How Coherence Helps Professionals
Achieving a state of coherence — an alignment of one’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior — can have a strong positive impact on business professionals. By learning how to put all these elements in sync, business professionals and leaders can reap many significant benefits, such as:
Enhanced cognitive skills, including capacity for strategic thinking
Elevated level of energy, vitality, and zest
Lower risk of energy-draining, burnout, and fatigue
Improved reaction times and self-regulation
Increased sense of security and self-confidence
Increased sense of fulfillment
Enhanced immunity and increased resilience
Reduced performance-related anxiety
Experience living a more authentic version of oneself
Better relationships and overall cohesion within the team
Ability to utilize synergies and partnerships both within and without the organization.
The first step to achieving a state of coherence is physiological, and it involves a focus on the heart. The human heart generates electromagnetic pulses, which then interact with the brain. In fact, through its complex nervous system, the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. The signals which the human heart sends out to the brain directly reach several parts of the brain, including the amygdala, the cortex, the thalamus, and the medulla. These signals affect both emotional processing and higher cognitive faculties, including attention, perception, long-term memory, and problem-solving. Only in a state of coherence are people able to have full control over their energy, directing it efficiently and not allowing it to dissipate.
A disordered, erratic, or chaotic heart rhythm results in an incoherent pattern of neural signals sent from the heart to the brain. So, when we are stressed, the ‘message’ sent from the heart to the brain inhibits or blocks the rational brain (neocortex). As a result, our higher cognitive processes, and our capacity to perceive accurately, think clearly, process logically and decide effectively, get compromised. Emotional processing also gets affected, leading to a lack of emotional self-regulation and bouts of impulsive behavior. On the other hand, regular, ordered, and stable heartbeat patterns send coherent signals to the brain, enhancing the higher cognitive functions and reinforcing emotional well-being.
According to Dr. Alan Watkins, CEO of Complete Coherence and thought leader in the area of coherent leadership, the heart is “the single most vital influence on performance, the most vital aspect of our existence,” due to the fact that it generates and sends to the brain stronger electrical signals than any other organ in the body. Learning how to control Heart Rate Variability (HRV) leads to exceptional gains in cognitive performance — especially in perception and decision-making, which are key to business performance and success.
In a state of coherence, when the physical body, emotions, thoughts, and behavior are aligned, one has access to their innate or natural intelligence — sometimes termed intuitive intelligence. Access to this true intelligence enables deep healing to take place, provides the resources required for success, and triggers a profound personal transformation. Tapping into this true intelligence is a prerequisite for creativity, innovation, and manifesting a future according to one’s design.
Effective communication is essential in any business environment; communication problems represent a significant business risk. Employees who can shift into a coherent state and sustain coherence over a longer period are better listeners, less prone to misunderstand or overreact, more adaptable to change, and more open to perspectives different from their own.
Individuals who achieve a state of coherence, possess a harmonious, consistent, and strong personal electro-magnetic ‘signature,’ which can be detected by the nervous system of any person in our environment. In this way, business leaders and professionals contribute to a phenomenon known as ‘group coherence.’ Business teams with a high level of group coherence have solid interpersonal relationships, they are well-aligned to the company’s vision, mission, and goals, and are high achievers due to the amplifying effect of their work. Employees of a coherent team ‘row their boat together,’ have ‘laser-like focus’ on the task at hand, they are more efficient, innovative, and creative.
A state of psychophysiological coherence positively impacts one’s leadership skills and performance. When a business leader shifts their default mode of functioning from the tensed, ‘fight-or-flight’ state to a state of coherence, many changes. The leader becomes less self-centered and more open to exploring new ideas, partnerships, and innovative approaches to doing business. The leader also becomes more capable of recognizing and creating synergies (within the team, as well as within external stakeholders). Coherent leaders are capable of being present in the here and now, thus not allowing the past to be the sole determinant of the future direction of the business. Their decision-making is not biased and based on negative experiences; they have the energy, zest, trust, and confidence to consider change, embrace new approaches, and set ambitious business targets. Coherent leaders do not intimidate, nor embrace an autocratic leadership style — they are empathetic and supportive of their employees.
It is therefore of utmost importance for any business professional to learn how to turn negative, depleting, and fear-based emotions (such as anxiety, distrust, anger, frustration, and resentment) into positive, rejuvenating ones (joy, enthusiasm, gratitude, empathy, and inspiration), through the tools and methods of achieving a state of coherence.
Sources
Business of Well-Being: Getting to The "Heart" Of Employee Health by Ed Harrold (https://www.corporatewellnessmagazine.com/article/getting-heart-employee-health)
The Role of Heart Rate Variability in Business and Leadership by Alan Watkins (https://www.hrzone.com/community-voice/blogs/alan-watkins/the-role-of-heart-rate-variability-in-business-and-leadership)
How Heart Intelligence Can Change the Way You Think and Innovate—Does innovation come from the brain or the heart? By Tracy Leigh Hazzard (https://www.inc.com/tracy-leigh-hazzard/how-heart-intelligence-can-change-way-you-think-innovate.html)
The Heart's Electromagnetic Field Is Your Superpower—Training Heart-Brain Coherence by Jessica I. Morales (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/building-the-habit-hero/202011/the-hearts-electromagnetic-field-is-your-superpower)
Coherent Leadership: How Your Physiology Impacts Your Leadership by Tyler Mongan (http://blog.smallgiants.org/coherent-leadership-how-your-physiology-impacts-your-leadership)
Are You in A Leadership Role? Here's What You Need to Know About Your Brain by Christine Comaford (https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2016/07/02/are-you-in-a-leadership-role-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-your-brain/?sh=5f9ce64f4daf)