Brain Rhythms at Work!

Whether we choose to read a book alone at home or enjoy a business lunch with a colleague, electrical signals constantly fire across our brain. If you were to look at these signals, they'd appear as continuously moving patterns -- brain rhythms, if you will, that change depending on our activities and thoughts. Interestingly, researchers recently identified a new rhythm that appears during social interactions... offering a glimpse into the coordination that takes place within and between brains. What does this mean to us?

“While many interactions between people rely on mutual information exchange, little is known about how such social processes are integrated in the brain,” J.A. Scott Kelso, neuroscientist at Florida Atlantic University, said. “What this research suggests is that a unique pattern can be seen in the brains of two people interacting and that these brain activities distinguish independence from cooperation. This new brain rhythm that we have discovered and termed the phi complex actually distinguishes when you’re socially interacting and when you’re not.”

Phi distinguishes whether a person does her own thing or whether he coordinates with others, according to Kelso.

Five tips for more effective social interactions at work:

1. Provide well-balanced and productive employees to coach new hires one-on-one. Do you see departments dancing more in sync?

2. Establish employee "pairs" and provide up to 30 minute time slots monthly to share new strategies and tips to use new software. Might this lead to greater productivity where you work?

3. Create more empathy in your workplace by hiring more empathetic employees Dr. Ellen Weber advises. If you could use an employee to resonate with your leaders emotionally … check out Dr. Vittorio Gallese's work on empathy and mirror neurons.

4. Be the change. Craig Harper challenges folks to "commit a random act of kindness, generosity or selflessness today and do something where there's nothing to gain for you... Stop being strategic for a moment and just be nice..." See what happens!

5. Sell yourself in your product... Daniel Sitter explains why people should want to employ your services. "Your 'why' should be both unique and compelling. I particularly like what bestselling author and CEO Harvey Mackay says... 'The reason you should buy from me is that you get me!' That's it" - the person-to-person connection!

When people connect, incoming electrical messages are absorbed by tens of thousands of neurons simultaneously engaged in the same process so that the resulting electrial charge is strong enough that electrodes on the scalp can detect it! That's powerful!

“The phi complex is closely tied to the success of the mutual interaction between people and is not merely a consequence of one person imitating the other,” said Emmanuelle Tognoli, FAU neuroscientist. “Our measure of behavior, the phase or timing relationship between the actions of two people, is important because it characterizes the informational exchange between their brains.”

In the first comment below, you'll note Mike Sansone's question about the way bloggers might connect: "So our links to relevant blog posts, connecting and extending the conversation...those are blog rhythms at work?"

Mike it would be very interesting to see whether bloggers who have formed friendships online spark the same brain rhythms as they might in person. My sense is that this particular research highly connects to visual imagery. Perhaps that works if bloggers can see one another on a cam. :-) Thoughts?

Do you have additional tips to improve social interactions with folks at your workplace?