HR professional, athlete talks about importance of alignment in workers' conscious and subconscious minds
With the world of work rapidly changing right before our eyes, it’s important for employers to ensure that leaders and workers alike stay focused on achieving their goals, according to one expert.
Vince Poscente, president of Rapid Professional Development and Olympic skier, noted that employers can do that by inspiring the right mindset in people. That isn’t always easy, he said in talking with HRD TV.
When faced with challenges, instead of focusing immediately on addressing the challenge, employers can focus on assessing “where we are right now,” he said.
“I call that the emotional buzz. And the emotional buzz is really founded on a concept from research that was done by a guy named Dr. Poulos. Poulos found that in a second of time, the conscious mind processes with 2,000 neurons, while in the same second, the subconscious mind is processing with four billion neurons.”
Employers can use an ant on an elephant’s back as an analogy, he said. If the ant makes a decision to go west, but the elephant decides to go east, that causes trouble.
“The biggest problem is when there's a discord between intention and the subconscious agenda,” said Poscente.
It’s up to HR professionals to engage the workers and ensure that “the ant makes a decision on the back of the elephant and the elephant is headed in the same direction.”
Low levels of alignment between HR and the C-suite have a negative impact on HR leaders' wellbeing, according to a previous report.
A mindset of excellence
In the same episode – part of HRD TV’s Thought Leaders series – Poscente suggested that HR professionals focus on the concept of behavioural change to create an emotional buzz within the workforce.
Pulling from his own experience, he shared: “That peak performance mindset... that all has to do with that emotional buzz.
“At 26, I’d never ski-raced before. But the emotional buzz was ‘What would it feel like to march in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games?’”
For organizations, the emotional buzz is the “litmus test” to see whether the ant and the elephant are set on going in the same direction, he said.
“This excellence mindset of really engaging at the highest possible level makes all the difference in the world.”
The trust gap between senior executives and employees is widening, and it’s hurting the bottom line.
Watch the full HRD TV episode featuring Poscente for free right here.
