Leaders Who Flourish
Using Human Instincts
Andrew O’Keeffe
Hardwired Humans
Common Frustrations in
Organisations
• Petty politics and turf protection
• Implementing change is difficult
• Power of the informal grapevine
• People are very quick to judge
• Sensitivity of team dynamics
Human Nature
What are our natural behaviours that
make us human?
Hardwired Human Instincts
Emotions Before Reason
Confidence Before Realism
First Impressions to Classify
Contest and Display
Loss Aversion
Social Belonging – Family of 7 and
Clan of up to 150
Gossip
Hierarchy and Status
Empathy and Mind Reading
Source: Nigel Nicholson, London Business School, Managing The Human Animal, and Harvard Business Review July–August 1998
The Gossip Test
What do you want people to say afterwards?
“Afterwards”:
• Staff after a change announcement
• Staff when a new manager joins team
• Family when they make a first enquiry
• After a new resident moves in
Leads to key actions to create the desired
future state
We Classify to Make Sense of Our Experiences
Stimulus
Good
Bad
Classifying
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We do so to make sense of our experiences
With very little information
Based on the very first emotion we feel
Classified into binary alternatives
Once we classify we tend not to change our
minds.
Idea
2 Seconds
Good
First 7 Words
Bad
The First 7 Words
Specific – to this situation
Plain language – so easily processed
Truthful – so that you are trustworthy
Single concept – so not confusing
Emotional – you trigger the appropriate emotion
for the moment
6. No jargon – the listener might attach a different
meaning to any terminology
7. The narrative – provides a theme
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Avoiding loss is a primary motivator – so
tends to be the default if we can’t yet classify
Good
Bad
Continuing Your
Learning Journey
1. Hardwired Humans book
2. Subscribe to free monthly
newsletter
3. Tomorrow’s workshop
4. In-house programs
a. Leadership development
b. Implementing change
c. HR practices and professional development
www.hardwiredhumans.com
The Key Takeaways
1.
The 9 instincts gives us a predictive framework – knowing
what will work and what won’t.
2.
In your organisations you have a natural advantage –
workplaces of around 60-80 people.
3.
Relationships are mainly emotional.
4.
People’s classifying detectors are always turned on.
5.
People are not wired to resist change – we screen for loss.
6.
Gossip is natural and has overwhelmingly prosocial reasons.