Since the 1950s there’s been a perception that most of the money spent on training is wasted, because it either fails to transfer back into the workplace, or fades away over time. Most studies of training transfer suggest a transfer…
Why Coaching With Compassion Works Better Than Coaching For Compliance – The Neuroscience Of Coaching
Coaching Works – But What Kind Of Coaching? It’s fairly well established that coaching works. For example, a meta-analysis of studies of workplace coaching in 2015 shows a strong positive effect on individual performance, and smaller but still positive effects on…
What Executives Get Wrong About Coaching
A study published in the Harvard Business Review by Leadership professor Julia Milner and management consultant Trenton Milner has revealed that most executives don’t really know what coaching is. It’s worth looking at what experts generally define as coaching. These descriptions…
Why Your Brain Is Hardwired For Negativity, And What You Can Do About It
There’s a wealth of research showing that most people give more attention to threats than opportunities, for example: Negative experiences are remembered in more detail than positive ones Our attitudes are influenced more heavily by bad news than good news…
Performance Related Pay And Bonuses Don’t Work – But People Still Believe They Do
Are people more, or less motivated when they are offered a reward for completing something well? If you’re like most people you will probably have said ‘more’ – but there’s a wealth of research dating back 45 years showing the…
Why You Need To Put More Effort Into Empathy As A Leader
Or, How Power Turns You Into A Jerk – And How To Guard Against It The higher up the management ladder you get, the less you care about or even notice how other people feel. Most of us don’t have to…
The Best Podcasts For Brain Science, Understanding The Mind and People
Here’s my personal selection of some podcasts in the general area of understanding how people tick – ranging from neuroscience to management tips. The common denominator is that they all feature interviews, talks or contributions from leading researchers and practitioners…
Stress can be good for you – if you have the right mindset
Stress is generally thought of as bad for you. But there’s some new research by Alia Crum, Peter Salovey, and Shawn Achor that suggests that in some cases it can actually do you good. What makes the difference is not the…
‘Growth’ vs ‘Fixed’ mindsets – and why it’s important to have a ‘growth’ mindset
Anyone interested in personal development will have come across the Henry Ford quote “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This quote is so often repeated because it encapsulates an essential truth – that self-belief…
Politics and psychology – test your moral foundations
Following on from the last article about the differences in psychology and brain structure between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’, here’s a fascinating video of a TED talk by Jonathan Haidt on the five moral values that form the foundation of our…