Background

Have you ever had to take a second, or even third, look at someone’s name tag or card when you haven’t remembered from the first look? Ever needed to look up key technical data or element of policy or procedure when asked a question by team members, staff, or presentation audience?

Embarrassed? Annoyed? Maybe even feeling unprofessional, especially in a trainer scenario? Well, don’t feel so bad. It happens to all of us. Thankfully, the information is not lost – it just took too long on this occasion to arrive. And more importantly, we can enhance our memory ability! 

A recent article in the AFR (28 Mar) by Jenny Tucker referenced an earlier article in The Telegraph, London, suggesting that “Forgetting isn’t a failure – it’s one of the ways our brains prioritise information”. Dr. Thomas Ryan of Trinity College, Dublin, explains that “Memories remain ingrained in the brain, but at any specific time, the brain might pull up something else. You believe you’ve forgotten, but it’s actually still there … just hidden in the background. We all experience  ‘natural forgetting’ at some time!”

Dr. Charan Raganath (‘Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How It Shapes Us’) asserts that the human is not a memorisation machine, it is a thinking machine, and that “highly capable memory” is being able to access information and life events that are meaningful to us. Most of the time, therefore, it’s not a ‘memory’ problem, but a ‘retrieval failure’. He advocates that we “stop worrying about what we can’t remember and focus on the here and now … making mindful choices in the present to curate a rich set of memories to take with us into the future”. 

Since it seems that we can play a more active role in reducing forgetfulness, let’s see more of how the brain works and what we can consciously do to capitalise on that.

How Does It Work?

If the process of remembering is essentially one of filing and retrieval, then how effectively you file information initially will dictate how efficiently you can later recall that information.

The brain stores new information in neurons, and creates neural pathways to those neurons. The more attributes attached to any new information, the more pathways that can be created, and the more (and more diverse) pathways created when initially filing new information, the better the odds and the shorter time required in the future to find that information.

As a bonus, when initially filing new information, the brain will also create neural pathways to various existing informational neurons. It uses the Associative Technique, and the human brain is pretty good at making rather abstract connections, enabling what we know as Lateral Thinking.  

How Do We Enable This?

To achieve the above, we need to take in as much peripheral information as possible at the time of filing any new information. We need to listen and observe, but this requires extra effort. If you’re not really interested in the person you’ve just been introduced to, or the topic being discussed, your brain will not put in so much effort, making subsequent remembering harder.

This process of real-time ‘curation’ is where the mindfulness comes in. This is normally just left to our subconscious, but we can and should add some conscious thought to maximise effectiveness.

Even if you are not overly interested in the discussion, but you know that it’s important, you will need to work harder to still find something interesting about the person and/or the topic. Allowing them to talk, and for longer, will eventually produce points you can focus on!

Example: Specific Steps to Better Remember

Repeat their name back to them; if in doubt, ask if you’ve pronounced it correctly;

Get them talking: ask an Open Question;

Keep them talking: select something they said and explore that further … another Open Q;

Empathise and encourage without interrupting; 

DON’T editorialise i.e. take over with your own version or similar story!

Notice as well as listen … their voice, facial expression, posture, and so on;

Make notes as soon as possible to capture your observations;

If in a meeting, draw a seating map and make notes on that; even an Attendance List will do.

Furthermore, trying to remember broader information (beyond names) follows the same process with one additional step:

Ask yourself occasionally how, where, and why this information could be useful to you or your team – for example, which projects, which staff members, which other uses – and the answers to those questions will create the additional attributes we’re after.

You could also ponder or ask where the information comes from, what else might be available, and consider what else now is still needed.

Outcomes, Benefits (and Costs)?

Outcomes and benefits of Mindful Memory could include any or all of the following:

• A better-functioning memory, especially under pressure,
• Additional ideas, for problem solving or creating solutions,
• having others feeling more valued as you give them “airtime”,
• and even thanks for allowing them to order their thoughts to answer your questions.

Sure, there is a small cost to all this: It will take a little more time and effort, but how much more information will you gain, and how many more embarrassing situations will you avoid?

So, how much more effective and efficient could you and your team be with Mindful Memory?

Teaching Mindful Memory

Fortunately, these techniques, along with the requisite communication skills, can be taught, and coached. Investment in human capital may be one of the best leveraged investments that organisations can make, and underpins all other investments. Sadly, so-called ‘soft skills’ are sometimes seen as “nice to have’s”, but they are the glue that holds together all other tasks and activities. They are also part of the “How To” which is not often found in textbooks, nor AI.