Article: "Brain at Work"

The March 2008 edition of HR Magazine includes the article "Brain at Work." More about it later this week but wanted to give you all an opportunity to read it in case you had not seen it. The sidebar:

Lessons from Neuroscience

Discoveries about brain functioning have practical implications for employers, social scientists, teachers and others, experts say. Among them:

• People need sufficient sleep to integrate learning into longterm memory.
• Because the brain “shuts off” after a period of time, learning should be broken down into bite-size nuggets.
• Social pain—being rejected or berated—affects the brain the same as physical pain.
• Social fairness and respect give the brain a chemical boost. Unfairness and disrespect do the opposite.
• Stress can cause people to think unclearly.
• Uncertainty arouses fear circuits and can decrease ability to make decisions.
• Employees need some ownership over situations to better accept changes. Even a little choice helps.
• Engaging people in more active learning techniques improves retention.
• Employees’ ability to think clearly can be hindered when employers fail to meet expectations or create uncertainty in the workplace.

Thanks to Ellen Weber (quoted in the article) for sending me the link via e-mail.

Note (added December 22, 2008, 5:15 PM Mountain): Going through old e-mails (end-of-the-year e-cleaning), I realized I had not posted this very funny review of the above article. For a laugh or at least a smile, read Works like a charm (Mind Hacks).