Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2020 - 13

SRINI PIL LAY, M.D.

SCIENCE OF
LEARNING

DEVELOPING A GREAT
TRAINING ORGANIZATION
LIKE A HEALTHY BRAIN
Organizations are made up of people,
and people have brains. Therefore, for
training organizations to be great, the
people in them and their brains must be at
their best. In 2020, training organizations
have a lot to learn from the science of
healthy brains. And a healthy brain is
characterized by various traits that may
sound counterintuitive at first.
Choose "dynamism" over "order":
When speaking of great companies,
entrepreneur Peter Thiel explains that
there are no formulae. In keeping with this,
in 2010, an article from Harvard Business
Review explained that companies that
survived a recession were not the most
pragmatic, innovative or balanced. Instead,
they were progressive and dynamic,
reflecting how the brain works best. Recent
studies demonstrate that - the higher the
complexity or disorder in the brain - the
greater the intelligence. In fact, neurons
function best at the edge of chaos.
Great training organizations: To be
great then, training should be dynamic,
adapting to the needs of the time and
prioritizing agility in learning. To be agile
is more than a philosophy. It is a mindset
shift to remove barriers to adaptability:
too much feedback, resistance to action,
confusion over pros and cons, reluctance
to think too far in the future, and overly
theoretical thinking rather than thinking
that is pertinent to the market and time.
Each of these brain-based factors can be
addressed as they apply to the current
strategy and state of the company.
Embrace complexity: A great training
organization will embrace complexity.

On a neurological level, this means that
the organization helps people alternate
between switching in and out of focus.
Setting aside time for idea generation and
brain restoration through rest is crucial.
Great training organizations: Complexity
may be elusive at first. At its core, it
requires setting aside more time for
your 100 billion neurons to be part of the
equation of success. This means that you
must toggle between focus and rest, and
those moments of rest should be part
of the company culture, measured right
alongside productivity. Napping, doodle
boards and vision boards can all be part of
down time. During focus time, employees
can mold realizations that occur during
down time into effective strategies.
Even online meetings can include
"unfocus" tools.
Prioritize mental health: As a result
of COVID-19, the CDC reports that
anxiety has tripled, and depression has
quadrupled. Mental health programs
may feel like a luxury. However, during
highly stressful times, they are a necessity
if companies want to save money on
turnover and absenteeism. Moreover,
when mental health is good, immunity and
physical health are protected, too.
Great training organizations: Provide mental
health screenings, offer mental health days
and consider buying online programs that
remove the stigma surrounding mental
health. I have led several such programs
on LinkedIn Learning, as well as wellness
programs with Duke CE and ExecOnline.
Find similar programs to scale throughout
your organization.

Beware post-COVID brain bias: We
live in a world that is polarized by
gender, generation, race and political
party. In this environment, training
can suffer as in-group biases prevail -
preventing collaboration, cooperation
and connections necessary for fluent
execution of strategies.

IN 2020, TRAINING
ORGANIZATIONS
HAVE A LOT TO LEARN
FROM THE SCIENCE OF
HEALTHY BRAINS.
Great training organizations: Constant
reminders and fears of death bias the
brain, so people hold on to their own
viewpoints more strongly than ever. For
this reason, help people understand
how mortality salience - or reminders
of death - bias the brain, making it
difficult to see others' points of view.
For this reason, introducing "point of
view" exercises, where teams express
how they think others are feeling, can
stimulate healthy discussion.
These four strategies are practical brainbased approaches to enhance your
organization and its training efforts.
Dr.
Srini
Pillay
is
the
CEO
of NeuroBusiness Group. He is a Harvard
trained psychiatrist and neuroscientist,
and on the Consortium for Learning
Innovation at McKinsey & Company. He is
also the author of, "Tinker Dabble Doodle
Try: Unlock the Power of the Unfocused
Mind." Email Srini.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - BUILDING A GREAT TRAI NI NG ORGANI ZAT I ON I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2020

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