Like an Olympic athlete practicing a new skill, it takes time and work for new patterns in the brain to become unconscious habits. Attention, intention, and commitment are also necessary to learn new processes, procedures, and systems – not only by individual contributors but by leaders as well. Leaders who understand what is occurring in the brain while learning is taking place can create an environment in which people are free to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s not easy for some leaders to encourage people to “relax” while striving for high performance. But the more leaders are able to create a learning environment, and model it through their own attitudes and behaviors, the more easily and quickly change will occur.

If you’re a leader managing change, ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the elements of an environment that encourage and support successful learning?
• How do we create such an environment?
• How do we, as leaders, use our understanding of the brain to manage our own conscious and unconscious fears as well as support others to function from a thriving state?

In our next issue – “Part II, The Neuroscience of Leadership: Managing Change” – we’ll answer these questions and examine the following issues as we describe practices, tools, and techniques that support change:

• The role of awareness in change
• Attending to conscious and unconscious fears
• Shifting our state of mind
• Changing our physiology