Leadership and team-building
BIOLOGY could help explaining human features and actions like #leadership and #teambuilding. Here are some reflections at the beginning of a new working year to enhance group synergies.
Neurotransmitters can help to explain a lot.
At the individual level, endorphins allow overcoming pain while dopamine keeps us going on for rewards even though at risk of addiction.
At the group level, serotonin plays to reinforce relationships, while oxytocin is released from human contacts. The two of them are needed to feel safe and part of a group, and can limit dopamine addiction.
If things go wrong, cortisol stresses us for focused performances, yet it is detrimental if prolonged.
Leaders make each individual feeling safe
In summary, from a biological point of view leadership relies on making each individual in the group feeling safe because included in the circle of protection. On the contrary, dopamine and cortisol can take over and destroy our health [ 1].
#TeamBuilding is a delicate exercise that needs to account for these fundamental mechanisms. When mismanaged it has been proven to be detrimental for group cohesion [ 2, 3].
Paintball and rafting may constitute effective team training if you’re a soldier or a stuntman — but not if you’re an engineer or accountant and work in a office.
This kind of activities might just strengthen already established ties between colleagues, rather than develop new ones. … Nor does it help the situation if alcohol is involved.
Altogether, leaders and people in a group build a team through daily actions that create a feeling of belonging (serotonin and oxytocin) against the stress of feeling unprotected and exposed to external dangers (cortisol) or being left to individual goals (dopamine).
The notion of belonging creates the framework to catch anyone in the team that might be falling from a notion of exclusion. [4]
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.