Instinct is something we just know.
———————————–
Merriam-Webster defines Instinct as a behavior mediated by reactions below the conscious level.
Instinct is not consciously learned. Instinct is below the conscious level.
We know how to breathe, eat and drink. We know how to use our hands and feet.
For 80,000 years of human evolution, for four-thousand generations, our instincts have evolved and been strengthened.
Then modern society happened, and the modern workplace happened. And our instincts have not kept pace with these dramatic changes in the nature of our existence.
=======================================
Our instincts are not going to change.
Modern society isn’t going away.
The modern workplace isn’t going away.
=======================================
Our path with either conveniently ignore our surviving-belonging-becoming instincts. OR our path will embrace these instincts as an asset, as a strength. But developing any strength, we must decide to apply the consistent effort and consistent practice to develop strengths, into skills, into tangible reward.
Surviving
———-
Maslow’s pyramid of self-fulfillment, shows our most basic need is survival.
Physical survival, physical safety – don’t get eaten, don’t get killed for your stuff, have food, drink, and shelter. This “Surviving” is handled by a part of the brain named amygdala. The amygdala processes the most foundational and basic survival emotions: anger, fear, sex.
When our survival emotion is stimulated the Amygdala shouts out the other more advanced portions of our brains. We literally lose the ability to think logically when our survival is threatened (or perceived to be threatened, as regrettably is the case with media, (personally, I really miss fact).
When we hear bad news, our amygdala drowns out thoughts from other parts of the brain, such as our ability to reason. In business literature, we hear the concept of “Emotional Quotient (EQ)”, really this is our ability to quiet “survival” responses, which allow other higher order brain functions like reasoning to be heard.
So, what do we do with this info …? We Team leaders and Team-mates, should (and can) avoid workplace stuff which makes our “survival” response kick in. and instead, we should (and can) work toward workplace stuff that makes our “belonging” and “becoming” instincts kick in.
Belonging
———
Back to Maslow.
We all need a place. We have a deeply held need to belong, to be social, to have relationships — belong to a group, family, religion, town, or guild. We are wired to find a place within our community. Our instincts form a need to both get and give love, affection, and friendship. Worth repeating … instinct to belong. this is not something learned or imitated, we come into the world with this inherent need. Relationships matter. Acceptance matters.
So, what do we do with this info …? We Team leaders and Team-mates, should (and can) treat each other with value and respect. We can be gentle with our criticism. We can be generous with our recognition of contribution. We can embrace our shared experiences with the rough edges. And we can avoid workplace stuff which makes our “survival” response kick in.
Becoming
——–
Back to Maslow.
We all need a purpose.
We are wired to find a feeling of value, to find respect, and to find self-esteem. This is more than just belonging to a group. The instinct to “become” drives us to seek our purpose, seek recognition, freedom, independence, and wealth. At a deeper personal level, our drive to “become” drives us to seek completeness, to have empathy, to help others and gives us the ability to know joy.
So, what do we do with this info …? We Team leaders and Team-mates, should (and can) treat each other with value and respect. We are all imperfectly striving and we can collaborate to find our shared purpose and our individual purposes. Worth repeating … we can embrace our shared experiences with the rough edges. And we can avoid workplace stuff which makes our “survival” response kick in.
Maslows hierarchy of needs – https://www.theneurotypical.com/maslows_basic_needs.html