VALUES & NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - color your company or team for success

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Sandra Kolb
CEO & Values Ambassador
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Unlocking the Connection: Culture, Neuropsychology and Technology

Welcome! I'm excited to share with you my insights into the fascinating intersection of culture, neuropsychology, and technology. We'll dive into how these key components can influence and shape each other, thereby steering the success path of an organization.

A bit about me

Based out of the scenic city of Zurich, I fill various professional roles such as organizational developer, trainer, and coach. With two decades of international project management experience under my belt, I've been fortunate enough to work in diverse sectors, of which the medtech and luxury jewelry industries are worth mentioning. With a keen interest in driving transformations focused on culture and technology, I pursued a master's in organizational development and coaching.

"A key to successful change is professional, empathetic facilitation."

Harnessing Positive Transformation: Technology and Culture

Technology changes the game for organizations. But, to maximize its impact, we need to understand how it interacts with our culture and values. These elements significantly influence the success levels of workplaces, with stats revealing surprising insights; about 45% of employees are reportedly not loyal to their firms, 85% deem company culture significant for success, while only 31% reckon they have the 'right' culture.

Neuropsychology: A Significant Player

Wanting to boost the 'right culture' numbers, I delved into neuropsychology. Ultimately, resistance to change is an age-old human response, especially when it involves new or unfamiliar technology. Navigating this resistance is crucial for successful change management. Here's where our brain functions play a significant part. The Neocortex, the Reptilian Complex, and the Limbic System each have different roles which influence our responses to change.

Understanding the Shift: The Graves Value Model

One model that explains how culture develops over time is the Graves Value Model, illustrating how each individual, team, and company progressively experience various stages of development. A crucial aspect to remember here is that there are no 'good' or 'bad' levels; each stage is essential for growth.

Analogizing Development: The Baby-to-Adult Journey

Each stage mirrors the growth journey from a baby to an adult. More specifically, organizational development can be aligned to various stages in life - the start-up phase is like infancy, expansion is adolescence, the generation of rules and processes is adulthood, and finally, the decision to ford into sustainability and global networking is akin to maturity.

Color Coding: Understanding Your Organization's Culture

Assigning colors to the different stages in the model provides an engaging way to understand and picture the development of your team or organization. The question then is - what colors define your company?

Making Changes Stick: Neuropsychology, Technology & Values

As I discovered over my career, tech change is always a people change and a culture change. Visualization and structured process design are great tools for change management. What you can also do is turn the change experience-based, making it more relatable and easy to comprehend. This way, you engage better with your teams, making changes more acceptable and easier to implement.

Combining Tech & Cultural Change: Practical Steps

The virtual adaptation of physical methods is viable in today's technology-dominated world. But remember, make sure your tech is easy to use - if it's complicated, it will lose its effectiveness. So, to ensure a smooth tech-implementation journey, remember to address cultural aspects and ensure a seamless integration of the two.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, successfully implementing technological change revolves around a thoughtful interplay of values, culture, and neuropsychology. And remember, growth is a process - we cannot simply leap to the end result. Embodying the different stages of development combined with a realistic understanding of our people and tech can make lasting and positive changes.

I would love to have a chat with you and share more about how we can facilitate these changes. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and join me in exploring further the spheres of values, technology, and neuropsychology.

Thank you for reading, and remember - change is constant, but so is growth. Let's navigate them together.


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