Management, comfort zone, dopamine and depression, as well as why managers do not like too smart
Here is another cross-post from my main blog . It may seem interesting. Theme - management.
- You probably heard that the worker is most effective when he is kept outside his “comfort zone”. This wisdom is so common that novice managers even sometimes share it with subordinates, naturally, with a positive coloring, like a “challenge”, rather than manipulative behavior. That is, if you are employed by a company, say, as a toilet cleaner, and your ideal is to remain a toilet cleaner until retirement, calmly and honestly doing your job, then still this will not suit your manager. Because if you, with your salary of $ 7 an hour for cleaning the toilet bowls, will breathe in the back of the head those who receive $ 6 an hour and want your work, then you can work calmly, but you can clean out much more toilet bowls per shift. Well, or write more code there.
The science of management truthfully warns you - keep people out of the comfort zone, but make sure that they do not “burn out at work” (burn out), but who is listening to warnings when your future things depend on the number of cleaned toilet bowls (or, again, written code) boost? Moreover, who knows what it is to "burn at work"? Is this an artistic expression? There were artists, -mine ... And I have uncleaned toilet bowls here! However, this is a very important "but", and here's why.
')
The idea of ​​keeping people “outside the comfort zone” is actually an ancient one in itself. The sayings “keep them on their toes” and “that’s the wolf in the forest so the shepherd wouldn’t sleep” reflect the antiquity of this tradition. However, as an element of management theory, it appeared only with the theory of management itself, that is, in the twentieth century. And intuitively and so perfectly clear how it works. However, now, with the accumulated knowledge of the biochemistry of the brain, we can take a look at how this all is arranged inside and what gears cling to which ones, producing the said effect. And it turns out that by looking in this way you can learn new and interesting things, which I am going to talk about. So what?
When a manager keeps a subordinate out of the comfort zone, it activates the rewards mechanism of our brain, in the center of which is the neurotransmitter dopamine - the culprit of all human dependencies from cocaine and marijuana to alcohol and cigarettes and a number of completely natural addictions, such as sex. Which of them are closer to the management - judge for yourself, but the company, frankly, is entertaining.
Dopamine is released by the end of the axon at the synapse and irritates the dopamine receptors on another neuron that it concerns. At the same time, it also sucks domamine from the synapse so that it does not accumulate there. Above this, an axon from another neuron releasing another substance - GABA - which suppresses the excitation caused by dopamine often turns out to be next to it. This is a kind of brake pedal in our reward and reward system, where dopamine acts as a gas pedal. Most drugs, as well as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, as well as many antidepressants, manipulate the release of dopamine, its taking back, its perception, as well as release, fence back and the perception of GABA. By the way, antidepressants in this company is not accidental, but more on that later.
Unlike drugs, management, like sex, leaves these processes mostly as they are, and is based on more ancient and natural mechanisms for manipulating the chemistry of dopamine. The normal operation of the reward system and rewards of our brain works like a burglar alarm - when everything is normal, a current should flow through the wire and, accordingly, a normal dopamine level should be present, transmitting a signal from one neuron to another. If the current in the circuit is interrupted, an alarm sounds, red lights come on, a siren turns on and people start running around screaming and panic, trying to figure out what happened and prevent the danger. Approximately the same picture begins in our brain when the level of dopamine falls. That is, the “reward system” is actually a “misnomen,” a misleading term. In fact, with few exceptions, such as sex or a delicious dinner, she administers not so much rewards — which are more or less constantly present as punishment, by overlapping dopamine.
Why does it block oxygen for us, sorry, dopamine? In fact, the list of "sins" is not so great and "stitched" in our genes. First of all, this is of course basic things, like the absence of sex or the roar of a lion in a nearby grove. Well, or whatever it is in military humor, “imagine you are in an open field, and suddenly a tank is shown around the corner ...” In such cases, the dopamine level drops, causing you to take active steps. If the lion has eaten you, then the dopamine level does not play a big role, but if you managed to escape, or a grenade was found on the tank, then the reward system will give you dopamine a little bit for a short time, and you will be fine. By the way, the same mechanism works, for example, when winning a sporting event. In addition to such basic incentives, the system also responds to secondary, but still stitched in our genes criteria, for example, group recognition, praise or condemnation of other people, a sense of belonging to a group. It is on these buttons that managers play when they are holding you “outside the comfort zone”.
If you notice, the dopamine system is not designed for long-term effort. It serves to develop long-term patterns of behavior (behave well in society, be a caring spouse or spouse, do not go to the grove with lions, and if there are tanks in your savanna, keep a grenade with you, and so on), but it is based on microscales and micro achievements. The whip should be replaced by gingerbread, and the gingerbread by whip. The fall of dopamine drives us to action, to research the environment and to find and achieve a solution that can be achieved at the cost of overvoltage and stress. In a natural environment, this is justified - having run away from the lion, it is quite possible to hang on the tail from the branch and chew a delicious banana, resting and rejuvenating.
And what happens if dopamine levels are kept low artificially, which, for example, happens when drug addicts refuse drugs? But it turns out that neither the brain nor the body can withstand it. The body is simply not able to work in stress mode 24/7, stress is not invented for that. He is in order to run away from the lion, and then have a rest without stress.
With the brain things are even worse. Did you read Shekley in the “Civilization of the Statute”, where all people go through subconscious zombies as a child, which causes them, after committing a crime, to convict themselves and go to prison to serve their sentences? There, the main character was the only witness to the murder and, in the role of a judge, naturally decided “that this guy does not inspire confidence, and no one can confirm his innocence,” after which he condemned himself to life and went to the place of punishment. Laughing with laughter, but the fact is that in our subconscious mind this kind of judge has long been “stitched” at the gene level, who can also pass a death sentence. There is also a hangman in the subconscious mind, and you must have heard of him. His name is depression.
So, if the dopamine level is kept at a low level for a long time, our subconscious mind examines the case and passes a sentence - such a loser has nothing to do in this world, after which the executioner is activated, and we start looking with interest at the sleeping pills and unsafe exits to the roofs of tall buildings.
BUT IN LONG-TERM, THE LOW DOPAMIN LEVEL IS THIS WHAT THE SUBJECT TO THE MANAGER WHO KEEPS OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONES DOES!
So, is it really surprising that the birthplace of modern management theory — the USA, a theory that in particular speaks about the effectiveness of workers outside their comfort zone — is also a place where stress and depression are problems of national scale? And is it so strange that another country, which uses the same management theory with religious passion - Japan, also suffers from stress and depression on a massive scale. Why be surprised? This is not at all a consequence of an intensive economy, this is what managers are taught.
And one more interesting observation. Modern studies (for example, from the Nationa Institute of Drug Abuse) say that the passivity of brain zones responsible for consciousness is of great importance in the formation of drug addiction. They did not take it from the ceiling, but by scanning the brain activity (fMRI scan) from normal people and drug addicts, including the former. Simply put, the consciousness is able to “shout down” the subconscious and “build” it, if it behaves badly, therefore, for people with active consciousness, the formation of drug addiction is much slower, and the chances of cure are much higher. Literally, “when forming addiction and treating it from it, it’s not so much the power of the subconscious mind as it is in the weakness of consciousness.” I’m wondering if this is related to the fact that most managers don’t like independently thinking “clever men”? After all, with active consciousness, the formation of dependencies is more difficult, and therefore it is much more difficult to drive it into stress and the “zone of efficiency”. He simply looks at the facts and concludes that “you are the boss, you are a fool”, which may not be a comfort zone for him, but he is not a zone of increased efficiency ...
- You probably heard that the worker is most effective when he is kept outside his “comfort zone”. This wisdom is so common that novice managers even sometimes share it with subordinates, naturally, with a positive coloring, like a “challenge”, rather than manipulative behavior. That is, if you are employed by a company, say, as a toilet cleaner, and your ideal is to remain a toilet cleaner until retirement, calmly and honestly doing your job, then still this will not suit your manager. Because if you, with your salary of $ 7 an hour for cleaning the toilet bowls, will breathe in the back of the head those who receive $ 6 an hour and want your work, then you can work calmly, but you can clean out much more toilet bowls per shift. Well, or write more code there.
The science of management truthfully warns you - keep people out of the comfort zone, but make sure that they do not “burn out at work” (burn out), but who is listening to warnings when your future things depend on the number of cleaned toilet bowls (or, again, written code) boost? Moreover, who knows what it is to "burn at work"? Is this an artistic expression? There were artists, -mine ... And I have uncleaned toilet bowls here! However, this is a very important "but", and here's why.
')
The idea of ​​keeping people “outside the comfort zone” is actually an ancient one in itself. The sayings “keep them on their toes” and “that’s the wolf in the forest so the shepherd wouldn’t sleep” reflect the antiquity of this tradition. However, as an element of management theory, it appeared only with the theory of management itself, that is, in the twentieth century. And intuitively and so perfectly clear how it works. However, now, with the accumulated knowledge of the biochemistry of the brain, we can take a look at how this all is arranged inside and what gears cling to which ones, producing the said effect. And it turns out that by looking in this way you can learn new and interesting things, which I am going to talk about. So what?
When a manager keeps a subordinate out of the comfort zone, it activates the rewards mechanism of our brain, in the center of which is the neurotransmitter dopamine - the culprit of all human dependencies from cocaine and marijuana to alcohol and cigarettes and a number of completely natural addictions, such as sex. Which of them are closer to the management - judge for yourself, but the company, frankly, is entertaining.
Dopamine is released by the end of the axon at the synapse and irritates the dopamine receptors on another neuron that it concerns. At the same time, it also sucks domamine from the synapse so that it does not accumulate there. Above this, an axon from another neuron releasing another substance - GABA - which suppresses the excitation caused by dopamine often turns out to be next to it. This is a kind of brake pedal in our reward and reward system, where dopamine acts as a gas pedal. Most drugs, as well as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, as well as many antidepressants, manipulate the release of dopamine, its taking back, its perception, as well as release, fence back and the perception of GABA. By the way, antidepressants in this company is not accidental, but more on that later.
Unlike drugs, management, like sex, leaves these processes mostly as they are, and is based on more ancient and natural mechanisms for manipulating the chemistry of dopamine. The normal operation of the reward system and rewards of our brain works like a burglar alarm - when everything is normal, a current should flow through the wire and, accordingly, a normal dopamine level should be present, transmitting a signal from one neuron to another. If the current in the circuit is interrupted, an alarm sounds, red lights come on, a siren turns on and people start running around screaming and panic, trying to figure out what happened and prevent the danger. Approximately the same picture begins in our brain when the level of dopamine falls. That is, the “reward system” is actually a “misnomen,” a misleading term. In fact, with few exceptions, such as sex or a delicious dinner, she administers not so much rewards — which are more or less constantly present as punishment, by overlapping dopamine.
Why does it block oxygen for us, sorry, dopamine? In fact, the list of "sins" is not so great and "stitched" in our genes. First of all, this is of course basic things, like the absence of sex or the roar of a lion in a nearby grove. Well, or whatever it is in military humor, “imagine you are in an open field, and suddenly a tank is shown around the corner ...” In such cases, the dopamine level drops, causing you to take active steps. If the lion has eaten you, then the dopamine level does not play a big role, but if you managed to escape, or a grenade was found on the tank, then the reward system will give you dopamine a little bit for a short time, and you will be fine. By the way, the same mechanism works, for example, when winning a sporting event. In addition to such basic incentives, the system also responds to secondary, but still stitched in our genes criteria, for example, group recognition, praise or condemnation of other people, a sense of belonging to a group. It is on these buttons that managers play when they are holding you “outside the comfort zone”.
If you notice, the dopamine system is not designed for long-term effort. It serves to develop long-term patterns of behavior (behave well in society, be a caring spouse or spouse, do not go to the grove with lions, and if there are tanks in your savanna, keep a grenade with you, and so on), but it is based on microscales and micro achievements. The whip should be replaced by gingerbread, and the gingerbread by whip. The fall of dopamine drives us to action, to research the environment and to find and achieve a solution that can be achieved at the cost of overvoltage and stress. In a natural environment, this is justified - having run away from the lion, it is quite possible to hang on the tail from the branch and chew a delicious banana, resting and rejuvenating.
And what happens if dopamine levels are kept low artificially, which, for example, happens when drug addicts refuse drugs? But it turns out that neither the brain nor the body can withstand it. The body is simply not able to work in stress mode 24/7, stress is not invented for that. He is in order to run away from the lion, and then have a rest without stress.
With the brain things are even worse. Did you read Shekley in the “Civilization of the Statute”, where all people go through subconscious zombies as a child, which causes them, after committing a crime, to convict themselves and go to prison to serve their sentences? There, the main character was the only witness to the murder and, in the role of a judge, naturally decided “that this guy does not inspire confidence, and no one can confirm his innocence,” after which he condemned himself to life and went to the place of punishment. Laughing with laughter, but the fact is that in our subconscious mind this kind of judge has long been “stitched” at the gene level, who can also pass a death sentence. There is also a hangman in the subconscious mind, and you must have heard of him. His name is depression.
So, if the dopamine level is kept at a low level for a long time, our subconscious mind examines the case and passes a sentence - such a loser has nothing to do in this world, after which the executioner is activated, and we start looking with interest at the sleeping pills and unsafe exits to the roofs of tall buildings.
BUT IN LONG-TERM, THE LOW DOPAMIN LEVEL IS THIS WHAT THE SUBJECT TO THE MANAGER WHO KEEPS OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONES DOES!
So, is it really surprising that the birthplace of modern management theory — the USA, a theory that in particular speaks about the effectiveness of workers outside their comfort zone — is also a place where stress and depression are problems of national scale? And is it so strange that another country, which uses the same management theory with religious passion - Japan, also suffers from stress and depression on a massive scale. Why be surprised? This is not at all a consequence of an intensive economy, this is what managers are taught.
And one more interesting observation. Modern studies (for example, from the Nationa Institute of Drug Abuse) say that the passivity of brain zones responsible for consciousness is of great importance in the formation of drug addiction. They did not take it from the ceiling, but by scanning the brain activity (fMRI scan) from normal people and drug addicts, including the former. Simply put, the consciousness is able to “shout down” the subconscious and “build” it, if it behaves badly, therefore, for people with active consciousness, the formation of drug addiction is much slower, and the chances of cure are much higher. Literally, “when forming addiction and treating it from it, it’s not so much the power of the subconscious mind as it is in the weakness of consciousness.” I’m wondering if this is related to the fact that most managers don’t like independently thinking “clever men”? After all, with active consciousness, the formation of dependencies is more difficult, and therefore it is much more difficult to drive it into stress and the “zone of efficiency”. He simply looks at the facts and concludes that “you are the boss, you are a fool”, which may not be a comfort zone for him, but he is not a zone of increased efficiency ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/12922/
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