Knowledge

Using stereotypes is often unconscious and automatic, just like the occurrence of attribution errors. Their use can also create communication barriers, so it is equally important to understand their mechanism. As is commonly known, a stereotype is a simplified cognitive representation, a ‘mental image in our heads’ (Lippmann, 1992). This means that we attribute specific traits to certain groups. Using stereotypes can affect the effectiveness of communication. It often happens that we evaluate people we talk to based on their status. We then follow learned patterns concerning specific groups. If we classify someone into a specific group, we will attribute to them the general characteristics commonly associated with the community to which they belong. This will also affect our behavior towards that person. This may result in a communication barrier and many issues being assessed incorrectly. A good example that shows how stereotypes influence judgments about other people is a study conducted by Darley and Gross in 1983. The aim of the experiment was to check how schemas concerning specific social groups affect participants’ evaluations. The participants were divided into two groups. In both, a film was presented in which a little girl played in a toy-rich environment (first group) or a toy-poor environment (second group). Then the participants were shown the same child, this time solving a cognitive test in which she made a few mistakes and marked a few correct answers (50/50). After this activity, the subjects were asked to comment on her intelligence and potential for achieving success in the future. The study similarly assessed the intelligence of the girl. In contrast, individuals from the group who saw the child playing in a wealthy environment claimed that she would achieve greater success than those from the group who were shown the girl in a poor environment. This study clearly demonstrates that participants’ judgments were influenced by the stereotype of what it means to be poor or wealthy. Moreover, the participants were unaware that any schemas were affecting their thinking. The given example shows how stereotypical thinking influences the way we evaluate others. It is important to be aware of this to avoid making hasty judgments about people and situations, which will help us avoid misunderstandings and barriers in communication. How to apply this knowledge in practice?

Maintaining motivation in the team can sometimes be challenging, but it is a priority task to ensure a good atmosphere in the company. Without your team, you cannot run a business, so it is essential to find new and innovative ways to motivate employees daily. You need to make sure that you are leading the team towards a common goal that excites all of you. To achieve this, you must communicate openly with the team and make its members feel appreciated. The easiest and most obvious way is to tell them that they are doing their duties well. Sometimes, however, employees need something more to stay motivated on a daily basis. We have selected 4 ways that we believe will help you effectively motivate a team that strives for the continuous development of the company.

When a team works together day after day, conflict is often simply inevitable. It can arise between two employees, managers, or the entire team. However, there are ways to effectively deal with it. Patriot Software has proposed as many as 6!

Do you want the atmosphere in your company to stimulate creativity? The right atmosphere fosters the generation of new ideas and motivates employees to find new solutions. In the article, you will find up to 10 ways that can help you create a culture of innovation!

Outdoor adventure education as a method of team building How to integrate the team? What to do to maintain a good atmosphere and ensure tasks are performed efficiently? One way to build a team is through workshops in the outdoor adventure education (OAE) approach – more intense and impactful on a deeper level than regular integration (i.e., pleasant time spent together) and not as costly and time-consuming as multi-stage team work with a personal development trainer or coach. OAE (outdoor adventure education): A method of learning and development in close contact with nature, through tasks that require problem-solving by the team. It involves taking risks and real consequences of the actions taken. Its goal is to provoke interaction among participants. In Polish, ‘adventure pedagogy.’ (More about the OAE trend:  here#) It is worth tracing what thoughts arise in a participant of outdoor workshops? What do they learn during them? What are their conclusions and reflections?

A summer morning, Warsaw’s Żoliborz, a rope structure awaits between the trees. (We hung it up in the morning, answering questions from passersby: “Will these be military exercises..?) Participants are arriving. Their faces show various emotions: excitement, curiosity, slight apprehension… Just like the passersby we spoke to in the morning, most are seeing the LRC course for the first time in their lives. LRC (Eng. low ropes course) or rope courses are a popular team-building tool in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Feedback reaches us from all sides. The supervisor comments on the progress of our project, the teacher informs that this month our child has improved behavior, a colleague invites us to an informal team integration, a 360-degree evaluation is conducted in the company, the mother-in-law adds another slice of apple pie and asks for the recipe, a friend discreetly removes the sweater we gave her after fifteen minutes and secretly hides it in her bag… Some of this information we perceive as pleasant, validating, and useful, some are neutral, and others provoke our resistance. And since they provoke resistance, we ignore them or deny their content. Feedback bounces off the wall. In this article, we will focus on one of the mechanisms described in the book by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen “Thanks for the Feedback”, which makes us unable to accept and use feedback. This will help us better understand why sometimes our own feedback does not reach the recipient. Feedback – all the information we receive from the environment about ourselves. They can be verbal and non-verbal, given consciously or not, psychologically correct (e.g., formulated as an “I-message”) or completely colloquial.

In every workplace, employees are responsible for specific tasks, for which they are individually accountable. The most important thing, however, is that individuals are able to collaborate with each other, because without this they are unlikely to fully unleash their potential. Creative group work maximizes employees’ strengths and minimizes their weaknesses. This leads to the creation of a dynamic, productive, and efficient work environment, which in turn leads to greater company profits.

When you say ‘I don’t have enough time,’ you are actually stating that you don’t have time for activities you would like or need to do. We all have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at our disposal. In 2019, however, you can make it feel like you have more time. How? By making different choices about how you manage your time. Below, we present 4 strategies that can help you with this! All have been prepared by Elizabeth Grace Saunders, author of the books Divine Time Management and How to Invest Your Time Like Money.