The Neuroscience of Quitting

Our emotions make us 'stick with it', & allow us to show 'true grit', where other 'animals' without a capacity for guilt and self-deprecation are happy to give up, this article suggests.

... but there's so much more to consider.

We also hear a lot in todays world of elevated stress, burnout and disengagement (Gallup) about 'quiet quitting', which basically means, people stop trying, but don't leave their job, taking the salary for very little contribution.

Many leaders worry about this happening at home, rather than in the office, where it's even harder to detect.

Considering brains, we have to ask, what conditions are people surviving to provoke the emotional response of 'Quitting', when it happens?

If we wind the clock back to Seligman and his notable experiment, electrocuting dogs with Maier, in 1967, we find the term 'Learned Helplessness'.

This means the adult mammalian brain will stop problem solving and just 'take the pain' if, a number of prior attempts to improve their lot, fails.

In summary, if we mammals (read: brains) can't escape, we acclimatise... and FAST!

In behavioural terms, this includes surrendering to a social environment / 'culture' (reflecting leaders beliefs and behaviours) in which we are not valued, or trusted and often, have no voice.

This is what Viktor Frankl observed in his seminal work 'Mans search for meaning'. Educated 'pillars of the community', adjusted to 'prisoner status' in concentration camps, within minutes, when seeing others killed in front of them.

Those highly educated, logical people quickly adapted to take physical beatings, suffer starvation and humiliation, in defence of their lives.

So, what does that have to do with business and modern leadership style?

Let's consider the term Hoshin Kanri (the Toyota method of Strategy deployment formalised by Yoji Akao, introduced to Toyota in 1958, premised on a philosophy of 'Respect for Humanity').

Within the construct of the Kanji characters for 'Kanri', 'Kan - Control' we also find connotations of 'Manumission' (i.e. release from slavery). i.e. The deeper 'belief' is not that leaders must control, but rather, that they must recognise the deleterious effect of imposed control on the human brain.

We couldn't have got the translation any more wrong if we'd tried!

This is incredibly important! Through the #BTFA lens, (Believe-Think-Feel-Act) we recognise leadership behaviour is an emergent property of deeply held beliefs ...

We can use other ambiguous terms if we like, 'core values' or 'principles', but whatever we call them, established by society, family and navigating life, these beliefs/values, only exist in the wiring of our brain ...

With even a basic awareness of BTFA, it's easy to understand, that behaviours follow the established wiring patterns in our brain ... there is literally nothing else behind our actions. The brain really is the control centre for everything our body does, including our thoughts, decisions, words, heart and hands. (There is a feedback loop of course AFTB, or ATFB etc., but that's another level of understanding we can skip for now).

This suggests, Culture (how brains 'do things' around here) is an emergent property of beliefs (brain wiring).

Now let's consider 'the state of the nation'... or at least, the current 'employment' landscape.

Elevated self-awareness is obvious in those just starting and, in the early years of their careers.

Gen M and Z, will leave a job if it doesn't serve them, (just like 'Biles and the Bees', in the link above).

It doesn't take a scientist to realise, the reduced levels of guilt and acceptance of 'self', which see our younger employees much more likely to 'vote with their feet', means we're dealing with a new reality in our historic 'command and control' places of work ... and it's the leaders who must update their thinking!

Why? Because the environment, culture and recent events, have already formed the brains they have to lead.

Many in their 50's, with immense skills, imprinted over decades, are finding this too demanding, too 'different' and are choosing early retirement. This is disastrous for industry, where manufacturing and engineering skills are already an increasingly scarce commodity in many developed nations, following years of policy and profit, driving work off-shore to cheap labour economies.

What many seem too busy to notice, in the hustle-&-bustle of modern life, is that leaders now have the science at their disposal, to understand their employees as people (brains) ... we can now do much better than 'Servant leadership', 'Well being' and 'Change management' ... we just have to embrace the facts from neuroscience, which explain these theories and why some aspects of so-called 'best practice' work for the benefit of the human brain / performance... and others don't.

Updates in education and Netflix productions like the social dilemma highlight the damage smart phones and apps can cause to brains (e.g. lack of attention), and subsequently, school results, relationships and society... the brains (and related behaviour / expectations) described in such programmes, are now looking for jobs, that suit them.

The next generation of employees are acutely aware of the 'thinking' threats they are exposed to, which just weren't present for Gen X or boomers in the same 'technological' way.

Those entering the workplace now, have spent their formative years, navigating the social trauma that life 'lived-through-a-screen', provides.

The damage is two fold. 1. They can't get away from the stress that follows the teenage brain trying to establish 'pecking order' (online bullying, body image issues etc.), while exploring more complex relationships, to utilise their naturally occurring body upgrades. At the same time, their brain is diverting energy away from rational thought to prune non-essential connections.

2. At the same time, their parents / carers, are also consumed by the latest App (often added to their work computer), so the youngsters don't get the emotional support from human contact (releasing oxytocin), which is required to help their brain cope with a challenging period of 'change' in their life!

This generation of school leavers do seem to be, aware 'they' are the gamers being consciously manipulated by people utilising the neuroscience & psychology of addiction to make £billions in profit, trading the brain health of generations, for yachts and the high life!

Despite this awareness, they still fail to adapt their behaviour, to distance themselves from their phone, just as those of us carrying a few extra pounds fail to get to the gym and stop eating after 6pm.

It turns out, our emotions will over-rule our logical knowledge every time! A bit of chocolate with a cuppa, is more appealing than good knees and exercise in our 60's... just as sticking to our current knowledge and comfort zones is easier than embracing change to process and systems at work.

Light at the end of the reality tunnel

The good news! These brains are still 'young' (the human brain isn't fully formed until age 24-25) and thus, they need 'life' (experience) to help their constantly adjusting brains, to 'map' themselves in the world: at least, to a point that confidence builds and insecurities wane. This is the same for all of us, as we leave childhood and navigate the rough seas of adulthood and responsibility in our complex socio-technical environment.

News Flash! Gen M and Z brains need as much love and support as Gen X and Boomer brains... perhaps, arguably, more!

There is more opportunity to get that support from those in their places of work, than anywhere else in life, because, once out of education and the family home, they will spend c.65% of their waking lives at work, just like everyone else does, whose wealth and health sits somewhere in the middle of the standard distribution curve.

In short, leaders need to care, if they care about the bottom line!

Then, along came a pandemic!

From 2020 to 2022, most were forced to change the way they approached life.

We found ourselves spending more time with family, on a 3 or 4 day week, with reduced outgoings.

Alongside the horrors and tragedy of personal loss on a mass scale, the mental health benefits of a better work-life balance, with less travelling and stress were thrown into stark contrast with BAU!

Many reconnected with family, and nature. Some realised the importance of contact, while others 'quit' toxic relationships... at work and at home. It was disruptive, and tragic for many, but as with most things in life, a silver lining frames even the darkest of clouds.

With all of those ingredients, we now have a cocktail of awareness that demands the leadership style of yesteryear updates to a new paradigm... and thanks to BTFA and the neuroscience that underpins it, we know brain change follows the introduction of a broader language register (about brains / people), that allows us to process new concepts and ask better questions, about 'what works'.

As Philip Holt SVP Global OpEx Transformation for GKN Aerospace , says toward the end of his 3rd (& very good) book ... "Leading Lean by Living Lean" (follow the link to buy - all proceeds go to charity)

"Talking of project management, KPIs, Lean tools and EBITDA isn’t enough; we must also talk about brains and minds wherever people form part of our socio-technical landscape.

That’s what makes the BTFA model so powerful: It’s your entry point to a new world view about what ‘good’ looks like. Without new language, you can’t ask new questions, and without new questions, you will only get old answers.

If you want culture change, step one is BTFA. Only then can you really make the transformation that you want and need."

So what is quitting?

When we talk about Seligman's dogs, Frankl's prisoners, quiet quitting or walking away in defence of our own mental health (as Simone Biles and Bees do - see link above), at base, we're describing the adult mammalian brain surviving it's environment!

A leaders job, regardless of the setting, a school, a hospital or a factory, is to create the conditions in which human brains can maximise their potential, thus maximising the contribution to the outcome objectives of the team (community), and the organisation they are contracted to work for.

The one thing we have failed to teach leaders, is how brains work, survive, perform at their best and CHANGE! ... with neuroscience, that's all changing, and fast ... The neuroscience of change is essential knowledge for leaders in a rapidly changing world... and it's available.

I will be speaking on the subject of Hybrid working and 'Culture - Continuous Transformation' at the OpEx and Process Transformation Summit, hosted by KEYNOTION and Benjamin P. Taylor in Hamburg, 14th - 16th June, 2023, alongside many amazing speakers including ...

Daniela Weiss Christopher Boy Carlos de Castro Sarah Wooledge Sean McGuire Katja Tuomola 🚀 MAHBIR Thukral Harpreet Singh Bamrah Cristina Jackson Wasim Mushtaq Ghislain Taschini Stephan Neubert Kausik Dasgupta Bzhwen Kadir Almut Elisabeth Jehle Maksim N. Griselda Sparks-Rodriguez Dirk Mulzer Hervé DOAN Raul Mora Jascha Schlimm Ivo Ogink Sunil Banthiya

For more information about BTFA contact us here

To book yourself or your team members onto the BTFA online course, and join upcoming public cohorts in June, July & August, to learn about the psychology and neuroscience of organisational change and leadership go here