Covid 19 – How we act and adapt to change

Covid 19 special – How we act and adapt to change

Coaching has traditionally been used to help deliver positive outcomes in areas like career development and performance improvement, however in the current climate we are seeing a greater focus on wellbeing and supporting people to understand or adapt to change. 

We are also seeing coaching sessions focus on specific topics like resilience and virtual leadership, so our recent blog posts have covered distance coaching, stress, resilience and transitioning out of lockdown. For this blog we are looking at how we naturally act and adapt to changes in the world around us and share insights from our ebook on Neuroscience and the human brain. 

In it we look at American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean, who proposed a theory of evolution for the human brain in the 1960s, called the triune brain model. He believed the triune brain is the result of successive periods of cephalization and is made up of three separate brains:

• Reptilian brain
• Paleomammalian brain (limbic system)
• Neomammalian complex (neocortex)

This hypothesis became popularized by Carl Sagan, in his 1977 Pulitzer prize winning book – The Dragons of Eden and is still embraced by some psychiatrists. However, despite more recent criticism, there is evidence to support the paleontological and evolutionary aspect of the theory. 

The Reptilian brain – is the oldest and most primitive but the most reactive. This is thought to be responsible for instinctive behavior like aggression, dominance, ritual displays and the natural instincts that kicks in when we are in danger. 

The Paleomammalian brain – refers to the interconnecting brain structures that arose early in evolution. They are responsible for our motivation and emotion involved in parental or reproductive behavior, joy and feeding. 

The Neomammalian brain – consists of the cerebral neocortex, a structure uniquely found in higher mammals. It is thought to be the most recent evolution and responsible for language, abstract and rational thought, foresight, hindsight, and insight. 

As a professional coach,  it can be helpful to understand all three of these brains and encourage your clients to nurture them on a daily basis. This will help them develop a level of consciousness to better understand if their predominant brain is instinctive, emotional or rational. 

Knowing this can help them manage stress and spot any early signals that they are not coping with the situation they are in. Learning to remove themselves from danger or stressful environments, will have a positive impact on their wellbeing and enable them to process their feelings calmly. 

And finally…

In addition to our e-book looking at Neuroscience and the human brain, we also have a blog and ebook on stress. Content is constantly being added to the site, so please check our on-line shop or read some of the other blog posts written by our team of international coaches.