LEADERSHIP READINGS
The Opportunity Model of Change©
A Revolutionary Five-Step Brain-Based Process To Navigate Organizational Chaos by Srini Pillay, M.D., CEO: NeuroBusiness Group, Mobius Senior Expert Background In the current environment of rapid and constant organizational change, leaders need to be armed with insights, competencies and practices that help them navigate and leverage chaos effectively. How can leaders manage constant threats inherent in change? Moreover, how can they leverage these threats into opportunities that impact their own competencies and strategic decisionmaking? 1 Is there a way for leaders to tap into their brains to access innate capabilities that may at first be blocked by change? Studies show that effective leaders need to know how to detach from the mindset of older strategies to embrace newer mindsets more conducive to success during organizational change2. This process of detachment does not always occur automatically even in good leaders, because the brain “hunkers down” when change occurs. In fact the brain often works against these mindset shifts despite our best intentions. Why does the brain object to this shift and how can leaders learn to tap into their brains to overcome the obstacles that the brain sets up when threatened by change? In this article, I will describe one of several approaches that NBG has developed to help leaders increase their mental shift competency in themselves and their teams. This approach, called “the opportunity model of change” is based on innate capabilities of the brain that may not be accessed automatically when change occurs. When leaders understand these capabilities better, they will be able to activate major brain hubs that result in optimal adaptation to change.
The Brain and Change Although the human brain is designed to change 3, 4, change itself is challenging to most of us. Switching between the old way of doing things (e.g. focus on R&D) to a new way of doing things (e.g. focus on production and sales) sets up a competition in the brain between older, more familiar ways of doing things and newer, potentially more lucrative ways of functioning that require greater brain effort to shift and change 5. Change causes a tug of war between the old and new in the brain The brain has been conditioned to work in the old strategy, and this “habit circuit” usually serves business leaders as it makes work more automatic, efficient and easy to track. However, when a new initiative comes along, shifting out of this older brain circuit can be a significant challenge as it requires new learning. The brain has to get out of its “comfy couch” and convincing the brain to do this can be quite arduous. Initiating brain change effectively and deeply enough sometimes requires more than “just do it.” For example, telling a cautious leader to speed up time to market may be asking too much of them to move out of their comfort zone, so they may rationalize why they need to follow their old ways and hold onto them. Why the Brain Holds On To The Old Way of Doing Things Why do we have a hard time letting go of old habits? Take for example the situation where a leader becomes con-
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