Cognitive Strategist Natalie Mackenzie
Image Source: Natalie Mackenzie

Partner Article

Cognitive profiling: why understanding this can be key for leaders and their team's success.


Brain anatomy is unique to all, differing from one person-or employee to the next. Yet, understanding an individuals brain's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the way they retain information, can have a huge impact on their worklife-from improving productivity to helping tackle decision fatigue.

Whilst you might expect this to be the individual's responsibility, investing time and resources in cognitive profiling can actually reap real rewards for businesses too.

As a cognitive strategist for businesses and professionals, I advise on how HR teams can learn to better encourage understanding of the uniqueness of brain profiles, in order to support their employees to have the best cognitive health-and the impact this can have on retention, staff satisfaction and productivity is huge! 

Whether you're part of a HR team for a large company, a senior leader or managing a team, an understanding of how to support strong cognitive health is vital, and it's important to be able to develop long-term strategies for growth and development which can be a key factor towards a company’s future success. Ultimately, the primary role of HR and leaders is to care for employees; so an understanding of the brain cognition of your staff (and of course your own brain) is within everyone's best interest. 

Being conscious of cognitive health by raising its awareness across departments, and through steady assessment and proactive measures, means you can enable employees to perform at their peak—benefiting both personal growth and business success. Just like physical fitness, each person has a unique cognitive profile composed of strengths and areas of weakness. The benefits lie in workplaces supporting people to identify where they excel, recognise areas that may need intervention, and encourage implementation of long-term strategies to protect and enhance overall brain function.

Try to think of cognitive profile as a blueprint of how the brain processes information—how people solve problems, manage stress, collaborate, and think creatively. Here are three actionable steps to assist HR to maximise the cognitive health among workers 


Implement a system where employees give each other feedback in peer groups.

Setting up a peer to peer programme in which people can offer each other valuable perspectives on how cognitive patterns play on a day to day basis can be a great way to allow people to better understand their brains strengths and weaknesses. Don’t underestimate the value of gaining an outside input from others - peers can often spot blind spots in their colleagues cognitive health,  so promoting a system in which feedback, especially in areas like communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution can really improve an individual’s cognitive awareness.  

Invest in Cognitive Audits for Staff .

Setting aside time for people to reflect upon their mental habits and behavioral patterns can be a really valuable use of time. It could be by simply encouraging practices like journaling or mindfulness which can reveal recurring themes, thus allowing people to see a window in how they make decisions and handle challenges. For a more structured approach, consider investing in cognitive health assessments for all staff. The goal for any kind of cognitive auditing that you set up that it goes beyond stress relief or general wellness—it’s about allowing people to gain a deep insight into their cognitive strengths and vulnerabilities to be a better version of themselves, both at work and home.

Raise awareness of cognitive health throughout the organisation

Be mindful that understanding cognitive function is a continuous process and not a one-off initiative to try-it's key for workplaces to stay current with updates in neuroscience and psychology, which all helps people to apply evidence-based strategies to improve their brain health and performance at work. This benefits both the  Consider inviting guest speakers in to share strategies when planning staff awareness and wellbeing days; sharing cognition tips in weekly newsletters and actively discussing brain cognition in meetings with leadership teams.

A true understanding of how the brain works is the best asset people have —investing in its function and health isn’t optional as a business, it’s strategic.


 

 

 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by NATALIE MACKENZIE .

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