AQumen Training Services: Can Leadership Abilities be Detected in Brain Scans

AQumen Training Services: Can Leadership Abilities be Detected in Brain Scans

Can Leadership Abilities be Detected in Brain Scans

Can leadership abilities be detected in brain scans?

Whilst the debate about good leadership source is engaging a larger and larger number of HR professionals and business leaders, and is becoming the more and more passionate in a bid to ultimately find out if leadership is an inborn quality or can it actually be learned, scientists are investigating if it is, instead, a cerebral matter.

Debate about leadership has so far being limited to two main aspects: the “human factor” and the “trainability factor”, scientists believe that leadership abilities might, instead, relate to a “biological factor”.

If a day will come in which head-hunters, in order to take decisions about recruiting senior managers, will be prompted to ask brain scans instead of scrutinising CVs and organising assessment centres is anybody’s guess. Nonetheless, the pioneering study underway at Reading University (UK), whatever the outcome and although it is too early to deem it promising, seems to be, if anything, really interesting.

The investigation is conducted by Dr Kevin Money, of Henley Business School, now part of Reading University, who explains the aims and objectives of the investigation: "We hope to look at how leaders from different sectors make decisions, what actually leads people to move from making good to bad decisions, what goes on in people's minds and how they make those choices."

The outset of the investigation has seen protagonist Sir John Madejski, a leading British business leader, who after having been prepared by a team of scientists was gently wheeled into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan, where he spent 45 minutes.

During this time Sir John Madejski was not just passively waiting for the machine to perform its scan activities, on the contrary, he was called to perform decision making activities, by completing a number of exercises.

The activities carried out by Sir John were looked on by Professor Douglas Saddy of Reading's Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics.

Sir John was basically taking a series of financial decisions which were confirmed pressing the buttons of a special keypad put inside the MRI scanner.

"In this case", explains Professor Saddy, "what he is being asked to do is make a judgement about whether given a certain set of information a short-term reward would be better than a long-term reward".

While Sir John was performing his decision making activity into the scan, by pressing the keypad, his brain activity was measured by the cutting-edge £1m MRI scanner.

Obviously the investigation carried out with the help of Sir John will not be enough to reach reliable conclusions; he was, in fact, the first volunteer who contributed his availability to start the experiment. It must be said that Sir John was not a completely casual choice; in fact, Sir John endowing a Centre for Reputation at Henley Business School is one of its main, possibly the main, University’s private supporter.

Sir Madejski was enthusiastic about the experiment and has promised to support the study encouraging other leading businessmen to lend their brains to the University for scanning purposes.

The experiment will, in fact, be obviously replicated a number of times in order to gather a relevant quantity of results which will, then, be aggregated in order to find out if it is actually possible to draw out some significant lessons from the experiments.

More specifically, neuroscientists, psychologists and management experts at Reading University aim to examine the brains of business chief executives and leaders in other field like the military or voluntary organisations.

Dr Money, who suggests to treat the experiment with some caution at the time being, especially as for what concerns the immediate results of the study, stresses the importance of carrying out a relevant number of experiments before being able to draw conclusions: "It's way too early, we can't look at one person's brain and conclude too much. What we can do is look at different groups, say military and business leaders, and compare leadership education within those different groups."

Using technology to examine what makes a good leader is not actually a completely new technique. For decades, in fact, organisations around the world have used psychometric tests to select candidates for senior management positions, and to try to understand what constitutes a good leader.

However, psychometrics is a controversial science, having supporters and detractors as well.

Professor Peter Saville, who belongs to the former group, claims that such a technique stretches back to the techniques used by Samuel Pepys to select naval officers, and insists that psychometric tests make a valuable contribution to the process of selecting right candidates to fill available roles: "You still find interviewers who judge people on the first minute of an interview", he says (which definitely is a no-no). "All we are doing is reducing the odds of choosing the wrong person. It's science versus sentiment".

It is difficult to say today if it is, actually, realistic believing that there is a chance that the recruitment industry, which already uses psychometrics, will have the option to resort to brain scanning or other technological means in the future.

Virginia Eastman head-hunter of Heidrick and Struggles, who recruits candidates for senior roles in global media organisations, for instance, appears to be pretty sceptical. She claims that new technologies are helping to make the process of communicating with and assessing suitable leaders more rapid, but it only goes so far: "Our whole profession is built on one thing, the consensus that we all know what good looks like, and that we make that judgement. No machine can replace that".

According to Mrs Eastman, although neuroscientists and psychologists believe they can make a real contribution to head-hunters’ understanding of what makes leaders effective, those whose job it is to select leaders still believe it is more of an art than a technology.

However, it is extremely important do not forget that, whatever technology will be able to achieve and bring to the profession, brain scans (provided the final finding of the study carried out at Reading University will be successful) and tests, of whatever kind they could be, should not be used to make final selection decisions.

Both the CIPD and the British Psychological Society (BPS), in fact, recommend that tests have not to be used in a judgmental, final way. Torrington et al. (2008) stress the idea that tests results have to be used only to stimulate discussion with candidates and that every time recruiters use tests, feedback needs to be given to candidates.

The CIPD also warns that using test results to take final recruitment decision could contravene legal regulations (in the UK the 1998 Data Protection Act), so that they can only be used as part of a wider process where suggestions and indications received from tests results could be backed by other resources.

Additionally, Ceci and Williams (2000) have also warned of the risks related to the use of norm tables, pointing out that norm tables change over time, so that using an old test with old norm might very likely result to be deceptive.

Tests and scans might possibly be used with moderation and even when using them, especially if you are an experienced recruiter, do not neglect what your personal feelings and sensations suggest.

Last but not least, brain scans are very likely to be extremely expensive if you require a £1 m scanner to perform them and, very likely, also not so immediately available even once you have decided to resort to them. To cut a long story short, it is not likely that you will be able to use them any time soon.

Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Winston Churchill
"Positive anything is better than negative nothing." -Elbert Hubbard
"Once you replace negative words with positive words, you'll start having positive results." -Willie Nelson
"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge." -Napoleon Hill
"Train your mind to think in terms of 'possible' and 'can be done'." –Unknown
Our lives have been influenced by these words and more but here are a few things I picked up along the way of my life experiences.
1. A very wise teacher told me, "Be where you are." She meant it in terms of yoga training (push your own limits and don’t spend time looking at the people way ahead of you or behind you), but I’ve found it’s an important piece of life wisdom to stay positive.
when we worry and fret and immediately start planning for the worst-case scenario; when we set too high standards for ourselves and get upset that we did not reach them "Be where you are" addresses it.
2. “Wear a smile”: have you ever had to go out socialize or simply be at a job where no matter how upset you are feeling deep inside you have to ‘smile’? While you are wearing the ‘smile’ you realize that the ‘smile’ becomes you. Changing our physiological state can also influence our emotions. That’s why it may sometimes be better to go out wear a smile and have some fun when you are feeling low,.
3. “Do good”: doing something for someone else at a moment of extreme low. Sounds impossible, how can I do for others when I myself need help? Just give it a shot. At a time when I was facing complete turmoil within I was given a research project with the kids at a remand home. Just doing for others; volunteering to assist in areas that drew on one of my strongest skills; amassing the positive vibes from the kids and the other volunteers has been an amazing mood lifter for life in general.
The list could go on and on and I am sure you have many more life’s learning’s to share with me well just a few more points as I stop penning my thoughts:
1. Quit getting upset on situations beyond your control
2. Change your internal dialogue when dealing with fear
3. Change your vocabulary as a daily habit
4. Get out of the habit of criticizing yourself
5. Avoid criticizing others
Simply put just be HAPPY and make others HAPPY.
Live and let live.
CHEERS

communication

A young girl and her father were on a pilgrimage. When they reached the temple of Shiva, her father said, “Lets collect bilva leaves and dhatura flowers and offer them to Shiva to show our devotion.” This is what the father and daughter did. Then, they reached a Vishnu temple, and her father said, “Lets collect tulsi leaves and offer it to Vishnu to show our devotion.” This is what the father and daughter did. Then they reached a Ganesha temple. On the father’s advice, the daughter offered blades of grass. At the temple of the Kali, the daughter was told to offer neem leaves and lemons. At the temple of Hanuman, she offered sesame oil.

The daughter was confused, “You say all gods are actually one.” “Yes,” the father confirmed. “Then why different offerings to different gods?” “Because,” said the father, “Each form is different and different forms need to be told the same thing in different ways. Each time we have expressed our devotion but the vehicle of communication has changed depending on the preferences of the recipient. That is why: the wild bilva and poisonous dhatura for the hermit Shiva, the fragrant tulsi for the romantic Vishnu, the rapidly regenerating grass for Ganesha who was resurrected with an elephant head, the sour lemon and bitter neem for Kali who consumes all things, negativity included, and sesame for Hanuman, the mighty wrestler, feared even by death.”

Often we want to communicate an idea to our customers. But we do not pay adequate attention to the method of communication. The method chosen should be the function of the customer. Different customers need different methods. But most corporations find the idea of customizing methods of communication rather inefficient. So they try to come up with an efficient standard method of communication, often at the cost of effectiveness.

How to improve employee loyalty

Apart from the newly emerging culture of job hopping, where it is considered necessary for career advancement. Indians are naturally loyal. However since they are emotional too, a negative environment, relationship problems etc can make them want to leave. Dissatisfaction at work is the prime reason of course, but usually this does not only stem from money. What we could do to improve the satisfaction level:

Specify your expectations:Changing expectations keep people on edge and create unhealthy stress. They rob the employee of internal security and make the employee feel unsuccessful. I’m not advocating unchanging jobs just the need for a specific framework within which people clearly know what is expected from them.

The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.

--lack of clarity about expectations,
--lack of clarity about earning potential,
--lack of feedback about performance,
--failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
--failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another key factor in employee retention.

Talent and skill utilization is something your key employees seek in your workplace. They want to be able to contribute beyond the call of duty, it energizes people to be able to use their skills and abilities but when thwarted and restrained it leads to further dissatisfaction.

The perception of fairness and equitable treatment. Reward good performers but recognize the impact it will have on others. There can be no favorites in an organization. There just has to be a policy for rewards, recognitions and promotions. While u maybe encouraging someone another person may also be getting discouraged, recognize that and be fair.

Most importantly:

Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff.

Yes as a bottom line money does matter too, that's why the person came to work in the first place.How the money made him feel is what we neglect to work on.

Why are you looking for a job change? and the best answer would be?

If someone is asked such a question in the interview I feel he should be honest enough to put forward the real reason for his search- people see through a lie and they know when the person is using a glib reply just to impress the interviewer. Now the question remains what if there is a totally unacceptable answer (can't get along with people, politics in the company etc) I think at such a time the person needs to rethink his decision -- if all else is OK in the company and just ppl skills that is damaging your longevity U need to introspect more and really find out if there maybe any other reason for leaving, if u find one. YES go ahead and leave ...... else ppl will be ppl and they will be in the new place too ... watch it!!!!

I have had this experience ... when I left my previous organization (outwardly) it seemed it was because of the politics: believe me I stepped out of the environment (took leave) just to introspect and really understand why I wanted to leave and the answer was not PEOPLE but the fact that considering the type of personality I am --- I need challenges and opportunities to explore my potential and take more initiatives "which was being fulfilled in my old job" till things changed and I started looking too capable to the top management - then my NEED stopped being fulfilled. I got thwarted from self discovery and further challenges. That was the day I got my BEST ANSWER ..

Chazing Dreams

                  Value what is yours!

The owner of a small business, a friend of the poet Olavo Bilac, met him on the street and asked him

“Mr. Bilac, i need to sell my small farm
The one you know so well. Could you please write an announcement for me for the paper?”

Bilac wrote:
“For sale, a beautiful property, where birds sing at dawn in extensive woodland, bisected by the brilliant and sparkling waters of a large stream.
The house is bathed by the rising sun.
It offers tranquil shade in the evenings on the veranda.”

Some time later, the poet met his friend and asked whether he had sold the property ?

To which he replied: I’ve changed my mind. When I read what you had written,
I realized the treasure that was mine.