The Science of Emotio-cognitive Synergy

The functioning and strategic capabilities of the human brain are one of the least understood complexities of nature. Comprising over 100 billion cells plus a neural network of a thousand trillion circuits, this 1300 gram blob of soft tissue controls the miracle of knowing, thinking and feeling. Stimuli entering our brains spark a wave of chemical and electrical reactions. These are converted into knowledge and comprehension. Combined with emotions and feelings, these become memory, conscience and our style of response - the way we are!

When this is coupled with a study of leadership, a new discipline emerges, in which the science of emotion is blended with the art of leadership. Unraveling and interpreting the complex components of brain processes and leadership has become an increasing focus for a growing number of business schools, psychologists and behavioural gurus.

What are the skills and attributes which elevate ordinary people into extraordinary leaders? Paradoxically, a number of emerging leaders are discovering that pure technical and intellectual skills which may have got them to their positions are no longer the attributes that contribute to their survival. Effectiveness at higher levels of leadership requires a more sophisticated combination of thinking, feeling and acting competencies which demands enlightened levels of "emotio-cognitive synergy".

Technically speaking, emotion-cognitive synergy is the result of synthesis between knowing, thinking and feeling. This extrapolates into our mind-body synchronization i.e how our thoughts affect our body and vice versa. Ultimately, the blend of our knowing, thinking and feeling mastery leads to the way we behave.

Maintaining clarity of thought and emotional balance especially when orchestrating the changing array of leadership challenges, requires a well developed degree of emotio-cognitive synergy - a connection between head and heart. This sounds daunting but understanding and mastering the synchronization between separate brain functions as well as their physiological impact on the body, is paramount if leaders are to respond authentically.

However, within this highly complex amalgam of inter-linking mind and body functions lurks a fundamental evolutionary flaw. Originally intended as a survival mechanism, there is a lack of spontaneous connection between the feeling and thinking parts of the brain when humans are stressed or perceive a threat - there is a silence in the space between feeling and thinking. This plays a significant role in the leader's ability to manage responses, particularly those concerning interpersonal relationships in times of stress.

Former Corporate MD turned Executive Coach, Michael Pryke confirms that the most common lament disclosed by his top-leader clients is the challenge of handling the various and complicated relationships which they need to orchestrate. "In addition to dealing with other people, the most difficult relationship leaders' face is their relationship with themselves," he says. "Until they are able to manage their own emotions and responses, they experience extreme difficulty in their relationships with others. In reality, remarkably few executives are equipped with the necessary emotio-cognitive synergy essential for emotionally intelligent leadership."

Combining left brain and right brain thinking has long been a minimum requisite for executives and leaders. The concept of whole brain thinking has concentrated mainly on cognitive and contemplative processes. But truly great leadership requires an even deeper level of awareness of relationship management and personal awareness. The only way to develop these is to tap into the enormous resource available within the emotional part of the brain - to bridge the silent space between feeling and thinking.

Many executives, whilst intellectually competent, are emotionally illiterate. They are unable to identify the myriad of emotional signals emanating within themselves. At the same time, this manifests as an inability to recognise emotions in others. This inability to identify emotions and evaluate their impact deprives leaders of essential information they need for emotionally intelligent leadership.

When cognition, which includes knowing and perceiving, is combined with an understanding of the feelings produced by emotion, an enhanced degree of awareness and intuitivism emerges. Similarly, when contemplation, which encompasses the brain's processing and thinking functions, is blended with emotional competencies, a new arena for superior relationship management is enabled. But the real miracle occurs as leaders learn to synthesise all three, creating a skill-set comprising overlapping areas of cognitive (knowing), contemplative (thinking) and emotive (feeling) brain contributions. The resulting synergy creates a dimension of exponential leadership actualisation.

Achieving a heightened state of emotio-cognitive synergy requires learning advanced techniques to produce extraordinary leadership excellence. The L.A.S.E.R. technique developed by EQ IMPACT is a powerful leadership skill-set which provides a practical model for bridging the silence of the space between. L.A.S.E.R. embodies five phases which when set in motion, produce the necessary head and heart harmonization to help leaders excel:

• Listening & observing - becoming attuned to the emergence of one's emotions (and those of others);
• Accepting and acknowledging - having the emotional courage to face the reality of what is happening within one (and within others). Living in the here and now; becoming adept in one's emotional vocabulary;
• Sensing - analyzing one's feelings about the way one is feeling (and others are feeling); allowing emotional clues to harmonize with intellectual thinking;
• Exploring - examining why one is feeling this way (and what others are feeling); making sense of the silence of the space between;
• Responding - actualising appropriate leadership responses using refined levels of emotio-cognitive coherence.

Becoming an exemplary leader requires a new understanding of the relationships between the human mind and body. It also throws a different perspective on the skills leaders' need to adopt and perfect for 21st Century leadership.

Michael Pryke is the founder of EQ IMPACT a coaching practice focusing on Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

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