Neuroscience for Coaches

Coaching and Neuroscience

Business or life coaches help people become their best. Understanding brain behavior can help them guide people more effectively. The behaviors that coaches work to change rest on a neurological structure, so coaches must understand the basics of neuroscience. The field advances rapidly, generating new data and understanding, such as insights into human neuroplasticity – how the brain changes in response to a person’s experiences. Neuroscience offers coaches a fresh picture of what happens as they do their work with those they coach.

Brain Regions, Models and Networks

The prefrontal cortex is the brain’s “CEO” – responsible for reason, judgment and impulse control. It is important for planning, making decisions, aligning behavior with social norms, and aligning thoughts and actions with goals. It consumes a lot of energy, tires out quickly and doesn’t work well under stress. To help the prefrontal cortex function strongly, choose behaviors that increase focus, like prioritizing and eliminating distractions. In a similar way, different areas of the brain are relevant in coaching about various behaviors...