The Chemical Brothers: The stress and reward hormones

What's this actually about?

Your team isn't just running on process and polcy. It's running on real live chemistry.

Cortisol spikes in a tense 1:1. Dopamine drives that need to check Slack every five minutes. Oxytocin is the reason some teams have your back and others don't, and serotonin decides whether people feel valued or overlooked. None of this is soft stuff……it's biology, and it's steering behaviour whether anyone names it or not.

This session cracks open the science of both sides of the coin: the stress hormones that hijack judgement and patience under pressure, and the happy hormones - dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin - that drive motivation, trust and connection when things are working. Understanding the tug-of-war between them is the real engine behind burnout and disengagement on one side, and thriving, high-trust teams on the other.

No fluff, no "just be more resilient." Real science, straight talking, and things you can change the next morning.

You'll walk away knowing:

• Why stress at work rewires judgement, focus and patience - fast

• What the happy chemicals actually do, and how to trigger them for real (not with pizza and a poster)

• Why most recognition and reward schemes miss what actually motivates people

• Practical moves that shift culture without a big transformation programme

Who should come: Leaders, managers, HR/OD people, or anyone who's ever wondered why a "fine" team suddenly isn't!

Speakers Bio

Josh Hoole is Director of Operations and Transformation Practitioner at Smart Working Revolution, where he supports organisations to turn change, leadership and workforce development into practical action.

At this event, Josh will bring a practical, delivery-focused perspective on the science of stress and reward at work, exploring how HR professionals and leaders can connect the biology of cortisol, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin to the everyday reality of process, performance and culture in a way that makes commercial sense and creates lasting impact.

Please note:

1. Reminder emails will be sent to you the day before, with a further reminder on the day of the event.

2. Photography and video production may be taking place at the event, and these images may be used in the CIPD newsletters.

3. By attending the event, you are giving your consent for your image to be used on any CIPD promotional materials.

4. As we are supplying refreshments, if you can no longer attend, please cancel your place either on Eventbrite, responding to this email.

5. This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.

6. If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.