Trump, Biden and Why We Need to Boost Brain Health in the Workplace

Cognitive Decline is having a moment…if only it could find its keys.

Explosive fears about President Biden’s mental acuity and Trump’s ongoing intellectual challenges are bringing renewed focus to the topic of what happens to our brains as they age. Candidates for POTUS are under a unique microscope that heightens every flaw, but cognitive decline potentially affects everyone, in every workplace. Organizations need a strategy and tools to address and combat these risks.

We mostly think of mental acuity changes through the prism of age. Alzeheimers and other kinds of dementia are growing rapidly, in tandem with an aging population. By 2050 over 130 million will suffer from the disease worldwide. Drugmakers are pushing to bring new solutions to market, though they are not especially effective. Brain training games and other interventions have had some more success, but many questions still remain. In short, we don’t have much of a cure on the horizon.

Scientists do, however, have a pretty good idea of some things that appear protective against cognitive decline:

1. Cognitive Training and Challenges

2. Social Connection

3. Physical Activity

In an in-person work environment, 1 and 2 are usually present by default. Depending on the kind of work, physical activity may be a job requirement or something the company has made easily accessible. Regardless, in a hybrid or remote environment, neither social connection or exercise are easily achieved. Once we add in the generalized, increasing stress of our world today, it is clear that our workplaces may not be doing all they can to avoid triggers for cognitive decline and poor decision making.

And this is key: while Dementia is generally a disease of the elderly, Mild Cognitive Impairment and reduced cognitive ability can happen at any age. All increase with risk as we get older, but aren’t fully excluded from any group. And with the aging of the working population, there’s no question the aggregate risk here is increasing. As the business world gets more complex, the need for excellence in decision making will also continue to grow. 

What can/should employers do?

Promoting physical and mental health among employees has great benefits to the company as a whole. But one underappreciated phenomenon that can promote both - and improve cognition - is the twin powers of fun and friendship at the workplace.

Promote Cognitive Fun

There are lots of opportunities to bring fun into the workplace. Though it’s especially challenging for remote/hybrid teams, making time for folks to do something enjoyable together is critical. Often, these activities are positioned as the far opposite of work: meals, sporting events, casual outings. While all of those are great and shouldn’t be ignored - more cognitively oriented fun can be an excellent way to “work some vegetables” into that delicious meal. Trivia, escape rooms, puzzling all present excellent ways to engage teams in a fun and gamified way while ensuring there is some cognitive benefit.

Be Friend Forward

Social connections help employees to be happier, more productive and more loyal to their employers. In fact, having a best friend at work can make you up to 7x more engaged. This same phenomenon of friendship has the added benefit of promoting longer term cognitive health and medium-term decision making excellence. When there are deep and abiding friendships at work, everyone wins.

Putting friendship at the forefront of employee culture is an increasingly popular strategy used by leading employers. What do they do to foster this culture without creating a forced sense of camaraderie?

The Friend Forward Framework shows that we can transform relationships in the workplace with MOSS:

1. Money/Time: Ensure that every financial and time expenditure on group activities is equally matched by opportunities to develop 1:1 or smaller group friendships. Simply put, if the company pays to send a group bowling, allow folks to do the same with a smaller cohort. 

2. Openness: Allow friendships and mentorships to develop organically and with the organization’s explicit or implicit support. You don’t need to have a formal friendship program, but you do need to foster a climate where employees feel comfortable becoming friends and knowing it’s ok.

3. Skills: Many employees, especially younger ones, may not have friend-making skills and the ability to sustain relationships appropriately. Moreover, if you have a hybrid/remote workplace, you likely have additional skills challenges that are novel. Invest in actual friendship development training for your teams. 

4. Support: Conflict resolution and counseling resources will be necessary to support higher-bandwidth and higher-quality connections between employees. This may seem fraught at first, it’s important to note that avoidance (the likely current status quo) doesn’t breed less conflict, it just sweeps it under the rug. Offering this directly without judgment can be hugely helpful for organizational function. 

In Summary

Making our workplaces more fun and Friend Forward only has upside for the organization. In general, a focus on these cultural values and cultural transformation is a low-cost, high efficiency way to boost morale, engagement, productivity and quality of connection.

Furthermore, as intellectual capabilities become ever more important, and cognitive decline continues to gain more attention in an aging workforce, new challenges will emerge. But I’d argue that the crisis is already here - we’re just not paying enough attention to it to notice. 

Whatever happens to our elderly Presidential candidates aside, the best time to foster cognitive resilience is before the challenges emerge. Because at some point, it might be too late to reverse the decline, and we’re going to be left with some uncomfortable choices. 

I’m Here to Help

If you’re interested in building a more Friend Forward organization - fostering connections and real friendships in the workplace for improved productivity and wellness - I’d love to help you. I have a range of talks, workshops and frameworks that can really help drive outcomes. Reach out to me and be sure to subscribe here on substance.