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Design Better Organizations from the 2016 NeuroLeadership Summit: Rethink the Organization

As organizations become more global, cross-functional and less hierarchical, silos break down and the org chart is rendered obsolete. While there are upsides to this, a debilitating downside can be collaborative overload. This session combines extensive research on effective networks rooted in deeper science of the brain, to propose a set of principles for designing better teams and organizations.

Join Dr. Christine Cox for a webinar that unpacks the latest insight around organizational mindfulness.
Participants will examine fresh neuroscience research on mindfulness and dig into case study data on organizations currently utilizing wide-scale mindfulness training. Discover the impact this training can have, how it can help leaders regulate their emotions, manage stress, and ultimately lift performance and engagement in the workplace.

This webinar will also introduce a new summary framework that helps leaders create and execute a robust mindfulness strategy, taking both organizational and individual perspectives into account.

This update addresses new research in a range of topics including decision-making, collaboration, emotion regulation, and facilitating change. The research reported upon includes neuroscience, social psychology, and field and case studies.

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There is overwhelming evidence that a lack of sleep is not being taken seriously enough in our society.

Sleep deprivation drastically dampens our reaction time and attentiveness. The engineer of the NYC metro train that derailed recently reportedly began drifting off as the train reached speeds nearly three times the limit.

This person’s lack of sleep derailed more than just a train, it also ended the lives of 4 New Yorkers and ploughed into the plans of more than 60 others. This is no anomaly. Lack of sleep has been a key factor in some of the biggest disasters of the last half-century: the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the 1986 nuclear meltdown of Chernobyl, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989– just to name a few. Beyond the high profile disasters, lack of sleep kills an estimated 1,550 people in the US each year, according to the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration. That’s 387 Metro-North disasters.

“The sleep situation in our society has become a terrifying problem,” explained Dr. Jessica Payne, head of the Sleep, Stress, and Memory Lab at Notre Dame, and advisory board member for the NeuroLeadership Institute. “If you’re not getting enough sleep before work, research shows you might as well be working drunk”. This is not just a metaphor. According to Dr. Charles Czeisler at Harvard Medical School, a week of sleeping four or five hours a night induces impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol level of .1%. In fact, a study way back in 1997 showed that actually it was probably safer to be drunk than sleep impaired once you hit a certain level. We have taken great pains to educate society about drinking and driving.

Few people take a boozy lunch anymore but expect this to be acceptable. Being sleep deprived is almost seen as a badge of honor. Read more…

Leadership Stamina session from the 2013 NeuroLeadership Summit: The Neuroscience of Leadership Effectiveness

Leaders are under ever-increasing pressure to make harder decisions in less time, under more stress, and with less sleep. Given this is a recipe for poor cognitive performance, effective leadership at any level requires developing cognitive stamina – the ability to get the most from your brain. This session, delivered by one of the world’s leading researchers around sleep, stress and memory, explores the foundations of developing cognitive stamina, drawing on a wide range of research and presenting this along with practical steps to apply immediately.

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In the last decade, we’ve seen tremendous changes in our workforce. With all of the recent advancement in technologies, nearly three-quarters of employers give their employees the tools they need to work remotely, giving employees more freedom to pick the hours they work. Instead of designating the first hour of work to answer emails, the next hour to beating through phone calls, and the hours after to facilitating endless meetings due to protocol—people now have the luxury of being able to complete their work at any point in time. But anyone who works remotely would say that even when the corporate structure is stripped away, being productive can still be a challenge. “Telecommuting”, as a recent article on Yahoo’s decision to ban working beyond its walls calls it, has its fair share of disadvantages too. Ironically enough, in exchange for working remotely, most employees choose to work until later at night. Approximately 80% of people think it’s okay to make a work-related call at night. As a result of these later hours, the work sometimes seeps into “off” hours, which can obviously take away time from family and make it difficult to maintain a consistent social life. Read more…

When cars first became popular 100 years ago, there were no road rules or speed limits to begin with.

Inspired by the freedom of their speedy new toys, drivers zoomed around as fast as they could. Crashes were a constant. Today’s speedy new toys, the smartphone and tablet, help people work when, where, and how they want.

Excited by their newfound freedom, people are staying connected 24/7, working as fast as they can. The crashes this time are less obvious but still producing pain. Read more…

Neuroscience is one of the fastest growing areas of interest in contemporary science. As it has from its inception, the neuroleadership Institute continues to work both in organizing and disseminating neuroscience findings applicable to the effective practice of leadership, and in supporting practitioners in their personal and leadership development efforts.

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The last few decades have witnessed a growing awareness of the importance of nutrition as a basis for health within the general population. In the U.S. and Europe, governments have created nutrition recommendations.

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