I recently read Brigitta Theleman’s (2011) paper, “Closing the Gaps in Leadership Development”. Very interesting! I’d like to springboard from that to a general discussion of the neuroscience of leader development.
What I found interesting in Theleman’s paper was, first, the assertion that strong leadership correlates to strong organizational performance, which I interpret as organizational effectiveness. I think it does! While there is no generally accepted definition for organizational effectiveness (see, e.g., https://theaioe.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/organizational-effectiveness-a-working-definition/) there is, nevertheless, a generally accepted view of what an effective organization must be doing in regard to corporate outputs and outcomes. Schein (1980, 1997) suggests that this correlation between strong leader and strong organizational performance is a function of the leader’s developed abilities in a number of interrelated strategic functions and that the leader is the chief determinant of organizational culture (or the set of beliefs by which organizational members act and react). But, what I found most intriguing were the aspects of leader development.
So, second, I found particularly interesting the reference to the undergirding neuroscience of leader development. As Theleman correctly points out, David Rock pays particular credence to the self-regulation of the limbic system as necessary to “self-manage emotions”, as Goleman (1995) suggests as key element of emotional intelligence. However, I suggest that there is more to neuroscience and leader development!
While far abreast of our general discussion here, it is important to note relative to neuroscience and development, that what we see manifest as behavior, either physical or intellectual (McElroy, 2012), is a function of undergirding cognitive patterns that are themselves undergirded by neuro-networks. We know that “synapse that fire together wire together” (see, e.g., Hebb, 1949; for an elementary discussion of the physics of this see McElroy, 2004). This repeated, strengthening synaptic firing develops strong, recurring patterns of though (see, e.g., Kelso, 1995; Thelen & Smith, 1994). This is why we see leaders—or, for that matter, everyone—running familiar, comfortable, recurring behavioral patterns (e.g., in problem solving, facing a challenge, decision making, taking risk, etc.). People rely on what has worked in the past, regardless of immediate knowledge to the contrary.
So, while I embrace the notions prescribed by Theleman of the necessary introduction of new, novel knowledge and experience, I think both have to be introduced in the context of existing cognitive patterns of thought and thinking. It is important to note that development is evidenced by “orderly change” (Stevens-Long & Commons, 1992, p. 548) in an individual’s complex reasoning in forming relationships between ideas and concepts. This is a cognitive function and, then by necessity, a neurological realignment function. So, embracing the neuroscience of leader development, in addition to knowledge and experience, both must be introduced as necessary to facilitate the four step process of:
- Identify existing cognitive patterns,
- Interrupt those patterns,
- Set new patterns in place,
- Reinforce the new cognitive patterns.
It seems that approaching leader development without incorporating the underlying physics at play will be unfruitful. I suggest, and would call for more research is required in this area.
References
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Hebb, D. O. (1949). The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Kelso, J. A. S. (1995). Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
McElroy, R. L. (2004). Quantum Mechanics and Neuroplasticity: An Elementary Examination of the Interrelationship. (Essay), American Institute of Organizational Effectiveness, Raleigh, NC.
McElroy, R. L. (2012). Measuring Intellectual Behavior: The Hierarchical Levels of Complex Reasoning in Executive Development. Raleigh, NC: American Institute Press.
Schein, E. H. (1980). Organizational Psychology (Third ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Schein, E. H. (1997). Organizational Culture and Leadership (Second ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Stevens-Long, J., & Commons, M. L. (1992). Adult Development (Fourth ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Theleman, B. (2011). Closing the Gaps in Leadership Development. Durham, NC: UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
AIOE-notes 