Since I have been in the organizational development business, I have to admit to becoming even more fascinated about psychology, human behavior, and the neuroscience. This is a far cry from my formal education in engineering, statistics, and business. One of the biggest debates that we in the people development business get into has to do with which has the bigger effect on human performance—nurture or nature. I constantly struggle with this as I work with my clients in selecting and developing people for leadership roles.
Nature describes those characteristics that we are born with. It is our genetic makeup. Nurture refers to all those experiences that influence us through life. When it comes to physical characteristics, we are pretty much stuck with what we have. Although plastic surgery and chemistry may enable us to make some refinements to our physical makeup, there are limits.
Mental talents are a different story. I read that 95 percent of what we know about the human brain has been discovered in the last ten years. Modern technology has enabled neuroscientists to study brain function in ways that give us much greater insights into how we become who we are and what we do best. Through brain mapping, scientists have determined that we are all born with an “disconnected” or “unwired” brain. Between the ages of six weeks and six months, the brain produces about 100 billion neurons or brain cells. Each neuron then tries to connect with another neuron. These connections are called synapses. By the age of three years, about 15,000 synaptic connections have been made and these form the basis for our underlying mental talents.
This is the nature part of the development of our mental talents. Then the nurture part takes over. Between the ages of three and fifteen, we lose about 50 of these connections. Experiences and activities determine which synapses remain and which are eliminated. It basically comes down to “use it or lose it”. Brain wiring then seems to stabilize and remain constant after the middle teen years.
Since most of us who work in a business realm are working with people well beyond their middle teens, we have to recognize and accept that people’s inherent talents, attitudes, and behaviors are pretty much set when they come to us in the work force. No reasonable amount of training and development can overcome an inherent lack of talent.
This does not mean that training and development is useless. In fact it is essential to capitalizing on the latent talents that exist in each person. Everyone has talents, emotional intelligence, and competency that is hard wired into them, but not being used. The key is to have development processes that can objectively measure these talents and interventions that can develop them to a higher level.
Applying the science of synaptic connections, there are three approaches that can be used to improve performance of people. The first is to identify and reinforce the strong synaptic connections which already exist in a person and developing and utilizing these to their greatest potential. It means matching people to jobs that take advantage of their already developed mental talents. This is the most efficient and effective way to approach people development.
The second approach is to identify and work on the weak synaptic connections. In other words, try to correct the inherent weaknesses in attitudes and mental talents that exist within the person. This is not as efficient. The reason that the person has the weakness, is because of years in not using that connection. It’s like someone who hasn’t run any distance for years, and then wants to do a marathon.
The third, and least efficient approach, is to develop new synaptic connections in an adult. It is possible to form new connections later in life, but is extremely difficult and time consuming. For example, some people have the capacity for caring about other people. This is the way that their brain has been wired through the synaptic connection process. This person will have a much easier time in a profession, such as teaching or nursing, where genuine care is required. Yet there are people in these professions who do not have this talent. The likelihood that you would be able to develop someone into a caring and compassionate person is very remote.
So the question of nurture versus nature regarding our underlying talents and emotional intelligence would suggest that both are at work. The initial formation of synaptic connections seems to be random and genetic. Then, those connections which continue, and those which are eliminated, are primarily related to experiences and what we do or do not.
I would suggest that there are two significant implications for the business executives should take away from the science:
1. You are much better off trying to match the existing talents of a person to that required for a job, than trying to develop it later. Make mental talents a key component of your selection and hiring processes.
2. Be careful in using training and development programs as a way to correct inherent talent issues. Focus training and development more on identifying and utilizing existing strengths and capabilities, than trying to correct deficiencies.
Author Resource:
Ryan Scholz works with leaders whose success is dependent on getting commitment and high performance from others. He is author of Turning Potential into Action: Eight Principles for Creating a Highly Engaged Work Place. For more information, visit his web site at http://www.lead-strat-assoc.com .
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