Latest / Neuro-Performance / Was tun, wenn dein Team im Freeze-Modus ist?
Transcript
- Nina Schwarting: What can you when your team is in freeze mode? As a leadership, you the problem. Meetings where no one speaks. Decision rounds that are endless, even though everyone knows Employees who every little thing. Even things that they can decide on their and general caution that seems like someone would all, if it is absolute shame to risk At first glance, looks like disinterest, maybe a lack of initiative or lack of competence. But be that is not always the reason for The reason is a freeze. And freeze is not always a matter Freeze is a neurobiological survival strategy. Our autonomous nervous system knows three basic answers to threats. First, fight. It stands for fight, aggression or attack. Second, flight. So the flight, the distraction or the retreat. And third, freeze. freeze, freeze or even die. Freeze is evolutionarily the oldest stress reaction. Even before we learned to fight or flee, our nervous system had already this third possibility, to In nature, this pretty well with prey. When running is no longer possible and fighting has no chance. then the body is in a state of rest. The animal freezes. And something similar happens in companies. Of course, not physically in same sense, but teams can get For example, if no knows what is safe. If errors are punished. If the pressure is too high. Or if the orientation is missing. Then won't spoken you won't be tried on, and above all you won't be decided. The team may seem calm on but it's actually in the freeze. Freeze in professional context doesn't look like a horse in front of the car. It more like nodding and silence. Waiting instead of Don't your own opinion and don't any mistakes. And, this is exciting, it's rarely a weakness. It's just an incredibly high-intelligent reaction of the nervous system to an perceived threat. Of course not always. As intermediate, briefly. Sometimes it's just the lack of competence, but we'll it neurobiologically. So, if you this behavior, which I just described, your team or in your company, then I have the following check-in exercise for you, which is particularly good for transformation projects, for project work, for change projects. The following exercise. I'll it briefly and then I'll you the order again why this exercise works. So, start your next leadership meeting with a a check-in on your ability. And no, you don't to disabilities. It's not about We don't to group therapy or anything else. That's not your goal What you will know, what you have to is whether your team, whether the project team is able to good decisions. Because every bad decision will you a lot of Money, time, etc. And want to right decision. They don't to perfect, but have good. They have to us ahead. And that's why you to if good decisions can be And for that you do a short check-in round and ask each person very, very briefly on a scale of one to ten how clear are you for this meeting? And what do you to make a good decision I repeat the question again. a scale of 1 to 10, how clear are you for this meeting? And what do you need to good decision Rules, very simple. Everyone gets maximum 30 seconds. We don't a discussion, don't want any maintenance, we don't any immediate solutions. But what we want is, if everyone is somehow on the lookout, then we to know what the reason is. You a start speaking your numbers, stay authentic, don't a mask, show where you stand. That inspires the others. And again, you to be organized, because I the background that a small ego part may rise who says, hey, we are well paid leaders, why do we this? You don't it because you to talk about feelings. You want to if your team is able to good decision. I say this again so at this point. That's it's Why? If there is pressure, insecurity or over-request it every decision, no matter whether you address or not. So the question is... Let's about what's going in the room, name the pink elephant and see what we can to make a good decision Or let's pink elephant in dark. Why is it useful? Why does it neurobiologically? If people are allowed in a safe context, even with just one number on a scale from 1 to 10, then the ventral vagal system this. The ventral vagal system, if I'm interested, is the youngest evolutionary layer of autonomic nervous system responsible for social connection. for and feeling of security in community. Ventral vagus activation and freeze are not possible time. You prime the ventral vagus to a freeze. If the ventral vagal system is a freeze state is psychologically, not psychologically, physiological, is a body reaction, not to be You can't be time. We can't the same time and good decisions at the same time. We prime the situation. We use this situation in beginning, in check-in, to the decision-making space for the appointment. I'll little deeper. The knowledge of comes from the polyvagal theory. you want Stephen Porchers, one of the influential neuroscientists of the last century in area of autonomic nervous system. Be sure His theory, to it briefly, is super exciting. He says that people do not from by arguments or instructions. You can't them cognitively. You can them with arguments, instructions, with The fist on the table horn doesn't out of the freeze state. People need safe, social signals to out of this freeze mode. So they need contact, need connection. And you want them out of the freeze. You need them. You need their neocortex. You want them strategically smart decisions. And can't in freeze mode. And that's from now in such an where it's really about a At first, a short but safe social interaction. Then you the nervous system of the participants the signal, hey, you're safe you're not frozen. And the good thing is, you don't even have say loud. You can through this little entry exercise and then your people afterwards. to the working mode. Depending on the team size, it doesn't more than 3 to 5 minutes of your time. But that exactly changes how the whole meeting goes. Cool question, definitely it with you. I'll it together here again, so you don't to rewind. And then my recommendation is, write it on a post-it, hang it somewhere where you this question ready and then can use it. If you choose, that will be a... decision meeting and I really need high performance here. So the question is on a scale of 1 to 10 how clear are you for this meeting and what do you to make a good decision Have fun with it!