Session Summary

Neuroscience of Teams

This session was divided into the following segments.

● Decoding Your Brain
● Leading/ Teaming With the Brain in Mind
● Social Brain: The SCARF Model

Session Objectives
• Analyze how leaders can use insights from neuroscientific research for effective team leadership
• Examine the social needs and concerns of your team members to foster higher levels of
engagement and collaboration

Decoding Your Brain

In recent years, significant advancements have been made in understanding the functioning of the brain,
particularly its impact on human behavior. Research conducted worldwide has supported and shed light on
various aspects of management, providing empirical evidence on leadership behaviors that lead to optimal
performance. To gain a basic understanding of the brain, we can explore its different parts.

The brain's primary function is to minimize threats and maximize rewards. It is structured with five times as
many networks for detecting threats compared to rewards. This evolutionary development aims to ensure
our physical safety, reflecting our ancestral roots.

The different components of the brain are:

• The midbrain, responsible for emotions, memories, and social interaction, plays a crucial role in our
overall brain function.
• The neocortex, the most recently evolved part of our brain, enables us to speak, think, move, create,
and learn.
• Finally, there is the old reptilian brain, known by various names in different contexts, which serves
as our survival center. It facilitates our ability to react, form habits, and maintain vital bodily
functions.

Nestled between our ears, we find the limbic brain, which adds an emotional dimension to our experiences.
Within this system, our amygdala serves as the threat detector, prioritizing rewards while minimizing
threats. This efficient decision-making mechanism is responsible for quick threat assessments and influences
our unconscious responses. The prefrontal cortex, located in the forehead region, is the most recently

Powered by upGrad Education Private Limited

evolved part of the brain. It supports abstract thinking, thought analysis, and behavioral regulation.
However, these functions require significant energy resources, making us predominantly unconscious.

The amygdala, positioned deep within the brain, triggers fight, flight, or freeze responses when it detects
potential threats. This instantaneous assessment occurs in a fraction of a second and inhibits deliberate
thinking processes.

Leading/ Teaming With the Brain in Mind

In his article "Managing With the Brain in Mind," David Rock highlights key insights from neuroscience to
enhance leadership effectiveness. Here are the main points:

• The brain is inherently social, and effective leaders recognize the importance of social connections
and cultivate a culture of collaboration and teamwork. They provide opportunities for employees to
connect, share ideas, and collaborate, leveraging the collective intelligence of the team to drive
innovation and growth.
• Positive feedback is crucial as the brain responds well to affirmation. Leaders should prioritize giving
regular and specific positive feedback to team members, a practice that is often overlooked or taken
for granted.
• Change is difficult for the brain, which tends to resist it. Leaders should be mindful of this and create
an environment that encourages and supports change, even in seemingly simple situations like office
relocations.
• Emotions and reason are intertwined in decision-making. Leaders must be aware of their own
emotions and those of their team members when making decisions.
• Focus is essential because the brain can only process a limited amount of information at once.
Leaders should assist their team members in prioritizing and managing attention effectively.
Research suggests that multitasking is not effective, and those who believe they are proficient at it
tend to be the least efficient.

By understanding the workings of the brain, leaders can create a positive social environment, provide
positive feedback, support change, be mindful of emotions, and help team members manage their attention,
ultimately enhancing their effectiveness as leaders.

Social Brain: The SCARF Model

The SCARF model, developed by David Rock, is a framework that helps us understand and manage social
threats and rewards in the workplace. It consists of five domains: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness,
and Fairness. Each domain influences our behavior and interactions with others.

• Status refers to our perception of social standing and hierarchy. We are sensitive to our status and
strive to maintain or improve it. Threats to status, such as public criticism, can cause social pain,
while rewards, like recognition and praise, enhance status.

Powered by upGrad Education Private Limited

 • Certainty relates to our need for predictability and control. Clear expectations and guidelines
provide a sense of certainty, whereas uncertainty and ambiguity create unease.
• Autonomy involves our desire for control and independence. Having the freedom to make choices
and decisions about our work and lives is valued. Micromanagement and lack of control can be
threats to autonomy, while flexibility and initiative are rewards.
• Relatedness is about our sense of connection and belonging. Humans are social beings, and positive
relationships are motivating. Inclusive teams that find common ground and understand different
perspectives foster a sense of belonging. Social exclusion and rejection are threats, while
collaboration and support are rewards.
• Fairness pertains to our perception of justice and equity. We are attuned to whether we are being
treated fairly or unfairly. Favoritism and unequal treatment are threats to fairness, while
transparency and consistency are rewards.

Disclaimer: All content and material on the upGrad website is copyrighted material, belonging to either
upGrad or its bona fide contributors, and is purely for the dissemination of education. You are permitted
to access, print, and download extracts from this site purely for your own education only and on the
following basis:

• You can download this document from the website for self-use only.
• Any copies of this document, in part or full, saved to disc or to any other storage medium, may be
used for subsequent, self-viewing purposes or to print an individual extract or copy for non-
commercial personal use only.
• Any further dissemination, distribution, reproduction, or copying of the content of the document
herein, or the uploading thereof on other websites, or use of the content for
• any other commercial/unauthorized purposes in any way that could infringe the
• intellectual property rights of upGrad or its contributors, is strictly prohibited.
• No graphics, images, or photographs from any accompanying text in this document will be used
separately for unauthorized purposes.
• No material in this document will be modified, adapted, or altered in any way. No part of this
document or upGrad content may be reproduced or stored on any other website or included in
any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without upGrad’s prior written
permission.
• Any rights not expressly granted in these terms are reserved.

Powered by upGrad Education Private Limited