Develop your educational system and you will see more prosperity, says Milan Pagon

Dr Milan Pagon is Professor of Management at the College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His areas of research interest are leadership competencies and management of stress. He is currently involved with the University of Iowa's neuro-leadership development programme in Italy, focusing on new research in neuroscience and their impact on management practice.
Dr Pagon has taught in the USA at the University of Iowa, the University of Arkansas as well as the University of Maribor, Slovenia and is the author of several books and journal articles on individual and group behaviour in the workplace. His papers have been published in The Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Organisational behaviour, Applied Psychology among others. He is a member of the editorial boards of Stress and Health and of NeuroLeadership Journal.
He has a D.Sc. in Organisational Sciences from the University of Maribor and a Ph.D. in Organisational behaviour from the University of Arkansas.
BR Research: Please share some details about your professional background.
Milan Pagon: I have had a very interesting career. After graduating from college I went to work for the police department in my country; Slovenia. I worked my way through the ranks and became the youngest police chief in the history of Slovenia. I was only 26 years' old at the time that I became in charge of one of the biggest police precincts in my country. The next youngest chief was 45 years' old so you can imagine me sitting in meetings there; I was quite out of place.
But, when you are in the line of police work, you have to deal with all segments of society. You deal with CEOs, ministers and other dignitaries, but you also meet criminals and prostitutes, etc. You really get to know people very well in that line of work. So that combined with my education in psychology gave me a keen understanding of what makes people tick.
Once you know what makes people tick, what kind of dynamics affect their decisions then you can powerfully influence people; sometimes with a simple word, sometimes with a gesture and sometimes with a personal example. But, you can only influence people if you are able to stay calm under pressure. If you give in to stress, you will not be able to manage yourself or others.
These experiences got me interested in finding out what makes leaders affective; what kind of competencies does one need to have or develop in order to be able to manage others. One thing is clear; managing stress is a precondition to effective organisational management.
When I was working for the University of Iowa, then I got involved with a group of people from neuro-scientific background that were doing some very interesting experiments about pushing people outside their zone of comfort.
We have developed, at that university, a programme called LIFE (Leadership Initiative for Excellence) which is like a boot camp for leadership. First off we pretty much destroy people's self-confidence by placing them in a situation where they are not able to exercise their free will. But then we show them the other side. We show them what it feels like to be engaged, to be supported and accepted. Through these exercises they realise how important it is not to create the first kind of environment for their subordinates and team members, but to help foster a co-operative environment for the entire team. So, I have also been able to explore the field of neuroscience and how it can be leveraged to improve our leadership skills.
BRR: We hear about the importance of stress management all the time, can you elaborate on this in scientific terms?
MP: Our prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain which is responsible for executive function; regulating emotions, making decisions, using logic, etc. In order to use your prefrontal cortex effectively, you have to free it up for use in the context that you want to apply your mental abilities to. However, usually this part of the brain is quite preoccupied and busy managing emotions and responses; so when you are under stress, you cannot really use your prefrontal cortex effectively.
When this happens, we go down to the limbic level to make decisions, but that part of the brain is only about as developed as the brain of a dog. So, quite often in life, we are making decisions that are no smarter than a dog's and we often react the way the dog would react when we are under stress.
BRR: You recently conducted a workshop in Karachi entitled, "Managing People in Organisations". How was that as your first teaching experience in Pakistan?
MP: I was pleasantly surprised by the high level of involvement shown by the participants. The workshop was all about how our brain works and how we can use knowledge of this, in managing people in an organisation and how we can use that to manage ourselves. The point is that you have to be able to control yourself before you are able to manage other people.
In other places, I often come across people that are hesitant to voice their opinions. But that is not the case in Pakistan; here people are very open and expressive and they actively take part in discussions.
Honestly, my experience with Pakistan's educational system is very limited but I can tell you that everywhere in the world, the quality of education is linked to ones individual, organisational and national development. While I cannot pass judgement on the level of education you have; I will dare to say that there are surely areas that can be improved. The more you will develop your educational system; the more prosperity in your country you will see. I always say, education cannot solve all problems but it can broaden your horizons and enables you to come up with more alternatives towards problem resolution.
BRR: Can you elaborate on the importance of soft skills in organisational management in the context of emerging economies such as Pakistan?
MP: The challenge for education in emerging economies is to get the knowledge from advanced economies but then apply it with some wisdom; being cognisant of the differences between the advanced economies and their own state. A lot of countries, including Slovenia, have made the mistake of taking other people's solutions and directly implementing them in their country; and it doesn't work that way.
The way that I educated and discipline my kids will probably not work for you. You can watch me and get ideas but then you have to think about all the characteristics that are unique to your situation and figure out what you have to do, in accordance with those differences. But, in order to adapt any concept, you need people who are adaptable or open to change and then you need people who can figure out what are the changes that have to be made to the ideas gathered from elsewhere.
That means that we cannot say that in Pakistan right now we need only primary and secondary education and we will worry about MBAs and other professionals later. That would be a very dangerous approach. We have to educate the masses so that they are more willing to work on new ideas, but we also need those decision makers, opinion leaders who can guide these masses in the right direction.
BRR: In your opinion, what should be the focus of higher educational institutions in Pakistan?
MP: If you want people to memorise concepts and regurgitate the same information, you will only end up preparing them for a very short-time period, until those theories are outdated. They may be very good managers for a year or two but then their techniques become obsolete.
But, if you teach people how to think, how to constantly update their mental models then they are able to adapt to change readily. We build mental models with our experiences and prior knowledge and constantly compare these with the environment around us. If our mental models are outdated then of course our decision making will be faulty. Now the question is, how often do you change your mental models, and how do you know when to change it?
If we can teach people how to scan the environment and assess it, then they will be able to respond to change. So, the focus in the current context must shift from imparting knowledge, to enabling students how to critically evaluate the variables in any situation and respond accordingly.
This process is not as easy as one may think. Neuroscience asserts that there are two kinds of knowledge: biologically primary and secondary knowledge. Primary knowledge has to do with our ability to survive. It entails knowledge of dealing with others, dealing with rejection and abandonment, etc. This is the knowledge that cannot be simply taught; rather it can only be learnt. This is different from secondary knowledge such as accounting and mathematics which can be taught. Unfortunately, in most cases where we apply our primary knowledge, we often continue to implement the same kinds of responses over the years without actively assessing the merits of each response.
BRR: How can managers use knowledge of human responses in motivating employees at the workplace?
MP: When it comes to dealing with people in an organisation, we are usually thinking in terms of promotion prospects, pay raises and other forms of career advancement; but often mid-level managers do not have considerable control over such variables. But there is much more powerful dynamics inside our heads and these managers can use status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness (SCARF); to motivate employees.
Our brains have evolved to constantly scan the environment to ascertain whether our SCARF is in any way, being undermined or uplifted. In our subconscious, rejection equals death. Even if you tell yourself that things will be fine, something inside us signals to the contrary if our SCARF is undermined. This is where managers have direct control. They can interact with people in ways that increased their perceived status or other SCARF elements. Quite often managers mean well but end up undermining their subordinates because they do not understand how to uplift the SCARF elements in the minds of their subordinates.
For example, a boss who wants to favour an employee may show up to assist the employee in a task that he or she has been assigned. Now the boss may think that he is doing his subordinate a favour by helping out, but the employee may just as well perceive this action as a sign that his supervisor does not trust his ability.
So the result of the action will be completely contrary to his intentions. So you need someone to guide you in learning and critically analysing each situation. All information and data used are from reliable source(s) and subjected to extensive research after diligent and reasonable efforts to determine the soundness of the source(s).
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