It is almost an implicit assumption that teams can make better decisions and perform tasks better than individuals can. This is true in certain circumstances and for certain decisions and tasks – but not always.

For one, there are the group-based biases such as, groupthink and group polarization (more on these in a future post) that lead to poor decisions. There are a number of ways to minimize these biases, but this is not what I’d like to write about this time.

Rather, I would like to focus on the factors that influence individual decision-making within groups/teams. In other words, how do we, as individuals, end up contributing to poor decision-making when we are part of a group. Continue Reading

There are many reasons why people work with a coach. Two major reasons are raising self-esteem and changing behavior – generally with the ultimate goal of being more successful. The royal road to achieving these goals is raising self-awareness. Continue Reading

Energy politics is one of the hottest topics, especially after the disaster in Fukushima. As we try to keep up with the information coming at us from all directions – media, internet, email – are we overlooking the issue of energy management within ourselves? Continue Reading

I’ve just finished writing a chapter on why organizations should care about the wellbeing of their people and how positive psychology* tools can boost wellbeing. Even though there are many skeptics who are cautious about the recent happiness/wellbeing movement, luckily there’s rapidly growing solid research by positive psychologists back it up.

Numerous studies point out to the link between wellbeing/happiness and work-related outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, performance, team-work, motivation, goal orientation, creativity). As argued in a recent Gallup report :

“Whether you manage a few people, lead a large group, or run an entire organization, you are already in the business of managing employee wellbeing” (Gallup, 2010) Continue Reading

Last time I wrote about how one should not only set performance goals but also learning goals in line with Tim Galleway’s formula to maximize the return on investment of your work time:

ROI = Performance + Learning + Enjoyment

As his formula indicates, the third component for getting the best out of your work is also to consider enjoyment goals. Even though some people might view enjoyment as a side-benefit positive psychology studies document it is definitely more than that.
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