performance Make your mind your ally
Our experts translate neuroscience and modern psychology research into practical strategies for better health, happiness and personal success
MAKE STRESS WORK FOR YOU
Editorial: Thrive under pressure while also reducing the negative physical effects of stress
Meliissa Gokhool
SPREAD POSITIVITY AT THE WORKPLACE
Positive emotions actually build psychological, physical and social resources to ultimately improve our resilience and happiness over time
Louisa Jewell
COUNTER THE DARK SIDE WITHIN
To have the maximum positive impact in your spheres of influence, at work or at home, start by confronting the Darth Vaders within
Shirzad Chamine
THE INFLUENTIAL MIND
While all of us adore data, facts and logic are not the most powerful tools for altering opinions. The currency by which our brains assess data and make decisions is very different from what we believe.
Dr Tali Sharot
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performance
Make your mind your ally
Meliissa GOKHOOL
Editor, Government Gazette’s Supplement on Performance
Make stress work for you
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ot all stress is negative, it is possible to thrive under pressure while also reducing the negative physical effects of stress simply by changing the way we think about it. The outcome of a stressful situation is largely dependent upon whether it is perceived as a challenge or a threat. Developing a challenge response to stress is likely to produce positive outcomes as the individual perceives the situation as a chance for personal growth and believes they have the tools to deal with the demands presented. In contrast an individual may perceive the demands of the situation to be greater than the resources employable to deal with them thereby triggering a threat response to stress. The threat response causes poorer cognitive performance and negative physiological effects such as high blood pressure. Therefore, an appraisal of stress greatly affects how it impacts
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our lives. It is possible to do so by working on the three factors underpinning the challenge response. Firstly, confidence is key as it aids the identification of the personal resources and skills available to deal with the stressful situation. Developing a challenge state also requires the individual to perceive a level of control within the situation by focusing on factors that can be controlled. Lastly focusing on what must be achieved as opposed to possible pitfalls is a fundamental building block of the challenge state. (3) The difficulty with these methods of stress management is that they are by mechanism reactive to the situation of which there is a great deal of variance. The ability to access the challenge stage easily when exposed to a stressor does not necessarily mean that it will be possible to a different type of stressor. Shifting the stress appraisal process wholly towards a challenge state bias may require constant effort.
Is it possible to cultivate a general and stable positive response to stress. Yes, and it lies in overriding the belief that the experience of stress (whether it be in a challenge or threat situation) is negative. Studies have shown that this can be done by developing a “stress-is-enhancing” mindset which is the belief that presence stress enhances the outcome of a situation. Studies tested participants in a pseudo interview scenario, whereby the interviewer gave either negative and positive feedback during the process to emulate challenge and threat states of stress. Prior to this the participants were divided into two groups, which experimentally manipulated their mental attitude to stress as either enhancing or debilitating (2) Results showed that in both challenge and threat states, a stress-enhancing mindset increased the level of the hormone DHEA (short for dehydroepiandrosterone) which can be understood as a good stress hormone. DHEA is an anabolic (growth) hormone which works antagonistically to cortisol which is catabolic (break down), both are released in reaction to stress. However, when acute stress becomes chronic stress, the balance of cortisol levels go up and DHEAS levels go down and it is at this point that some of the most harmful effects of stress are seen. Furthermore, taking DHEAs supplements has been found to be helpful in reducing the negative effects of raised cortisol. (1) Therefore, the increase in levels of DHEAs is a good indicator that adopting a stress-isenhancing mindset is beneficial
in cultivating a positive response to stress in the long-term. The results of the study showed that better cognitive performance amongst those in the stress is enhancing group. The most interesting part of this study however is that the researcher was able to manipulate the mindset relatively easily, orientation towards a stress enhancing mindset was done using multimedia film clips designed to do so. Therefore, regardless of an individual’s natural mental attitude towards stress it is possible develop a stressenhancing mindset and benefit from its many advantages Here are some mental manipulation videos used in such experiments; https://mbl. stanford.edu/instruments/stressmindset-manipulation-videos. References: 1.Dr Joseph Debé DHEA- The real story Available at: http://www. drdebe.com/articles/dhea-the-realstory (accessed 23 September 2017) 2. Alia J.Crum, Modupe Akinola, Ashley Martin and Sean Faith(2017) “The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress”ANXIETY, STRESS, & COPING, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/1 0.1080/10615806.2016.127558 3.Marc Jones (2017) Developing a challenge mindset and culture Available at:https://leadersinsport. com/performance/humanperformance/psychology/developinga-challenge-mindset-and-culture/ (accessed 23 September 2017)
The science behind the Churchill grip
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espite his mastery over political speeches, Sir Winston Churchill suffered from severe nervousness and prior to making speeches he would always squeeze the side of the lectern. Research on professional athletes has found that they could reduce the effects of pressure on performance simply by squeezing a ball in the left hand prior to entering a high pressure event. This occurs because in high pressure situations individuals begin to pay greater attention to the execution of behaviour which disrupts the latter’s automatic nature. This is problematic because conscious attention to behaviour causes regression to the early stages of learning behavior. Reverting to this stage, known as the cognitive stage of learning
behaviour causes greater variability of behaviour as it would be when one first starts learning. Therefore pressure affects performance as it dampens the benefits of experience. By squeezing an object in the left hand, one activates the part of the brain responsible for learned behaviour and therefore behaviour is likely to be more natural even in high pressure situations. (1) Reference: 1. Jürgen Beckmann, Peter Gröpel, and Felix Ehrlenspiel (2013) “Preventing Motor Skill Failure Through HemisphereSpecific Priming: Cases From Choking Under Pressure” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2012 American Psychological Association Vol. 142, No. 3, 679–691
The neurochemical compositon of a leader’s brain
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eadership requires being able to perform in stressful situations. Research has shown that the brains of leaders have specific qualities which enables them to do so. Through changing your body language it is possible to develop these mental qualities. It has been found that brains of leaders often differ in terms of the neurochemical profile which allows them to prosper in high pressure situations. Leaders tend to have high levels of testosterone and low levels of cortisol. Testosterone acts on the amygdala to reduce the fear response, to allow leaders to take greater risks high pressure situations. This also allows greater mental resources available for other cognitive tasks. Cortisol is a stress hormone and those who have lower levels tend to react more calmly to pressure. (1) The good news is that it is possible to alter the neurochemical composition of our brains to match those of leaders. Harvard researchers found that it is possible to Increase testosterone levels by 30 percent and reduce the cortisol levels by 25% simply by assuming the power pose for 90 seconds. The power pose involves adopting an open and expansive’ body position (shoulders back, head up, standing or sitting tall). (1)
Reference: 1.Dr. Jp Pawliw-Fry (2015) Performing Under Pressure Available at: http://www.trainingindustry.com/leadership/articles/performingunder-pressure.aspx (Accessed 23rd September 2017)
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performance
Make your mind your ally
Louisa JEWELL Founder, Canadian Positive Psychology Association
A positive workplace is a high-performing workplace
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ife has become complex and this places higher demands on our psychological resources that were not required in simpler times. Typically, employees are more concerned with their own well-being, while employers are more interested in worker productivity. Thanks to the growing efforts of psychologists and researchers that study positive psychology - we now have a growing body of empirical research that shows improving employee well-being at work also translates into better business performance. Positive psychology is the scientific study of well-being and human flourishing. According to Dr.Martin Seligman, the founding father of positive psychology, the five pillars that contribute to wellbeing are: positivity, engagement, www.governmentgazette.eu | 46
positive relationships, meaning, and achievement: Also known as PERMA. Focus on improving any one of these areas in your life and you are more likely to be happier and more fulfilled. A positive leader is one that advocates for employee wellbeing while at the same time striving for higher levels of performance. Leaders that focus on improving the psychological resources of their people will find that they perform better, bounce back from adversity quicker, and achieve higher level goals. Here are some ways you can leverage the findings in positive psychology to improve employee performance: Promote positivity in the workplace There is a growing body of
evidence that positive emotions experienced at work have the capacity to transform organizations. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, psychologist and leading researcher on positive emotions, discovered that positive emotions actually build psychological, physical and social resources ultimately improving our resilience and happiness over time. Observations of more than 60 different business teams revealed that high performing teams had unusually high positivity ratios, at about five to one. They also found that positive emotions are not just an end state in themselves but also a means of creating expansive emotional spaces that have the ability to strengthen the quality of social connections amongst team
members. Focus on strengths The Gallup Corporation surveyed thousands of employees and correlated responses to performance indicators such as employee turnover, customer service ratings, productivity and profitability. They found that there is a direct correlation between businessunit employee engagement and business performance. One way leaders can improve engagement is by focusing on employee strengths. Organisations that scored higher than average on the statement “At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day� have a 44 percent higher probability of success on customer loyalty and employee retention, and a 38 percent
higher probability of success on productivity measures. Help build positive relationships According to Dr Jane Dutton of the Ross School of Management, when people have high quality connections at work, they share information and knowledge more freely which accelerates learning and development for higher team productivity; ultimately strengthening organizational performance. Daniel Goleman of Emotional Intelligence fame also studied various leadership styles and found that the ‘Coaching’ style of leadership contributed to improved organizational climate. Why? Because ‘Coaching’ leaders who focus on the personal development of their employees
are in constant dialogue with their people - which improves every component of climate. If there is one thing we have learned from studying positive psychology – it is that relationships matter.
think of their most fulfilling job. What people most valued was a job that was congruent with their own strengths of character. Thus when we find ourselves in authentic alignment we are free to operate at our best.
Increase meaning for people at work
Increase employee confidence for higher achievement
National surveys in Canada make one thing clear: People who felt their work was important and meaningful reported higher levels of job satisfaction. Work does not necessarily have to be virtuous; it just needs to be meaningful for the person who is performing the task. Dr Chris Peterson, a leading researcher in positive psychology, conducted three studies of adults with respect to good character at work, love and play and asked respondents to
A large body of research shows a direct and strong correlation between confidence and workrelated performance. This is because confidence fuels both motivation and action. When employees have little self-doubt, they are not afraid to share ideas and challenge the status quo, both of which promote innovation in the workplace. The empirical evidence is clear: Organizations that improve employee well-being
will reap the financial rewards of improved performance. Hopefully the growing empirical evidence being delivered by positive psychology researchers will be enough to convince the leaders at the top that being positive pays Louisa Jewell is a speaker and author who has inspired thousands of people from around the world to flourish with confidence. Louisa is founder of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and graduate of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at UPENN. To download the first chapter of her later book Wire your brain for confidence, visit: http://louisajewell.com/ wireyourbrainforconfidence/
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performance
Make your mind your ally
Shirzad CHAMINE New York Times bestselling author of Positive Intelligence
Counter the power of the dark side
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f you are alarmed by the global rise of the dark voices of racism and intolerance, my research reveals your most important first step: confront the power of the dark side—inside yourself. To use a Star Wars metaphor, inside your own mind there is a continual battle raging between your inner Jedi and inner Darth Vaders. To have the maximum positive impact in your spheres of influence, at work or at home, start by confronting the Darth Vaders within. The tricky thing is that the inner Darth Vaders are not as obvious and identifiably bad as the movie version. They don’t sound as menacing, they don’t dress in black, and they don’t announce themselves as your enemy. What makes them tough to fight is that they masquerade as your best friends, so they can cause maximum sabotage. That’s why we call your inner Darth Vaders your “saboteurs.” Our research has identified 10 saboteurs. We all are afflicted with a few. To be sure, some of them do resemble the Darth Vader even on the surface, such as the Judge saboteur. But others are much better disguised. Might yours be the Controller, Stickler, Avoider, Pleaser, or Victim? Or maybe HyperRational? How about Restless? If these patterns of self-sabotage sound familiar, it is because they are universal. Our research has included 250,000 participants in more than 50 countries. The most challenging part of confronting your saboteurs is to blow their cover and expose them as your enemies. Yet the www.governmentgazette.eu | 48
first reaction of many of the CEOs I have coached over the years has been to defend them: “Sure I have the Controller, but nothing gets accomplished around here if I don’t control.” “Ok, yes, my Judge is constantly beating me and others up. But that’s how you push for improvement and avoid complacency.” The trouble with the saboteurs is that they cause all of your negative emotions, from anger, shame, and guilt, to self-doubt, despair, and stress. Your inner Jedi, whom we call your Sage, is able to handle all challenges through positive emotions like curiosity, empathy and joyous creativity, remaining calm, centered and clear-headed even in the heat of battle. In self-defense, your saboteurs claim that negative emotions are helpful and serve a purpose. If you didn’t feel angry and outraged when wrong is perpetrated, wouldn’t you remain inactive? If you didn’t feel ashamed or guilty, would you ever take corrective action? To answer that question, consider this. Is pain ever good for you? The answer is absolutely YES! If you put your hand on a hot stove, pain alerts you to remove your hand to prevent burning to the bone. The key question is: how long would it be useful to feel the pain? the answer: a split second. Just long enough to wake up, get the message, and take corrective action. Similarly, feeling negative emotions is vital as a warning system to you that something requires your attention. But the moment the information
is delivered, the negative emotion no longer serves. If you continue to feel the anger, shame, guilt or stress as you try to decide what action to take, you are not thinking clearly and won’t decide optimally. If you’re still feeling righteous or blameful in the middle of taking the action, you won’t get optimal results. The Jedi in battle is calm, clear-headed, and laserfocused. Now consider why it is vital for you to intercept the dark side within if you want to counter the dark forces in others. The human brain has mirror neurons that cause a contagion effect. If you are in saboteur-mode, you’d
likely trigger saboteurs in others. Your Controller or Avoider might activate another’s Judge or Victim. You’d be fueling a negative contagion cycle. Conversely, if you learned to activate your own positive Sage, you’d have a better chance of initiating or fueling positive contagion. Does that mean you should ignore or condone the actions of those who are causing you outrage? No. There is a difference between judgement and discernment. If someone is doing you harm, your Judge would have you feel angry, superior, righteous, vengeful, or wronged for an extended period of time, feeding the negative cycle. Your Sage would be discerning. It would clearly see the damage or danger. But it would waste no time on negative energy. It might have you feel compassion for yourself or even the lost soul who is intent on harm. It would be curious about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the opponent, or creative about strategies to counter the attack. As you move into offense or defense, you’d feel calm, clearheaded, and laser focused in action—much more likely to succeed. The way to respond to the dark forces around us is not by activating the dark forces within. It is by turning up the light Shirzad has been CEO of the largest coach training organisation in the world and has trained faculty at Stanford and Yale business schools. Shirzad lectures on Positive Intelligence at Stanford University.
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performance
Make your mind your ally
Dr Tali SHAROT TED Speaker and author of The Influential Mind
What does it take to nudge people’s beliefs?
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ne of the most fundamental characteristics about humans is our desire to share opinions with an intention of having a powerful impact on others. But when was the last time you participated in a dinner party that transformed into a late-night political debate? How many of your well-thought-out, logical arguments, fully supported with facts, managed to create an impact in other’s minds? When was the last time your colleagues took note of your carefullyresearched data? If you were to rethink those occasions, alas, as neuroscientist Tali Sharot writes in her latest book, The Influential Mind, “facts and
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logic are not the most powerful tools for altering opinions.” The Influential Mind, the new book from TED speaker and author of The Optimism Bias, Dr Tali Sharot, challenges the wisdom of the crowd and makes a cutting-edge, research-based inquiry into how we influence those around us, and how understanding the brain can help us change minds for the better. Tali’s numerous experiments and observations have pointed out that, despite the fact that data and statistics are necessary to uncover the truth, “people are not driven by facts.” While all of us adore data, “the currency by which our brains assess data and make decisions is very different from what we believe.” When you provide someone with
new data, they are “more likely to accept evidence that confirms their preconceived notions and assess counterevidence with a critical eye.” But if evidence can barely change a person’s belief system, what can? In an interview with Janani Krishnaswamy, Commissioning Editor at Government Gazette, Dr Tali Sharot says facts often do ittle to “alter deeply held beliefs” and notes “data is often not the answer when it comes to changing minds.” She pointed out that there is no single truth we all agree on. “It’s easy to change a person’s beliefs when someone has the same worldview, doesn’t have a very strong opposite belief or when they don’t have a very strong motive not to believe.”
“While scientific evidence is not useless” in making effective arguments and thoughtfully constructed conclusions, “we often tend to assess people based on the knowledge that we already have.” Data cannot have the expected effect “with someone who already has a strong belief that is starkly different to yours or with someone who doesn’t want to believe what we are trying to convince them of.” Simply put, “people often embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them.” On the other hand, she noted that presenting people with information that contradicts their opinion “can cause them to come up with altogether new counterarguments that further strengthen their original view.” This is exactly why many of our well-meaning attempts to change people’s minds often backfire. But why does our brain behave in that manner? The reason we have a brain like that, she says is because “that is the correct approach. It’s a perfectly rational way to form beliefs. We can’t change our beliefs everytime we see a piece of evidence. If we have a very strong belief, on average, the correct thing to do is not to let it change so quickly.” As she points out, we often seek out and interpret data in a way that strengthens our preestablished opinions. This “confirmation bias” she says is the strongest biases we hold. In fact, she argues in her book that people with strong analytic abilities are more likely to “twist data.” However, as she notes, if all or most of us possess a confirmation bias, “none of us will be in a position to persuade others.” In today’s new media era, where it is extremely easy to idenitfy evidence to support or discredit any opinion and at the same time find new information to support our own arguments, it’s not too surprising that the vast wealth of information makes us
resistant to change. What are a few strategies while trying to influence others? What mistakes do we make? One of the mistakes, Tali says we make is, “when we try to alter someone’s mind, and particularly when they have a different opinion from ours, we tend to go on argumentative mode, where we try to provide evidence for why we are right and why they are wrong.” This kind of an approach, she says often fails. How, then can we present more convicing arguments? Whether its a debate about gun control or vaccines, Tali says we should first consider the other person’s mind. We should try and understand their preconceived notions and motivations before trying to influence them. As she clearly mentions in her book, “when someone has a strong motivation to believe that something is true, even the sturdiest proof to the contrary will fall on deaf ears.” Beliefs, she says, rarely stand on their own; they are intertwined with a network of other beliefs and drives.
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Data cannot have the expected effect with someone who already has a strong belief that is starkly different to yours or with someone who doesn’t want to believe what we are trying to convince them of. People often embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them.
Therefore, consider the other’s person’s existing outlook before presenting an argument. More importantly, it is essential to make an argument in “a way most convincing to them, rather than a way most convincing to us.”She says the best way to start an argument is to start with what the other person agrees on.
exceptions to this rule, she says. When people are already under stress, they are actually hyper-sensitive to any negative information around them. On the other hand, in relaxed situations, they tend to understand better and interpret information in a more rational manner.
Instead of trying to change what people want to believe, we must find ways to unify our perceptions of reality.
Furthermore, she noted that, with fear campaigns, politicians often tend to affect the very being of an individual by causing fear and anxiety. She reiterated that it’s certainly not the best approach as it affects someone’s well being.
Perhaps, you could also use the power of emotion, as it is one of the strongest ways we impact each other. “The way you feel quickly, automatically, and often unconsciously affects the way those around you feel and how they feel influences your own emotions.” Fear is a mechanism often used in political campaigns to steer public opinion on a few issues. Is it right to persuade the masses through the use of fear?
How then should policymakers present their arguments? The only advice she gives policymakers, is to base their arguments on emperical and scientifally-proven data. In fact, she noted that it is more logical to make ‘evidence based’ decisions than making our judgements on intuitions
Definitely not, she says. Though fear may work particularly well when the person in front of you is already anxious, Tali says it is “not the most helpful way to change people’s behaviour.” Basically, having someone tell them what can go right, she argues is much “better than telling them what can go wrong.” In fact, she noted that humans have a bias “to move toward objects of pleasure and away from objects of pain.” Quoting the many studies that show how rewards are the most effective way of getting people to act, she said that reward system is certainly connected to our motive system. “Our brains are wired in a manner in which anticipating a reward not only triggers approach, but is more likely to elicit action. The fear of loss, on the other hand, she says “is more likely to elicit inaction.” When does such an approach work? Tali says it is true that the threat principle actually works if you want people not to do something. However, there are a few Government Gazette | 51