Could your understanding of the brain's ability to change — neuroplasticity — dramatically enhance your skills as a coach? What if you could leverage this fascinating science to facilitate profound changes in your clients' thinking and behavior? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Justin "JJ" Kennedy, a TED speaker, neuroplastician, and coach. Founding member of the npnHub and the Neuroplastician Discipline, he is involved with several academic institutes as a Ph.D. coach, supervisor, and professor.
Dr. Justin "JJ" Kennedy expertise lies in behavioral neuroscience, and he is a co-founder of ION – The Institute of Organisational Neuroscience, promoting pracademic research. His focus areas include Applied Neuroplasticity and Coaching, aimed at standardizing practices in the field. He assists coaches and consultants in their journey to attain an ideal Ph.D.
In the latter part of our conversation, we navigate the emerging concept of neuroplastician certification. Defined by leading experts, this rapidly-evolving field promises to open doors of opportunities for professionals in the coaching industry. As we embark on this exploration, Dr. Kennedy unravels the creation of a community around neuroplasticity, and how resources like npnHub offer further insights. Don't miss this engaging episode as we journey through the intersections of neuroscience and coaching, unlocking the extraordinary potential of the brain in our professional lives.
Watch the full interview by clicking here
Find the full article here: https://bit.ly/BTP-JJK23
Learn more about npnHub here
Learn more about Dr. Justin Kennedy here
Grab your free issue of choice Magazine here - https://choice-online.com/
In this episode, I talk with Dr. "JJ" Kennedy about his article published in our blog.
Could your understanding of the brain's ability to change — neuroplasticity — dramatically enhance your skills as a coach? What if you could leverage this fascinating science to facilitate profound changes in your clients' thinking and behavior? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Justin "JJ" Kennedy, a TED speaker, neuroplastician, and coach. Founding member of the npnHub and the Neuroplastician Discipline, he is involved with several academic institutes as a Ph.D. coach, supervisor, and professor.
Dr. Justin "JJ" Kennedy expertise lies in behavioral neuroscience, and he is a co-founder of ION – The Institute of Organisational Neuroscience, promoting pracademic research. His focus areas include Applied Neuroplasticity and Coaching, aimed at standardizing practices in the field. He assists coaches and consultants in their journey to attain an ideal Ph.D.
In the latter part of our conversation, we navigate the emerging concept of neuroplastician certification. Defined by leading experts, this rapidly-evolving field promises to open doors of opportunities for professionals in the coaching industry. As we embark on this exploration, Dr. Kennedy unravels the creation of a community around neuroplasticity, and how resources like npnHub offer further insights. Don't miss this engaging episode as we journey through the intersections of neuroscience and coaching, unlocking the extraordinary potential of the brain in our professional lives.
Watch the full interview by clicking here
Find the full article here: https://bit.ly/BTP-JJK23
Learn more about npnHub here
Learn more about Dr. Justin Kennedy here
Grab your free issue of choice Magazine here - https://choice-online.com/
In this episode, I talk with Dr. "JJ" Kennedy about his article published in our blog.
Welcome to the choice Magazine podcast, Beyond the Page. choice, the magazine for professional coaching, is your go-to source for expert insights and in-depth features from the world of professional coaching. I'm your host, Garry Schleifer, and I'm thrilled to have you join us today. In each episode, we go beyond the page of articles published in choice or on our blog and dive deeper into some of the most recent and relevant topics impacting the world of professional coaching, exploring the content, interviewing the talented minds behind the articles and uncovering the stories that make an impact. choice is more than a magazine. For over 20 years yeah, 20 years I've been doing this. We have built a community of like-minded people who create, use and share coaching tools, tips, techniques and methodologies to add value to the business. And, of course, what do we all want? To impact our clients.
Garry Schleifer:In today's episode, I'm speaking with Dr. Justin "JJ: Kennedy, who is the author of an article that we wanted to showcase, and the article is entitled “Why is Every Great Coach a Neuroplastician.” Well, Dr. Justin Kennedy is a TED speaker, neuroplastician and coach. He is a founding member of the npn Hub and the Neuroplastician Discipline. He is involved with several academic institutes as a PhD coach, supervisor and professor. His expertise lies in guess what? Behavioral neuroscience. No coincidence there and he is a co-founder of ION, the Institute of Organizational Neuroscience, promoting pracademic research, and he's going to tell us more about that. His focus areas include applied neuroplasticity, I am going to get so tongue-tied, neuroplasticity aimed at standardizing practices in the field, and that's an amazing feat in itself. He assists coaches and consultants on their journey to entertain an ideal Ph. D. Thank you so much for joining me today, Justin, or I've never called you "JJ" in all the times we've talked.
Justin Kennedy:Call me whatever you like. It is good to be here.
Garry Schleifer:Just don't call me late for dinner. That's what we always say right. So I mean, the question is right there. Let's start kick off right from the beginning. Why is every great coach a neuroplastician?
Justin Kennedy:The simplicity behind that is, when you are in the process of transformation, when the client is going through some development, some learning, some experience that is going to be of improving their well-being, their performance or their function. They are going to have their brains go through some kind of change and that change is called neuroplasticity. So if you're a coach, or I suppose you should say if you're a good coach, then you're going to be effective at applying tools that facilitate neuroplasticity, therefore being a neuroplastician. So that's the simplicity of it. Garry. T hat's simple enough.
Garry Schleifer:I think that's a little too simple. I think our audience can handle a little bit more. Just expand a little bit more on that neuroplasticity.
Justin Kennedy:Okay. So neuroplasticity, let's just do a 101 on what neuroplasticity is. So neuroplasticity is the brain going through some kind of change. When you are born, you've got Tabula rasa. There's lots of space for change to happen and you start loading the hard drive with information, from learning German to riding a bicycle or whatever. At puberty, your brain starts pruning. So uploading information during childhood then starts the pruning process during the teenage, adolescent years, and that is when teenagers are a bit helter skelter.
Garry Schleifer:Which they really test their parents' resolve. Yeah, I mean when parents just say birth control would have been a great thing way back in the day.
Justin Kennedy:Exactly and anyway. Birth control is another conversation and after that.
Justin Kennedy:So downward neuroplasticity is the pruning and that's when they get to the functional, let's call it, the early adult brain. But the good news is, Garry, is that the science, the neuroscience, up until the early nineties didn't know that the adult brain can still go through neuroplasticity. On the channel, at npnHub, we had dialogue with Michael Merzenich, who is probably someone you don't know, but those who do know neuroplasticity will know that he is the dude who defined the research showing that the adult brain goes through neuroplasticity. So you know, when we got him on the community round table, having him there was a bit of humbling, obviously, because he's the dude. But his research has shown that when you are learning or going through a developmental process at any age, your brain is going through transformation. Obviously that has different levels of impact and has different impact from unlearning bad habits to relearning new behavior traits to changing emotional triggers and on and on, as we know as being coaches, Garry.
Garry Schleifer:Well, and beyond that, we've heard stories of people that have had strokes or brain damage and how they've recovered and what it took to do that and willpower and the commitment as well. But the brain is just so amazin. Did I tell you about my coma ever, Garry? Tell us, tell us again. You told me.
Justin Kennedy:Anyway, in 1999 I was in a road accident and it was pretty severe. I was in a coma and the recovery from the coma was pretty depressing, literally. It was a time of depression for me. I couldn't speak, I couldn't walk, my emotions were like a circus and one of the place from getting angry to crying in the space of a couple of seconds. Wow.
Justin Kennedy:And I started to think, what's going on under the bonnet, under the hood, as they say in North America. And you know I was doing a Masters program in psychology and I was thinking, obviously I couldn't finish that because I was barely able to concentrate, but I started thinking as my thinking improved level and what's actually going on in my brain that I can do something about. I mean, it came basically down to emotional regulation and kind of getting my emotional intelligence up and, as you know, as a coach it really is the hardest thing to do when you're coaching. So that has become a lifelong journey and my research in organizational, as many coaches know, is a lot around affect, mood, feeling and emotion. So, coming out of the coma, I got into neuroscience and, short story, I ended up doing a PhD on looking at the impact of neuroplasticity has on the coaching journey, specifically in organizational context. And the rest is a history or a mystery depending on how you look at it.
Garry Schleifer:And again, no, it speaks to the amazingness of the brain that you had. It has me wondering, when you had that range of emotions and the distraction of your brain recovering from the post comam I don't know if you call recovery, but you were obviously on the road to recovery, how you could eke out that piece of time, or you could just etch that piece of your brain to even start to formulate that decision, to look more at neuroplasticity and neuroscience.
Justin Kennedy:If we both knew that we would win a Nobel Prize, Garry.
Garry Schleifer:Oh, I thought you were going to give me the answer.
Justin Kennedy:Well, I'm going to take the Nobel Prize. It's an honor being nominated. Thanks Garry. Yeah, the simplicity isn't so anatomical. It isn't so much the neuro anatomy finding that little specific neuron. It seems to be a lot more around the neurophysiology than the neuroanatomy and we are noticing in the literature that when you understand how neuroplasticity functions you get to have more effect on the coaching process. Because speaking to someone about your Jennifer Aniston neuron in your brain, which was quite popular a couple of years ago, it doesn't really help. I mean, it was Jennifer Aniston or Bob, it doesn't help name the neuroanatomy, but understanding the physiology seems to help quite a lot in the coaching process. So that is something we can explore if you like.
Garry Schleifer:Well, I do, and what comes to mind for me is when you're with a client who's very open and coachable, does that mean that they're more, how would you say it, plastic? They're more neuroplastic. How do you say that? Flexible, flexible.
Justin Kennedy:I mean, the answer is, unfortunately, in neuroscience it's never yes.
Justin Kennedy:It's always because of the science it's still so novel. We as we speak, I just read the Nobel Prize I was speaking about for 2023 and we're still understanding what upward and downward neuroplasticity even means. I mean, that sounds very simple, but in terms of a flexible client coming in, maybe they're flexible because they're vulnerable and they're insecure and they don't know what they should or shouldn't say. Maybe they are confident and they are interested to learn. No, maybe they are sent there by their boss and they better be flexible.
Justin Kennedy:So it ends up becoming a conversation of what presents that state. So you know you have to spend some time understanding that and if you do that through the lens of neuroplasticity you end up understanding what is the best protocol for integration. So you know that then becomes a really interesting conversation on understanding the neuroception of the coaching client and how that can then inform the coaching protocols and tools that you apply.
Garry Schleifer:The word curiosity is coming up for me right now. Both on the client side and on the coach side. Is there more neuroplasticity, flexibility, going on when there's a curiosity? You know I'm working with a company right now coaching clients that are basically given to me. They're given the opportunity to do coaching.
Garry Schleifer:They're forced onto your on your share. Well you know, I think the organization recognized that they needed some help. In the end, they chose for a particular area of the business and they offered a whole ton of clients, or sorry employees, the opportunity to be with a coach on a short term. And to the person, none of them have had a coach before, but all of them by the end of the first call, it was almost like you could. There was a tangible neuroplasticity. You know, now that I'm, you know we're talking about this and I by no way I'm an expert or anything. I mean I'm learning. We're just proofreading that particular issue.
Garry Schleifer:About it, we're publishing your article on our blog and this recording. So I'm like I love the issues we choose on the topics because I learn more about it. But then it makes me even more curious as to okay, so, and to your point, I know you're not going to say yes or no because it's neuroscience, I got it. But it's like a thesis, right? You pick something and you hang on to it until you prove it one way or the other. That's if I have it correct, right? And, you know these people come to your point hesitating, but then they're just these moldable. When you're engaged with those clients, you have that sense that neuroplasticity is at work, or the possibility of it is at work. Is that why all coaches are neuroplasticians?
Justin Kennedy:Exactly. You know, when you see that lights go off, literally there is neurochemistry at play. There is neurotransmission informing neuro pathways that are lighting up literally. There's chemistry that is pumping through new pathways and building new channels, new ion channels as it is known in the academic environment. But you know, in the world of the neuroplastician, we're not interested in being academics or neuroscientists or spin doctors or snake or merchants hiding behind Latin jargon. We're very practical as coaches by having an understanding of what's actually going on. So the neuroplastician is a sub-discipline of being a coach. It is a category of a coaching. Okay, let me understand what's going on in the client.
Justin Kennedy:The best way to start being a neuroplastician, Garry, if I can just jump into this quickly, is to understand what is the process of neuroception. When you start paying attention to the client's subtle behavioral changes, Because the face and the body, body language and facial affect is direct evidence of what is happening neurologically.
Justin Kennedy:The brain and the body, as some people may know, is one thing. It's one system. Language is important, but there's a lot of stuff going on that the client might not notice, that the client may need to notice so that you can then have that as a theme of supporting them and the theme in helping them grow by knowing how they show up when certain questions are asked, when they're asked to explain certain things. So, as we can see, when you are speaking, you went okay. And as I noticed that, that affect has a certain correlation to an association or confirmation. So the confirmation bias kicks in and before you know it, you're onto a whole thread of dialogue that makes a lot of sense to the client because it's happening unconsciously to them, so that it builds that rapport and gets the content of the coaching to be spot on.
Garry Schleifer:Well, yeah, thank you for that, that's brilliant.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, that's why you're the scientist, right? No, doctor. It reminds me of, when you say that confirmation bias, I was having some mentor coaching. I have a tendency to say, wow, and to your point about confirmation bias, the flip side to that is, my bias was agreement, support, that's great. So I was taking away from the client experience by putting on top of it my own bias and my own viewpoint. And so it's remembering that, exactly to your point, what you do affects, has a bias on what direction your client might go or answer. And I'm not saying being neutral and totally like a robot, because, well then, AI'll take over and then we're all done. But that was two issues ago and still continues. But it's wow, fascinating, fascinating. I think we could talk about this for hours, but I wanna take a sidetrack and understand. You've created a community to discuss neuroplasticity.
Justin Kennedy:This is such an interesting short story with a nice ending. So we're sitting around with a bunch of Ph. D. candidates that are supervising and coaching. So, okay, before I forget, those coaches who are listening, offer a coaching support program to get you into a Ph. D. based on your expertise, rather than academic knowledge, rather as expertise based on your practice. So I'm speaking to lots of these coaches. Who, at the time, knows about a dozen of us on the call and we were speaking about, you know, the application of neuroscience, and some smart Alec chimed in? Well, you know, we're all in the game of neuroplasticity, and so everybody said yes, yes, stroking up, yes, I mean very good, and then someone else said well, if that's true, which we appeared it was.
Justin Kennedy:Then we're all neuroplasticians. And a coach in the group said yes, that makes sense. And before you know it, Garry, we have agreed. We built a clubhouse in the Institute of Organizational Neuroscience. We called it npnHub npn being shorter and easier to spell than neuroplastician. And you know, before you know it, this clubhouse is Wimbledon and we're having so much interest those of you maybe you know the name Paul Zach, Garry and some other really cool academics and pracademics are engaging with us and we're building a community.
Justin Kennedy:We actually have built a great community which is a discussion forum, mainly because there's lots of lonely brains out there. We don't know where to go when they want to discuss the science in a safe environment. But there's no spin, there's no hypnosis of getting attention. It's a place to learn together as paracademics and to learn stuff that's relevant. So they're going to learn from each other. We're all sitting in this community on the floor. We're all professionals and professors and pupils and punks all doing the same thing. We're all just wearing the same cloak and it's great fun. It really is so much fun and I'd really like to offer you to come and check us out and join the community. I'd like to give you an access membership for a month to come and snoop around and see what you think, if you're interested in neuroscience.
Garry Schleifer:Thank you, I would love that, sign me up.
Justin Kennedy:I'll get my people get to call your
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, yeah, have your people call my people. That's right. Oh, that's right.
Justin Kennedy:I'll give you the chat in the link. But on that point, those who are listening or watching this and who take the science of the brain seriously and are experts in their field, in the application of neuroscience, all simply interested to learn more. We are a community. We're a Kumbaya club.
Garry Schleifer:Well, you're a movement, you're creating movement in this area. This is not for profit, right.
Justin Kennedy:Exactly. We're starting a bowel movement because the gut brain access is there all the emotions. Oh, that's good. Quick as lightning huh?
Garry Schleifer:You are man. Boy you've really come a long way since that coma.
Justin Kennedy:Oh, very good.
Garry Schleifer:Like we can tell jokes about that now, right?
Justin Kennedy:Yeah, what's that?
Garry Schleifer:We can tell jokes about that now it's not too soon.
Justin Kennedy:If I start crying, we know it wasn't a good one.
Garry Schleifer:Okay, got it, but until then it's good. Until then we're good yeah.
Justin Kennedy:Yeah, but, Garry, it might be interesting to speak into that community of people who are interested in the science, from doing their Ph. D. in applied neuroscience at one of the universities that I'm supervising or simply having a serious interest because one they're lonely but they're interested in learning about the brain To they're looking for a community of people who are friendly but taking the science seriously and people who want to be part of defining the emerging discipline, with people like Paul Zach and Michael Merzenich and many other really cool people who are interested in the pre-academics of neuroplasticity.
Garry Schleifer:Go ahead, break it down. We've said it too many times.
Justin Kennedy:Let me break it down. Let me break it down with you. Pracademics are not academics. Pracademics sit on the shoulders of academics and they build professional and practical tools that work in the trenches. So they're things that coaches can apply rather than things we can publish in academic journals. Sure, we do publish, actually, but we prefer writing blogs and we prefer having conversations and roundtables. So pracademics is a very uncomplicated word. It's just interest in learning in our Halau-Kosher kind of way.
Garry Schleifer:Great. Well, thank you very much, and the hub information will be included with this recording. So look where you found this recording, as you'll also find the article that Justin has written " Why Is Every Great Coach a Neuroplastician ?
Justin Kennedy:Before we go, Garry, let me offer the opportunity for people to join for free with you for a month. Those people who are interested. We'll drop the link into it and you can share that with them, because I really like people to get involved. We're starting a movement, so we need to get things moving. So those who are interested, come and check us out and join the tribe. We're a fun bunch of cannibals.
Garry Schleifer:Exactly, exactly, love it, love it, love it. Thank you very much. Is there anything else you'd like our audience to do as a result of your article or this conversation? I don't know.
Justin Kennedy:Join the hub. Go look at npnhub. com, you know. Have a look. You know we're interested in conversation. I think the most important thing to remember there is that the brain is a social organ and without community, you know, we don't really function as well.
Garry Schleifer:Wow, I've never heard that said. Say that again.
Justin Kennedy:The brain is a social organ, which is the reason why homosapiens are so intelligent. They know how to tribe together. They know how to scrum down and get stuff done. So that's the key reason that we were so good at getting a movement going.
Garry Schleifer:Awesome, oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining us for this Beyond the Page episode. What's the best way to reach you?
Justin Kennedy:The best way to reach us is npnhub. com. You can find out about the neuroplastician certification there. There's a couple of categories and it's based on your previous training and your expertise in the area. So it's a very simple, flat environment, but the discipline is being defined by the thinkers in the field.
Garry Schleifer:So npnhub. com. Hopefully that's easy enough to remember and we'll have that attached to this recording as well. That's great. Thank you so much, Justin.
Justin Kennedy:It's so much fun to have a conversation with you, Garry. We could go on forever. Thank you my friend.
Garry Schleifer:That's it for this episode of Beyond the Page. For more episodes, subscribe via your favorite podcast app, and if you're not a subscriber, shame on you. You can sign up for a free digital issue of choice magazine by going to choice-online. com and clicking the sign up now button. I'm Garry Schleifer. Enjoy the journey of mastery.