ronald Harper hope to let us know more soon about the proven effects of B1 for memory restoration.

Have you taken B1 to increase memory or add brainpower?

When asked how he’s shaking things up at Ford Model’s, John Caplan said, "I’m more like the conductor of an orchestra, than an old-fashioned executive.” Does that describe your approach? 

Caplan's orchestra metaphor reminds us that wherever you spot insights or innovations at a deeper level you’ll also see a maestro conductor, or facilitator. So why does it rarely happen?

Instead of the fine interchanges found in peak-performance orchestras, you often find potentially good discussions truncated instead, because:

- one voice dominates
- strong demands for one-sided view
- a few people diminishing other voices
- anger rising whenever  topics heat up

While topnotch catalyst skills can be mastered by most … they rarely show up at firms, that lack facilitation’s finer points. Here are 5 mind-bending tactics championed at the MITA Brain Based Renewal Center:

1. Create a pace slow enough to challenge reluctant participants, while at the same time quick enough to motivate more vociferous staff.

2. Hear participants’ perspectives, so that each offering made is valued and woven into the wider discussion’s fabric.

3. Withhold personal views in favor of learning from and expanding new ideas from all opposing views expressed.

4. Ensure all speak and feel heard, by affirming the positive and downplaying disrespectful or negative comments.

5. Formulate an action plan  based on a culmination of  ideas presented on both sides in ways that bring mutually beneficial results to the group’s wider community.

What top facilitation skills enable deep dives into key issues where you work?

With the new surge in conservation of resources at the best business sites, I’d like to see mental power go green too. Recycled brainpower can keep business alive far longer than most firms realize. How so?

 Conserve these brain related riches and watch your company grow:

1. Curiosity is conserved by simply asking and wondering… “What if?”

2. Perspective is preserved through engaging more imagery into solutions.

3. Fitness is harnessed for mental energy through certain foods and exercise.

4. Opportunity is sustained by engaging working memory more.

5. Resources are prolonged through drawing on multiple intelligences.

What mental conservation takes place where you work?

Toss the word Rotary out in any business circle today … and dinosaur images loom back. Old … out of touch … less relevant to young upstarts …

Have you heard similar associations? It doesn’t have to be that way.

The most  successful Rotary clubs tend to stage linchpin activities,  such as the three listed below to enlist the young and the vibrant into their ranks:

1. Address current business problems with solutions in mind. Yesterday’s answers rarely resolve today’s business concerns … but seasoned leaders hold skills that could jettison business solutions to those still running along fast paced tracks.

Imagine a Rotary meeting where struggling members shared barriers that hold back their business … while others jumped in with winning resolutions. Have you seen it happen?

2. Rework "service above self" mantras to fit into hectic schedules of pressured professionals. Have you noticed how service opportunities for younger leaders hot in the field ... often differ dynamically from service activities championed by retired Rotarians?

How could your Rotary gatherings shift gears enough to inspire younger professionals at the center? Why not ask for ideas at your next meeting and watch winning suggestions emerge? Or start with a question to trigger your club’s genius. How about this starter … “How could revised service opportunities sponsored by this club draw on more talents from newer members?”

3. Ratchet up networking events to build deeper bonds across members  at Rotary meetings. Meaningful contacts are missing for many busy professionals out there. Expert Rotarian facilitators who bring together different ages, genders and careers … will likely also connect people and projects meaningfully for community service. It takes change though .

What could your Rotary club alter today in order to welcome young professionals tomorrow? Perhaps more importantly … if you are looking to interact with new members … “What would you suggest to draw more professionals into the service above self section at a weekly gathering?” Once you have your answer … implementation is an easy addition. 

What do you think?

Whenever we toss the now back into business – we equip the human mind for ringer success. I mean that moment of epiphany, and adventure that adds urgency to a day’s work. 

It’s related to the way human brains rewire for winning action. A highly focused person creates new neuron pathways to adventures that remain hidden to people stuck in their past or fast forwarding their minds to future concerns. How so?

In as much as the past holds all our regrets, our failures, and our disappointments … it also causes mental noise of sorts. Racket that drains current energy the brain needs for peak performances.

When caught like a deer in headlights of anxiety for the future, the mind loses brainpower for adventures at hand. Susceptible to stress the anxious brain tends to severely limit or shut down mental energy required to meet daily goals. Have you been there?

At times, in my younger years, I barely survived financially, because regrets of past failures as well as fears for future inadequacies drained any mental energy for solutions. That was before I discovered the brain’s capability to rewire itself daily to conquer the now with new zest.

What epiphany do you see today, that will inspire an adventure with zip?  As soon as you spot it … go for it … and watch your brain leap frog over speed bumps that slowed you down in past.

The Economist recently showed how many firms are uniting for financial gain in some areas … and then competing frantically for financial advantages in others. It’s a bit like people joining forces to win a war but then competing to win key battles. 

Can this approach work?

More importantly …

Are leaders equipped with skills to bring cultural differences together?

If you agree that joint endeavors can inspire excellence and challenge growth for your bottom line, you’ll likely also agree that distinctive skills come in handy to make profitability happen. In brain based approaches … these critical tools are smart skills.

Few would deny that successful merges are becoming increasingly urgent as leaders unite to adjust for turbulent times. Most also go along with the fact that human brains possess top tools to collaborate effectively at the peaks.

Would you agree though, that it takes unique skills to reconcile differences across cultures, backgrounds, departments, ages, IQs, locations, genders, and capabilities?

No question … cultural merges can help your firm step past mediocrity and into rejuvenation … when leaders come equipped with tools for rejuvenation. Could it happen where you work? 

Contrary to what some believe, the most highly gifted leaders are not necessarily able to show the way successfully at your firm.

Sad at it may seem, some highly capable leaders work at and barely survive the most dysfunctional corporations out there.

What can be done … when workplaces harbor bigger problems than leaders can confront?

Ensuring that skilled leaders take a firm to its fullest potential requires first … an understanding of what goes wrong in failed corporate cultures. Second, it requires practical tactics from neuro discoveries to rejuvenate tainted brainpower.

One common problem that works against gifted leaders is lack of tone skills commonly practiced at many workplaces. Although leaders may possess competent skills to motivate … and while they may attempt to direct peak performance at work … staff still perform poorly where few skills exist to disagree while at the same time building good will, for instance.

In some cases, cynicism shuts down and kills creativity. As a result the corporate culture emerges with rigid routines that keep potential leaders safe from skeptics’ criticism while performance suffers. Along with a workplace’s loss of morale … comes lack of encouragement to take calculated risks that keep winning companies at cutting edges.

If your firm has frustrated workers who grow aggressive … or gifted leaders who opt for workplace clowns to survive the cold climate … you may be wasting brainpower unnecessarily.

One way to avoid the traps of dysfunctional settings … is to support talented workers who remain hamstrung at work. Start with a survey of brainpower at work to discover performance hotspots impacted by tone.  

Then add one or two tone tactics at a time for new zest found only at the brightest workplaces … where skilled experts find courage and confidence to lead.

While many people speak of the need for change at work, a few lead transformational practices. Powerful economic and social forces continue to set in motion an urgent need for change. In response …  brain based practices will ensure transformation at your organization. How so?

When transformational practices come tethered to recent life-changing discoveries about the human brain … people grow flexible and prepared to meet that firm’s modern and fast paced world demands. Have you seen it happen?

Consider common problems that create crisis and watch the brain at work:    

1. Tenured workers refuse to change: Many firms unknowingly offer incentives for people to stay in the ruts that kill business deals daily. Invention, with all its dynamic rewards, provides the inspiration that drives winning markets.

2. Daily practices fail to align with vision: The part of one’s brain that dreams big differs from the part that steps daily toward that vision. Both need to be nurtured.

3. Poor tone diminishes corporate culture. Good tone often comes for sharing and communication a great vision in ways that workers can see personal and organization dividends.

John Kotter, in his bestselling book Leading Change, emphasized ongoing learning and changes as keys to reaching maximum potential at work. I’d like to add that when transformational practices align with brain based discoveries, growth follows.

Do transformational practices keep you and your firm at peak-performance?

If you’d  answer yes to common complaints increasingly found in current workplaces … you’re likely short-circuiting  your brainpower in ways that hold you back unnecessarily.

Can you identify with any of the following?

1. Lost sight of life’s challenges?
2. Anxious for your financial future?
3. Dealing poorly with problem people?
4. Worrying about health?
5. Struggle with organization?
6. Concerned for family?
7. Stopped using talents?
8. Sleep problems?
9. Feeling sidelined?
10. Bored?
11. Losing autonomy?
12. Lonely?
13. Is time wasting away?
14. Lack fulfillment?
15. Fearful?
16. Lost your legacy?
17. Sitting on the shelf?
18. Misunderstood?
19. Problem relaxing?
20. Feeling out of shape?
21. Missing business engagements?
22. Not getting ideas across?
23. Burning out?
24. Frustrated with changes?
25. Lost your leadership?
26. Stopped learning new skills?
27. Memory problems?
28. Feeling old?
29. Fighting mood swings?
30. Stopped laughing at the little things?
31. Stuck in a rut? Lost your influence?
32. Feeling cranky?
33. Sinking under conflicts?
34. Losing focus?
35. Spotting more problems than possibilities?
36. Trouble communicating across ages?
37. Not taken seriously?
38. No longer the person you want others to see in you?

What bombshells take down you or torpedo fellow workers?

More importantly, did you know that new discoveries on the brain address each of these brainpower leakages,  that many people suffer unnecessarily?

Over the next weeks we’ll tackle these mental maladies … and point to neuro research that offers winning strategies to zip beyond each. 

If I tossed out the words leader, age and the human brain what one observation would you shoot back first?

If you zoned in on the word leader and considered current complaints in many companies … you might add:

- arrogant
- rigid
- authoritarian

Zero in on popular myths about the word age I and you’d possibly suggest:

- over the hill
- boring
- weak

Focus on hearsay about the word brain and you might offer back:

- fixed IQ
- loss with age
- test results

Hopefully rich revolutionary discoveries about the brain’s potential offer finer realities to your firm than myths stated above which limit performance far more than most people realize. How so?

In a brain based workplace … the terms leader, age, and human brain conjure up amazingly potent images – with rejuvenated values at work. Pulled together into brain based business settings … these three concepts suggest how:

Successful  leaders model inspiration …and  help workers to rewire neuron pathways for success.  grow dendrite brain cells for competitive edges … well past their senior years.

Can you see dividends through rewiring for brain based possibilities in three key forces that fire up your bottom line?