Project overview
This project develops and pilots a neurally-informed, multi-level approach to understanding leadership learning, adaptability, and strategic coordination in senior leaders. Integrating social neuroscience and leadership science, the project examines how leaders detect errors, process feedback, generate and implement strategy, and align with others in real time, rather than relying solely on self-report or static competency models. The primary goal is to test the feasibility of recording high-quality neural data in boardroom-like settings and to establish a shared conceptual language between neuroscientists and senior leaders. The project first combines leadership-relevant self-report measures with EEG indices of error monitoring and feedback sensitivity. Second, it examines how individuals neurally align with others during strategic negotiation using dyadic EEG hyperscanning. Third, it uses naturalistic leadership conversations to examine how leaders generate, communicate, and adapt strategy in real time. Fourth, it pilots a novel “boardroom” hyperscanning paradigm that extends neural measurement beyond the dyad to examine how senior leadership teams become neurally aligned during real-time strategic decision-making. The neuroscience of leadership remains nascent and has relied heavily on self-report measures, simulated decision scenarios, student samples, and highly controlled laboratory interactions. As a result, little is known about the neural processes underlying strategic thinking, adaptability, feedback responsiveness, and interpersonal alignment among senior leaders in real organisational settings. The six-month pilot will generate proof-of-concept data, paradigms, and organisational partnerships to support future ESRC Standard Grant and Knowledge Transfer Partnership applications, laying foundations for a new interdisciplinary approach to understanding leadership and strategic coordination in real-world organisational contexts.
