4 Ways Neuroscience Can Enhance Project Management

Andrew Filev is the CEO and founder of Wrike, Inc.

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Topics: Communications Management, Knowledge Management, Lessons Learned, Talent Management

A recent Gallup survey asserts that four out of five workers worldwide are not delivering their full potential to their organizations. Why? Because they’re disengaged. In fact, it’s estimated that the U.S. economy loses up to $350 billion every year due to the lower productivity of disengaged employees.

As project managers, we need to pay attention to this urgent issue. But more than that, we should know why it’s happening and learn how we can re-engage our teams. This is where neuroscience becomes a valuable resource. It isn't as complicated as it might seem initially, and the knowledge of our brain’s wiring provides us with practical insight into how best to motivate our team and improve teamwork.

Based on extensive reading and my personal experience, these are my top four suggestions on how neuroscience can help improve your project management:

1. Old habits are harder to break, so make new ones...slowly. We want our teams to be more productive. Yet our most common barriers to productivity are often poor work habits that need to be changed or replaced. Experts show that it is actually easier to create a completely new habit than it is to break an old one and replace it. In fact, MIT's McGovern Institute demonstrates that previously broken behaviors can quickly re-emerge when triggered.

Realize though that it will require an …

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