“By unpacking the neuroscience of stress, for example, companies can find new ways to dramatically improve the productivity of their knowledge workers and thus gain a competitive edge.”- John J. Medina

When employers ponder how to best use technology to improve productivity first thoughts are along the lines of what hot mobile gadget will help them manage their time better, what website design will get the most traffic, or what new photocopier will best serve the needs of their office. Unfortunately, this myopic view of technology focused that is only on immediate benefits to an office can ultimately hinder long-term business growth and productivity. Given the advances in brain scanning technology and neuroscience research in general, employers have the ability to understand their employees far better than ever before.

If a manager makes decisions based on current neuroscience, such as the simple finding that “less stress in employees improves memory and learning,” they will likely be ahead of the curve in the competitive game of business, especially if their competitors continue to adhere to outdated management styles and corporate structures. Two young companies that come to mind that seem to have gotten the message loud and clear that people are not robots are Google and Facebook; the former has a bowling alley in one office, and the latter apparently lets employees skate board in the office. While you may not want to implement a mandatory milk-and-nap-time policy overnight, you might find that just by offering fruit in the cafeteria is enough to combat employees’ afternoon energy dips and food comas.

Despite my strong opinion that we should all apply information about our brains and human behavior to the workplace, I am not advocating that every manager earn a certificate in psychology or hire an in-house neuroscientist. The internet has made so much information available about scientific advances that can affect productivity that to ignore this data would be unwise (be wary however of the sources on the internet still). For example, if you notice that your employees fall asleep at 2:30PM regularly, or that the number of gray hairs on their heads directly corresponds to their number of hours worked per day, then you should be examining tools to keep them alert, awake, and young and perky for as long as possible.

A possible first step to improving productivity in your office might be to offer gym discounts or throw in a few treads mills around the office. As John Median points out in his book, Brain Rules ”Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving tasks, and more.” If you get your employees a chance to move around they may be smarter afterward, which is likely to be a benefit to you. That is, unless you want employees with the intelligence level of monkeys, who as one study showed, make better investment decisions when picking stocks. Or better yet, get some treadmill or bike desks for your employees. I know that I sure would love to burn away the pizza and cookies that fuel my great ideas.

Another way to potentially use modern research to improve productivity is by understanding the strongest motivational language and the best incentives to keep your employees doing their best.  Science shows that we are super sensitive to external factors, so take advantage of this by creating the external environment most suitable for your employees whether it is giving them offices with windows or promoting team spirit by assigning projects to teams rather than individuals. And while you are doing it, make sure to communicate management’s willingness to listen to innovations or possible solutions from everyone within the company.

A final recommendation based on new neuroscience that can likely benefit managers is to have high expectations of other staff members and making sure they know it form positive behavioral signals. If you smile and tell an employee, “I am excited to see you presentation and think it will really showcase your analytical skills,” you will likely get a better presentation than if you barked, “I want the presentation by Monday and it better be better than the last one you did.” Demonstrating the efficacy of positive expectations on performance is the study described by Bella dePaulo in her article, Can Your Expectations Shape My Behavior that showed how students perform much better in class and on tests when their teachers are primed to expect high achievement from them regardless if there is any concrete reason to do so.

In conclusion, work is not entirely about suffering, and people are not merely robots. Reading up about psychology and developments in neuroscience is the equivalent of a car owner actually opening up their manual and learning how to fold down the backseats or how to program the radio. If you are trying to be an effective leader, the more information you have about how your employees’ brains work, the more effective you can be at keeping your business “machine” operating optimally.