The Neuroscience of Appreciative Inquiry

Summary

The video script by Andy Smith delves into the neuroscience of appreciative inquiry, highlighting the brain's task-positive and default mode networks. The former, activated during problem-solving, can induce stress, while the latter fosters creativity and social awareness. Smith emphasizes the importance of balancing these networks for effective teamwork and communication. Appreciative inquiry, by focusing on strengths and positive experiences, encourages the activation of the default mode network, leading to increased trust, resilience, and creative problem-solving.

Takeaways

• 🧠 The human brain has two opposing networks: the task-positive network, which is activated during cognitive tasks and can induce stress, and the default mode network, which supports big-picture thinking and positive emotions.
• 🔄 These networks are in opposition; when one is active, it inhibits the other, making a balance between them crucial for effective communication and creativity.
• 🤝 The default mode network is essential for team bonding, absorbing new information, and generating creative solutions, especially under stress.
• 🛠 In the workplace, the task-positive network is often dominant, leading to a focus on targets and deadlines but also causing defensiveness and a lack of trust.
• 🚫 Over-analytical approaches can suppress the default mode network, hindering the ability to find creative solutions and aspirations.
• 🌟 Appreciative Inquiry (AI) encourages the activation of the default mode network and positive emotions through full attention and discussions about strengths and achievements.
• 💡 AI promotes openness and trust by focusing on positive experiences, values, and future aspirations, enhancing resilience and purpose.
• 🔗 Emotional resonance, where individuals share the same emotions, helps in bonding and building stronger relationships within a team.
• 🌱 AI fosters a sense of safety and self-empowerment, which is conducive to generating new ideas and exploring possibilities.
• 🎯 AI starts by focusing on what is working well and positive exceptions, even if they are rare, to find the foundation for creative solutions.
• 🎶 The script concludes with the importance of balancing the two brain networks, emphasizing the role of AI in achieving this balance for effective teamwork and innovation.

Q & A

What is the role of the task positive network in the brain?

The task positive network is activated during cognitive tasks such as perception, motor control, and problem-solving, including logical analysis. It tends to produce stressful feelings and activates the sympathetic nervous system.

What does the default mode network enable in the brain?

The default mode network enables big-picture thinking, engagement, motivation, stress regulation, and social and relationship awareness. It is associated with positive emotions, trust, and feeling supported.

How are the task positive network and the default mode network opposing each other?

When one network is active, it inhibits the other. Analytic thinking activates the task positive network but turns off the default mode network, and empathic thinking does the opposite.

Why is a balance between the two networks essential for effective teamwork?

A balance is essential for open communication, creativity, and working together effectively. The default mode network is needed for bonding, taking in new information, and generating creative solutions, while the task positive network is used to carry out those solutions.

What are the negative side effects of being in the task positive mode most of the time in the workplace?

Negative side effects include defensiveness, lack of trust, seeing others as threats or blocks to achieving goals, stress, reluctance to try new ways of working, and a focus on short-term results rather than long-term aims.

How does the default mode network help during challenges?

The default mode network helps by enabling learning from each other and breaking out of the thinking that led to the problems in the first place.

What does appreciative inquiry do to encourage the activation of the default mode network?

Appreciative inquiry encourages activation of the default mode network and positive emotion through practices such as listening with full attention, asking about strengths and achievements, and fostering emotional resonance and positive emotions.

How does appreciative inquiry differ from problem-focused approaches?

Appreciative inquiry evokes a sense of safety and self-empowerment that encourages new ideas and scanning the environment for possibilities, unlike problem-focused approaches that emphasize external forces and constraints, leading to feelings of being judged and self-consciousness.

Why does appreciative inquiry focus on what's working and positive exceptions?

Focusing on what's working and positive exceptions helps to avoid flipping the group back into task positive network thinking, which can shut down the default mode network. This approach is necessary for finding creative solutions and aspirational goals.

What is the significance of reconnecting with one's values in the context of appreciative inquiry?

Reconnecting with one's values helps individuals become more resilient and have a stronger sense of purpose, which is important for maintaining the activation of the default mode network.

How does emotional resonance contribute to team bonding in appreciative inquiry?

Emotional resonance, where one person starts to experience the same emotions as another, helps people bond and fosters a sense of unity and shared understanding within the team.