Shine

Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People

by Edward M. Hallowell

Copyright 2011 Edward M. Hallowell

Summarized by permission of Harvard Business Press

224 pages

Focus

Take-Aways

Leadership & Management
Strategy
Sales & Marketing
Finance
Human Resources
IT, Production & Logistics
Career & Self-Development
Small Business
Economics & Politics
Industries
Global Business
Concepts & Trends

• Workers today are overwhelmed and disconnected, but they don’t have to be.

• Recent research in psychology and neuroscience gives managers new tools to help their

staff members.

• Apply a five-step, science-based “Cycle of Excellence” to manage your people better.

• The first step is to help people find the job that’s right for them.

• The second step is to help employees connect with those around them.

• The third step is to foster creativity by encouraging play in the workplace.

• The fourth step is to help people identify their most crucial work and focus diligently on it.

• The fifth step is to recognize staff members for the hard work they’ve done.

• Each step lays a foundation for the next; you can’t skip ahead.

• Each step builds on the previous steps scientifically and synergistically, to lift people’s

spirits, generate creativity and raise productivity.

Rating

(10 is best)

Overall

Applicability

Innovation

Style

9

9

8

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Relevance

What You Will Learn

In this Abstract, you will learn:

r

1) What contemporary neuroscience can teach managers;

and 2) How to use the five-step “Cycle of Excellence” to boost employee performance

and productivity.

Recommendation

Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell starts by offering new information about human

cognition and moves into explaining how to manage people better based on systematically

applying fresh findings in neuroscience. He also confirms or debunks some earlier

concepts about cognition. Hallowell goes on to suggest a solid, five-step, scientifically

grounded “Cycle of Excellence” that managers can use to improve performance and

productivity. The advice is clear and cumulative: find the right job fit, build connection,

foster play, commit to work and reward excellence. getAbstract recommends his

perceptive advice to those who are interested in the science behind human motivation,

including human resource officers and managers seeking to bring out the very best in their

employees, allowing them to “shine” in their everyday work.

Abstract

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“Smart is overrated.
Talent is overrated.
Breeding, Ivy
League education,
sophistication, wit,
eloquence, and
good looks – they
matter, but they’re
all overrated. What
really matters is
what you do with
what you’ve got.”

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“Bringing the best
out of people today
requires that you
create harmony.”

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Neuroscience, Management and the Need for Change

Contemporary managers face new challenges. They don’t just have to do more with

less (a common problem), they also have to do it while swamped with emails, tweets

and blog updates. That new wrinkle results in “the first modern paradox”: People are

more connected electronically than ever before, but, at the same time, they’re more

lonely and isolated emotionally. As a result, many workers are unhappy, unproductive or

inexplicably stalled. As a manager, you can help by recognizing that if your employees

are overwhelmed you need to make workplace adjustments. People’s need for emotional

connection is real, and fulfilling it is essential to their productivity.
This claim isn’t some squishy nicety based on a vague desire for everyone to get along.

Indeed, the opposite is true. The predominant wave of neuroscience research since the

1990s recognizes that people have an innate need for connection. During the same period,

the field of psychology changed as well, focusing less on neurosis and dysfunction and

more on understanding positive aspects of the human experience. Martin Seligman led

research into the general topic of understanding happiness, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

identified and named “flow,” the essential experience of being in a perfect zone of

seemingly effortless high-level performance. As a manager, you can apply their insights

and those of other “positive psychology” researchers to your core challenges, such as

getting the most out of your workers.
Until recently, scientists believed that the brain was relatively fixed once people became

adults, but recent discoveries show that the brain is “remarkably plastic”: It can “grow

and change” throughout your lifetime. You can take advantage of the brain’s ability to

change and apply other insights from neuroscience to create opportunities for your people

to “shine” at their work.
These findings shape a methodical, five-step “Cycle of Excellence” managers can use with

any worker in any situation, from the solo operator of a shoeshine stand to the workforce

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“When the match
between employee
and task is wrong,
everything that
follows, no matter
how diligently
pursued or fervently
desired, suffers.”

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“Working hard in
the wrong job is
like marrying the
wrong person: It will
involve lots of hard
work but few happy
days.”

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“Disconnection
is one of the
chief causes of
substandard
work...But it is also
one of the most
easily corrected.”

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“All people look
bad when they have
chosen the wrong
dream.”

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of a big corporation. However, you can’t skip any of the steps in this cycle. For instance,

jumping to step four, in which you ask people to buckle down and work harder, without

completing the first three steps will be actively detrimental. But, “if managers can begin

helping their people to use new technologies properly and to regulate their lives rather than

becoming crazy busy, then they can become positively and usefully connected.” You must

lay this foundation one step at a time, knowing that “the synthesis of the five steps...leads

to excellence.”

1. “Select: Put the Person in the Right Job”

“Select” means getting people into the right roles so they are doing work that suits them.

Selection involves paying attention to three areas: what people like to do, what they do best

and what tasks or functions most benefit your organization. According to recent surveys, a

third of employees feel they’ve “reached a dead end in their jobs.” Too often this happens

because they never found the right job. When someone is in the wrong position, no matter

how hard they work, their ability to succeed is limited. Instead, help your employees find

their passion.
People end up in the wrong jobs for many reasons. For example, someone who loves to

read might apply at a publishing house to work with authors, not realizing that he or she

lacks the requisite “social skills.” Another person might follow his or her parents’ wishes,

without considering whether that job is really suitable. A third might pursue a dream job

without carefully thinking about what it really entails. Sometimes following your dreams

is naive, even foolish: Imagine trying to be what you wanted to be when you were a child.
As a manager, your responsibilities include watching for people whose jobs are the

“wrong fit” for them. If someone complains a lot, never feels excited or never seems fully

engaged, recognize those behaviors as warning signs. Workers who don’t have fun on the

job may be mismatched. Help staffers find jobs that better fit who they really are.
Start with focused interviews discussing their job fit from several directions. Ask what

they do best and like doing most (which often are different). Guide them to enumerate

skills they’re proud of, abilities they wish to build up and any undeveloped talents they

have. Ask them to list skills they’ve improved over time, skills they haven’t polished and

missing skills that block their way. Review what sort of people they like to work with

and what kind of “organizational culture” they prefer. Shift perspectives: Ask what they

don’t want to do, what work-related lessons they would tell their kids and what aspects

of their work seem valuable.
Use the information from this conversation to help your people find the right jobs. Observe

their emotional states and ask how they feel about their work. People get bored facing

the limited challenges of a job that requires few skills. Workers who are challenged but

lack adequate skills tend to worry anxiously. People with strong skills but no challenges

are relaxed, but not engaged. Flow happens when a person with well-developed skills

becomes absorbed in challenging work.
You can also assess selection by evaluating an employee’s “conative style.” The way

people naturally solve problems is their “conation.” Everyone has an innate approach to

figuring things out, even a toddler playing with toys. People set priorities based on their

conative approach. Conation expert Kathy Kolbe identifies four equally valid conative

styles: “Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start and Implementor.” Within each one, a

person can be “resistant, insistent,” or in between, and can be more or less accommodating

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“Play is what
humans can do and
computers can’t.
Play is the activity of
the mind that allows
you to dream up
novel approaches,
fresh plans.”

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“We all bring
transference, this
simmering kettle of
old relationships,
with us wherever we
go, and it shoots up
out of us suddenly
without warning.”

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“In the absence
of connection,
fear usually rules.
Fear is the great
disconnector. It is
rampant in modern
organizations.”

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“People avoid
thinking by being
too busy to think.”

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to the style’s demands. Fact finders need data and ask lots of questions. Someone

strong in follow-through is good at scheduling and at executing plans in an organized

way. A quick starter innovates and takes risks. Insistent-level quick starters are natural

entrepreneurs, while insistent implementors are hands-on builders. Most good managers

are accommodating, which enables them work to with people all along this spectrum.

2. “Connect: The Most Powerful Step”

Disengaged employees often feel distant from other people, their organization and their

jobs, and that disconnection drains their energy. They can work, but often they just go

through the motions, because it seems as though their effort doesn’t matter and nobody

cares about it. A good manager can reverse that disconnection by finding ways for

individuals to link themselves with the ideas, people and organizations that empower them

and by removing obstacles to connection. That sense of connection drives excellence and

helps people produce at a higher level. In fact, if you ask happy people why they’re happy,

often they will credit a specific person who played a formative role in their lives. People

flourish because they connect.
However, sometimes they don’t connect easily or simply. In fact, everyone carries positive

and negative biases based on past experiences. They perceive new people through old,

distorted lenses. Therapists call this unconscious carryover “transference” and positive

“idealizing transference” is one reason your workers think you’re a great manager. Accept

that and work with it, but be prepared when you encounter “negative transference.”

Handling this distortion of your current interactions can be challenging, but your job as a

manager includes helping people reach past this poisonous vestige of the past and bond

with each other in the present.
Everyone profits when people connect, according to scientists who study the benefits of

social networks. They find that when someone you’re genuinely connected to gets happier,

so do you. (Electronic connections don’t count.) So if you let your happiness show, the

people working for you will get happier and will work more productively. You can’t

fake happiness, but you can cultivate and practice it. To counter common workplace fear,

reach out to people; let them know they can make mistakes. Fear undermines productivity

because it disrupts the areas of the brain responsible for laughter, creativity and empathy.
Prioritize making your workplace more connected. Talk to people, show genuine interest

and share experiences. Schedule time for them to get to know one another. Pay attention

to what your workers are doing. Try limiting email so they focus on real-time human

interactions. Hold gatherings and offer refreshments so people relax and socialize. Look

for ways to make your workplace more welcoming, such as installing better lighting

and encouraging people to take breaks when they’re stressed. Tell your employees that

reaching out to each other is good.

3. “Play Unearths Talent and Ideas”

Innately human play is essential for “peak performance.” All genuinely creative actions

have an element of play, which helps people bond and reduces stress. Working in a

machine-like, rule-bound way might be productive in an old-style factory, but it won’t

help you adapt and innovate in today’s creative market. To promote play, ask open-ended

questions so people have to think. Liven up your workplace with special days, like a “Bad

Dress Day.” Provide a warm atmosphere and ample tools for creativity, like whiteboards,

markers and tables in conversational groupings.

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“Excellence occurs
in direct proportion
to necessary
suffering, but in
inverse proportion
to unnecessary
suffering or toxic
stress.”

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“If you are
managing others,
they will perform
better if you yourself
are happy and show
your joy.”

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“The manager
who can encourage
play, who can
model imaginative
engagement and
encourage others
to do so, is the
manager who
brings out the best
in...people.”

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“The more a
manager can help
the people who work
for him or her to
shine, the greater
that manager will
be, and the greater
the organization as
a whole.”

Jumpstart innovation with creative thinking techniques, like saying in a meeting, “We’ve

got a big problem here. Everyone is too productive. What can we do to reduce

productivity?” By challenging people to imagine something contrarian, you’ll spark

laughter and fresh thinking. Give workers flexibility; encourage them to engage their

creativity by taking a trip or playing with little kids. When you play, your brain secretes

more “brain-derived neurotropic factor,” which promotes brain nerve growth. Play

activates the amygdala, which helps you manage your emotions and spurs activity in

your prefrontal cortex, home of your “executive functions.” This part of your brain plans,

prioritizes and handles other skills that are central in business.

4. “Grapple and Grow: Making Work Pay Off”

People want to make progress and grow by working hard, but first they have to be in the

right job, connected and imaginatively engaged. When they are ready for Step 4, help your

people contend with their main challenges and think them through. Many people can’t

shut out common distractions so they can focus. They lack self-knowledge, so they often

don’t recognize how they’re getting in their own way. They need you to help them deal

with stress. To do their best work, people need the right amount of challenge – or good

stress – not fear and anxiety. Your job is to provide good stress and eliminate bad stress,

so people can focus. By stepping in when they’re stuck and asking just enough questions

to generate forward motion, you can help people think and eliminate distractions.
Monitor your workers to make sure they aren’t frustrated. Demonstrate “grit,” so they

know what hard work looks like. Purge fear from the workplace. Help people connect

and develop productive work routines and environments, which should be personalized,

individualized and friendly. Encourage conversations, walks outside and brief breaks to

blow off stress and recharge creativity. Offer second opinions, and then let your employees

be quiet and work.

5. “Shine: Recognition Picks Everyone Up”

For people to shine at work, you have to acknowledge them and their efforts. This

recognition can range from an informal word of thanks to a bonus or a formal celebration.

Like the other steps in the Cycle of Excellence, this may sound simple, but recognition has

its challenges. How do you balance praise? How do you deal with showoffs or flatterers?
Start with the basics: Praise people instead of focusing on errors and mistakes. Then

move to simple observation: Without making a fuss, simply pay attention to what your

people are doing well and acknowledge it verbally. This builds connections. It also makes

unethical action less likely, because instead of holding to some abstract code, people

will be staying true to you and to their peers. Research says that one in six workers

feels “unrecognized, misunderstood, devalued and generally disconnected.” Use rewards

to counteract this problem and integrate everyone more fully into the workforce. Once

you’ve created this base, make a big deal out of acknowledging workers, at least once

in a while. You can make this process highly individualized or add it to a systematic

recognition program, but use it wisely to honor excellence.

About the Author

Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell has written 18 books, including Driven to Distraction

and CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap. He heads the Hallowell

Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health and teaches at Harvard Medical School.