“Neuroscience” is becoming a new, hot topic in the business world. Not only in HR, but also across marketing, sales, data science, and user experience.
It’s reasonable to assume that the more we know about how the human brain works, the more likely we will be to create an organization that works congruously. After all, a business is made up of people. Even an enterprise run by a single individual relies on other businesses and/or customers.
Here are some universal truths in the field of neuroscience that HR professionals should be aware of.
Oxytocin – The Trust Chemical
Neuroscientists have established that the chemical oxytocin, also known as the “love” or “feel good” chemical, plays a key role in building trust-based relationships. When women first give birth to their children, they are immediately rewarded with a huge release of oxytocin that helps them bond with their newborn infant.
It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective that this would occur. Mothers, historically, have been the primary caregivers. The chemical release could be said to be nature’s way of ensuring that the mother instantly “falls in love” with her child and protects it.
Likewise, in prehistoric times, it appears that oxytocin may have been key in building trust in early communities, in which some individuals stayed at home while others hunted for food.
How Is This Relevant to The Workplace?
In modern terms, we often say when we get “a good feeling” about someone. This could be a job candidate, business partner, or supplier. It’s more than likely that that person is giving you signals that convert into more oxytocin being produced in your brain.
This also explains why sometimes two interviewers can have differing opinions – or gut feelings – about the same candidate. The candidate may have triggered a trust response in one hiring manager, while another hiring manager did not get the same chemical release.
The difference may have had nothing to do with the candidate. One hiring manager may be in a bad mood or are under a lot of stress. It’s possible that they simply took a dislike to the candidate for a reason they cannot rationalize and there was no release of oxytocin.
This is why it is so important to have candidates meet more than one staff member at an interview. Large-scale enterprises like Google or Facebook often have six or seven interviews with the same candidate. They do this to minimize the likelihood that a candidate won’t work out. If everyone who has met the candidate and interacted with them still has a positive feeling about them and trusts them to do the job well, they will be more likely to be extended an offer.
The neuroscience of trust can impact directly on a company’s bottom line. It’s important that team members trust each other for optimal performance. Having a new hire who the rest of the team trust off the bat means they will be more likely to work out long term.
An awareness of trust and why it is important can save an unquantifiable amount of money due to churn, not to mention the cost benefit of avoiding having poor performer reducing the effectiveness of their team.