How Neuroscience Can Help Us Understand De-Escalation: From First-Responders to First-Line Managers

Whether it's on the front-lines of a crisis, or the conference room, opportunities for escalation exist all around us. Science can help us de-escalate.

Whether it’s on the front-lines of a crisis or from the other end of the conference table, we all engage in a form of de-escalation any time we attempt to resolve conflict. When we argue with our partner, disagree with a friend, or feel the tension around us in a conference room, there are opportunities for escalation.

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest, virtual work and school, and an upcoming election, we’re frequently in situations prone to escalation. Regardless of our individual burdens, the entire society is under stress. This is an undeniable fact, and an incredible opportunity to recognize our commonalities as humans and learn ways to de-escalate tensions.

In the season premiere of our webinar series Your Brain at Work Live, we saw that the NeuroLeadership Institute’s approach to teaching first responders de-escalation principles can easily apply to corporations. In partnership with MILO Range Training Systems we have developed an interactive de-escalation briefing that applies the science-based understanding of escalation to the law enforcement context. Though the stakes may be significantly higher in exchanges with first responders, the dynamics of human interaction are similar across many contexts.

“What really stood out for me was that being ‘hair-triggered’ is not just a law enforcement issue—it’s a societal one, which can be understood by learning what happens in the brain and the body, and using specific tools including technology to de-escalate in real-time,” explained Yael Swerdlow, CEO of Maestro Games, SPC after attending the Neuroscience of De-Escalation briefing. “It’s as much a work issue, as a Thanksgiving table issue.”

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