The Academy of Brain-Based Leadership

In today’s business environment, the main issues organizations face while ensuring organizational performance are fostering workplace diversity, navigating employees through stress, and developing employee retention strategies. It is essential to understand the human brain to address these issues effectively and empower individuals to perform to their maximum potential. Consequently, it creates a massive unmet need for an organization like The Academy of Brain-Based Leadership that employs scientific methodologies for leadership development and personal growth.

The Academy of Brain-Based Leadership is a leadership development organization that translates neuroscientific research into a platform to train executives, managers and their teams. It offers scientific-based training techniques to encourage intentional behavior, inclusive workplace culture, and a psychologically safe workplace. In addition, these techniques enhance employee retention and create a more inclusive, less stressful work environment.

“People are fascinated by their brains, and the fact that our approach is neuroscience-based is a primary reason it is successful,” says Leonie Hull, co-founder and CEO of The Academy of Brain-Based Leadership.

The training methodology adopted by The Academy of Brain-Based Leadership to ensure a safe, non-toxic work environment follows the philosophy of ‘one brain at a time’. It segregates the establishment of psychological safety in the workplace into four levels of hierarchy: self, relationship, team and culture. Psychological safety is traditionally a team phenomenon; however, in this approach, the individual level or ‘one brain’ is the starting point of the training. This is followed by the relationship between the individual and their close peers.

The third level comprises the relationship with the whole team, and the final level is how the organization fosters and supports a psychological safety culture.

For a healthier work culture at all levels, there are three core areas in the methodology psychological safety; diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging; and wellness and resilience.

On an individual level, the Academy of Brain-based Leadership has formulated the S.A.F.E.T.Y.^™ model to understand and manage psychological safety.

The S.A.F.E.T.Y.^™ model represents five neuroscience-based psychological safety drivers; Security, Autonomy, Fairness, Esteem, and Trust.

The model’s primary function is to quantify what drivers are most important to an individual to establish psychological safety, this is done through a validated S.A.F.E.T.Y.™ self-assessment questionnaire.

People are fascinated by their brains, and the fact that our approach is neuroscience-based is one of the primary reasons it is successful

The Academy of Brain-based Leadership also runs workshops, online learning and seminars on establishing psychological safety based on this model. Through this training, it ensures a comprehensive understanding of the value proposition, and methodology among learners at all levels of the organizational hierarchy. For leaders, the Academy of Brain-based Leadership has also developed a holistic leadership toolkit that assists them in establishing psychological safety within their teams.

The success of The Academy of Brain-based Leadership’s neuroscience-based methodology can be seen, for example, in how it helped office equipment manufacturer Herman Miller Group with their sales department. Its training helped them mitigate bias, manage uncertainty and enhance engagement among employees, especially during the pandemic.

Following the training, they had an annual engagement survey where the sales department outperformed all other departments. The Academy of Brain-based Leadership also has some of the top Silicon Valley technology companies in its highly accredited client portfolio, with whom its scientific, data driven approach resonates.

It is adaptive and open-minded, encouraging the deployment of changes brought by the latest innovations in neuroscience. Its ability to create meaningful, persistent change through tangible action items offers The Academy of Brain-based Leadership has a considerable advantage over its competitors in the market for brain-based organizational development.