The Snack BOxD: August Digest - Power: How to Find It and Use It
This is the Snack BOxD, a highly digestible digest from me, Nenuca, CEO at Better Organizations by Design (BOxD). Every month I send a round-up of ideas and insights on how to create healthy, high performing organizations. If you like this kind of thing or found me by accident, get your snack on and subscribe.
On the menu this month: Rewarding the midbrain for office attendance… Claiming and aiming power at work… Nenuca in the media… Taking your toxic team from Lord of the Flies to Fellowship of the Ring... Learning about workplace power dynamics from The Bear… and more.
On the limitations of power when it comes to office attendance...
This month, I’m thinking about power. How leaders are trying to influence their people to come back to work… or in some cases, just demanding it. (Looking at you, Apple.)
Many companies are facing a lot of reasonable backlash for their perceived inflexibility. But the truth is, humans are social creatures who thrive on transitioning between physical spaces to signal different modes of operating. We still have these old, enduring parts of our brain that make socialization and collaboration an essential part of human survival.
You may be frustrated that you came into the office while your people are Zooming in from their Hawaiian vacation rental’s lānai. Understandably so! And…
… you still have to make the case for people to come back to work.
My advice? Give your people a good reason to gather in person. Make your time together count. Then let their midbrains do the rest of the work for you.
AHH, Nenuca - midbrain?? My scrolling thumb is twitching. Get to the point.
OK, OK. Bear with me while I nerd out with a short neuroscience lesson.
The midbrain is an older part of our brain. It’s the section that inconveniently activates “fight or flight” when we’re in traffic or on a public stage. The midbrain helps us act on instinct, and generally keeps us safe by prioritizing things that are good for our survival.
Meanwhile, dopamine is a brain chemical. It influences your mood and feelings of reward and motivation.
Midbrain dopamine neurons are the units of our brain that help us make economic decisions.
Still with me? Great. Let me illustrate with an example.
Think about a specific vending machine at work. You put a dollar in the machine and press the button for a packet of chips. The vending machine glitches and accidentally dispenses 2 packets of chips.
JACKPOT! Your brain, delighted, gets a big rush of dopamine. This outcome was better than expected.
In that scenario, here’s what your brain would say if it could talk:
That was better than expected!
This is probably good for my survival.
Moving forward, I’m going to make visits to this vending machine a priority.
How does this relate to RTO (return-to-office)?
When people personally experience the value and rewards of assembly, their midbrain dopamine neurons will do the rest of the work for you.
BUT! This only works if your in-person experiences are better than expected. Only then will you start seeing more “Yes” and less “Maybe” on those calendar invitations.
So as we head into Q4, if you want to make the case for in-person work… give your people the gift of a healthy dopamine rush with your next in-person meeting. We can guarantee that it will be better than your people expect, so you can let the midbrains do the heavy lifting for you.
How to claim and aim power
How to claim and aim power
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “power”?
I’m guessing your brain immediately conjures images of Darth Vader vs. Obi Wan, Celtics vs. Lakers, or elephants vs. donkeys.
Power is a massively evocative construct. We are socially conditioned to have a strong reaction to it. But it doesn’t have to manifest as a Game of Thrones bloodbath.
Power is omnipresent in our world, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. We all have our own types of power. We’ve all been on the receiving end of someone else exerting their power over us.
And here’s the thing… Power is not a dirty word.
Power is, quite simply, our potential to influence other people.
Distilled to its core, power is about 1-to-1 relationships. Powerful people have a healthy awareness of what kind of power they have, and what kind of power others around them have. Their sources of power are diverse and plentiful, and they know how to take appropriate actions that align with their power sources and their goals.
If you’re not feeling particularly powerful at this moment– don’t despair. I firmly believe that power is NOT something that is only reserved for “natural” or “born” leaders. And I have a wonderful resource that’s just for you.
In our brand new Power Mapping Guide, I’m going to show you step-by-step how to
Understand the different sources of power
Identify what kind of power you currently have, and what kind of power you want to expand
Develop your own custom strategy for influence.
As you head into strategic planning season, why not give yourself a leg up on your competition? Get started today with a powerful, practical guide that will help you hone your personal and professional power:
Nenuca in the media
This week I sat down with Penguin Consulting to share a few key insights about power and influence at work.
At BOxD, our philosophy is that if you’re conscious about how power flows, you can create win-win solutions. And, importantly– I encourage everyone to use their power for good!
Take a look at some highlights from my talk, and let me know what you think in the comments.
How to go from Lord of the Flies to Fellowship of the Ring
Is your team too stuck to make any real decisions? Enmired in politics? Disengaged? Over it?
You’re not alone, and it’s not your fault.
According to Google Data Trends, searches for “burnout at work” reached an all time high in 2022. (Wonder why.)
Workplace feelings of frustration, anxiety, and purposelessness manifest in a hundred small ways. Tense emails volleyed back and forth. That last passive aggressive “FYI” on the group Slack that hangs in the air for fully 24 hours. Hitting the “send” button so hard that your colleague jumps at the desk next to yours.
This kind of “death by a thousand cuts” looks like lagging performance. Stagnant growth. Circular meetings that don’t go anywhere. Key decisions blocked. Attrition en masse.
So what can you do about it? Well, we put together some tips to help reset a toxic team navigating rough power dynamics. Take a look at our article, “How to reset a fatigued team” for some practical tips on how to pull your team out of the swamp.
What We're Reading...
How ‘The Bear’ Captures the Panic of Modern Work - The New York Times
I’d be remiss if I didn’t weigh in on the Zeitgeist-iest show on TV right now, The Bear. For a primer on power, look no further than this series about the hectic hierarchy of commercial kitchens.
I’ve never worked behind the scenes at a restaurant, yet I could more than relate to the power dynamics on display. When tensions between two leaders, Richie (veteran leader) and Carmy (new incumbent) come to a head, staff loyalty is split as based on the power source of each leader. Carmy wields expertise power (James Beard winner), but Richie’s power comes from his position in the social structure (alongside the crew who’s worked there forever). If I ever teach a class about this stuff, Episode 3 will go straight into the syllabus.
YES, CHEF!
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
“The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.” Oof! Scary, or liberating?
Ultimately I found this to be a unique, hopeful read. I recommend it to any leader looking to gain a bit of perspective on life, who’s serious about spending their four thousand weeks on things that really matter to them. I founded BOxD to help other leaders do meaningful work that matters– more efficiently, more effectively. At the same time, my goal has always been to make BOxD an inclusive, flexible workplace so that our people have enough free time to enjoy a well-balanced life.
So the question is– how will you make the most out of your four thousand weeks?
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Sources...
Searches for "burnout" are at an all time high - Quartz at Work
Signal dynamics of midbrain dopamine neurons during economic decision-making - Science Advances