Using Neuroscience to Engage Your Team Through Change: A Training for Supervisors

Last updated August 12, 2022

Course Length

2h 1m

Last Updated

August 12, 2022

Using Neuroscience to Engage Your Team Through Change: A Training for Supervisors

Last updated August 12, 2022

Is change fatigue or burnout causing you to find new ways to re-engage with your direct reports?

Overview

Currently within higher ed, we are experiencing significant, rapid and frequent changes. “Change” is no longer a temporary state of being — it’s become a continuous part of our everyday operations. It should be no surprise these days, therefore, that we may often experience our teams resisting or burning out from constant change. As a supervisor, this can be especially challenging since your role is to motivate, empower, and retain your talent. The bad news is that we’re all hard-wired to resist change at a neurological level because our brains subconsciously perceive any change as threatening. The good news is that, with new insight, you can leverage change as an opportunity to engage or re-engage your team.

Join us online to learn how neuroscience — specifically, the SCARF model — can improve the way you communicate and engage with your team during changes big and small. You’ll learn how to recognize behaviors that signal that your direct reports are feeling threatened by change, and we’ll also discuss why that happens. More importantly, we’ll examine ways you can respond and modify your own behaviors to create a psychologically safe environment — one where you minimize perceived danger and maximize reward.

Who should attend?

This training is designed for supervisors who want to create a psychologically safe environment for their direct reports. If you’re responsible for engaging and motivating a team — especially through change — this training is for you.

Agenda

October 24, 2022

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET

Recognizing When and Why Your Direct Reports are Threatened by Change

You’ll be introduced to common behaviors that arise when people feel threatened by change, so that you can begin to assess when and who on your team might be struggling. You’ll also learn how neuroscience explains these behaviors.

 


Understanding the SCARF Model

Through a case-study approach, you’ll learn how the SCARF model can inform the way you communicate and engage with your team. We’ll discuss how to translate change from something threatening into something rewarding.

 


Applying the SCARF Model to Your Leadership

You’ll reflect on your unique team dynamics and leadership style, so that you can identify ways to incorporate the SCARF model into your everyday leadership practice.

The SCARF Model

The SCARF model was developed by David Rock, and it uses brain science to explain why we behave the way we do in social situations. The model suggests that the following five factors impact whether we perceive stimuli as threatening or rewarding:

S = Status: our relative importance to others

C = Certainty: our ability to predict the future

A = Autonomy: our sense of control over events

R = Relatedness: our sense of safety we feel with others

F = Fairness: our perception of impartiality in exchanges with others