What are neurochemical cocktails and how can they help us run more inclusive workshops?
Our Director of Coaching, Gemma Honour, recently ran an interactive webinar with Agile Coach, Myron Parks. In it they explored what it means to be neurodivergent and how we can support each other and aid communication, especially in the workplace, by understanding neuroscience. You can watch the webinar on-demand over at AWA Global.
Towards the end of the webinar, Gemma and Myron shared their ‘neurochemical cocktails’ model. They developed this together, as part of the Innovation and Leadership Mastery program. It is a way of looking at creating workshops that activate certain neurochemicals in the brain. By doing this, we can optimise for different states.
Their model and thinking was developed from research based on Neuroscience for Coaches by Amy Brann.
Gemma & Myron developed a ‘neurochemical cocktails menu’ to help facilitators and coaches to plan workshops using different activities to target and ‘trigger’ neurochemical states that will help arrive at specific outcomes.
For example, let’s say you want to run a workshop for a completely new brand. You want to optimise for creativity, so you choose to create that kind of ‘cocktail’, adding a shot of dopamine and a splash of aminobutyric acid. The first will put your participants in a moreish mood and the second will activate their focus or flow state.
So, how can you target these neurochemicals? Well, you might consider choosing the following activities for your creative workshop…
- Start with a mindful check-in
- Listen to some music
- Provide a choice of materials for people to use
- Break down your activity into small tasks with visible output
Find out more…
Our experienced coaches are experts at targeting these different neurochemicals and helping everyone to feel safe, included and able to contribute and add value.
If you’d like a free copy of Gemma and Myron’s ‘neurochemical cocktails’ menu, please fill in the short form below and we will email you a copy.
Neurochemical cocktails menu
Finally, contact us to find out how we can help you make your organisation more inclusive and harness the power of neurodiversity!