Adrenaline and Oxytocin: The Hidden Forces Driving Digital Transformation

Yesterday I attend the event “Connect Green” from the Green Industry Cluster (Mannheim, Germany) where the main topic was “transformation”. In that particular endeavor the focus was on the processes that lead companies towards being more “green”.

While the primary focus was on connecting regional companies to collaborate and share insights about their challenges and solutions on the journey to sustainability, the main findings I gathered are equally applicable to digital transformation:

• Transformation by itself is a concept that does not exist. In fact the acting of changing and transforming is happening, no matter if we want it or not – or even if we recognize it or not.
  
• The efforts into trying to stop the change –  anyhow happening  – are proportional to the prices you going to pay afterwards if you didn’t change. Because you either become obsolete and your product does not respond to new needs or, even worse, you made efforts to cover your shortcomings and became not corrupt (the WW scandal was cited as example).
  
• If you are not changing, the world around you is going to make you change. The conditions are evolving around everyone, every day, every second. If a company does not see and does not act proactively, the conditions are going to push the change anyhow.
  
• The change or “transformation” happen only as a Society. It is not a “stand-alone” process, it is possible through the working together of many actors, organisations and ultimately people.
  
• Innovation is only driven through trust. Only if people feel safe enough to open and share ideas and most importantly do mistakes, change and innovation happens.
  

I can rely totally to this learning during my experience in digital transformation projects.

From very small to large cross-countries implementation projects, I identified two kind of reactions from people, that play different roles to the success of the projects.

The enthusiastic but “naive” reaction

Luckily most of the people have this reaction. They are jumping right in and are exiting about the new ideas and tools, they are in in favor of trying new things and truly supporting.

Often those are also the peers whose expertises and often responsibilities are somewhere else. So they are happy to help as long as it doesn’t impact too much in their day to day lives.

Social Bonding and Oxytocin Release

Studies indicate that oxytocin release, stimulated by positive social interactions, can reduce anxiety and promote a sense of well-being, aiding in smoother adaptation to change.

For this reason, you might want to use the opportunity of transformation projects to get as many enthusiastic people in connection as possible. Meaning creating opportunities to gather, work together, exchange and socialize, especially bringing together people who might not be in their usual working team list. The effects of working together in a digital project is helping their mood and enjoyment in the company as well.

What do to to engage with them? Groups meetings and socializing events

In the range of affordable budget, the key to bring them on board is absolutely the social aspects. It can be in range of virtual touch-points or having once a year a one-day gathering, most important, you want this project to be successful you need to engage them in being together.

The “we have always done in this way” but more realistic reaction

Thoese are the fewer people but highly affected. They maybe help build the system / tool in place so are still emotionally very attached. You can tell because when you only talk about the topic, not even mentioning any change, they are very defensive and insecure. The risk is that those “actors” just block and will oppose no matter what, just for the sake of standing by their choices and past.

This is a completely understandable and human behavior at personal level, but unfortunately does not help change projects moving forward.

How to handle them? With “Recognition-Adrenaline” spikes

When individuals receive positive social feedback or recognition, it can trigger an emotional response that leads to the release of adrenaline. This hormone is released by the adrenal glands in response to signals from the brain, particularly from areas involved in the emotional and stress response, such as the amygdala and the hypothalamus.

Research indicates that positive social interactions and achievements can activate the body’s stress response system, leading to adrenaline release.

This is not only limited to negative stress but also includes positive experiences that challenge or excite the individual.

• Study Example: A study on the effects of social stress and recognition found that both negative and positive social interactions can increase adrenaline levels. The recognition triggers an emotional response that leads to physiological arousal, including increased adrenaline levels (Sapolsky, 2004).
• A study by McEwen (2007) discusses how positive social interactions can buffer against stress by modulating the HPA axis, reducing cortisol levels, and maintaining a healthier stress response​ (Very Big Brain)​.
• Hormonal Changes: Positive recognition can lead to the release of both dopamine and adrenaline, contributing to the feelings of pleasure and heightened alertness (McEwen, 2007).

What to do to engage them? Giving Responsibility and Ownership

Since those people are normally also the key ones for the success of the transformation, as holding the expert “authority” and political knowledge in companies/industry, not having them on board is not an option.

Worse thing that can happen is they become “quite” when understand that the company has taken the decision but become deeply against it and resentful. So they will do anything possible to boicot and criticize no matter what, becoming a really huge obstacle.

I have to admit, this is also something that I understood too late, since I have worked with many people who reacted in this way. The only possible and reasonable solution is to put them in charge and give them total trust and flexibility and most importantly ownership and responsibility. This not only validate their capabilities and expertise but also include them first-hand in the transformation, giving the visibility and recognition they deserve.  

Digital Resilience

In a recent article famous tech savy Karmales Lardi, she speaks about the concept of digital resilience as the ability of an organization to not only adapt but also strive in the technological change. She especially focus on leadership and identifies following characteristics from “resilient leaders”:

• Exemplify resilience in their actions.
• Embrace change and promote a culture of continuous learning.
• Decision-making is delegated to smaller cross-functional teams to encourage entrepreneurship.
• Commit to innovation and allow teams to stay accountable in their unique ways.
• Builds trust, enabling teams to confidently handle uncertainty and challenges.
• Fosters an innovation mindset among employees, contributing to a resilient organizational culture.

Conclusion

We are animals but live lives that are very different from “animalisch environment”. Lucklly most of us don’t run always from life-or-death situations all the time or have to be constant vigilant for predators. Our stress sources are now a days different but yet the reaction of  our body is still the same, it still produces the same hormones as reaction of stress.

Adrenaline for example provides essential benefits in acute stress responses and certain medical applications, its long-term effects, especially under chronic stress conditions, can be detrimental to cognitive health and overall well-being.

Additionally, the release of oxytocin during positive social interactions, such as recognition and support, plays a crucial role in mitigating stress and enhancing social bonding. This hormone promotes trust and reduces anxiety, contributing to improved resilience and better adaptation to change. Thus, balancing the benefits of adrenaline with the calming effects of oxytocin is essential for maintaining overall health and facilitating successful adaptation in stressful situations.

Biologically, recognition and social interaction during a change process activates positive hormonal responses that enhance mood, reduce stress, and improve cognitive function. Psychologically, this combination fosters motivation, engagement, and resilience.

Together, these effects support individuals in navigating and adapting to change more effectively, contributing to the overall success of the change process.

Disclaimer: my scientific research and summaries were made with my own GPT. I talked about it here–