Blog posts

The 85% rule suggests growth will be maximized when we practice tasks we can succeed at roughly four-fifths of the time.

If you succeed in every attempt, you probably don’t have the difficulty high enough to improve. If you fail most of the time, you will likely make more progress if you start picking smaller, more manageable challenges.

<h3 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Two-Day Workshop Fee:</strong></h3> <p style="text-align: center;">Starting at $19,500<br> (including travel within contiguous US)<br> plus workbooks at $95 per participant.</p>

One training exercise that we analyzed, and that shows promise, is perspective-taking, which is essentially the process of mentally walking in someone else’s shoes. Results from our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-014-9384-3" target="_blank">experiment</a> involving 118 undergraduate students showed that taking the perspective of LGBT individuals or racial minorities —&nbsp;by writing a few sentences imagining the distinct challenges a marginalized minority might face — can improve pro-diversity attitudes and behavioral intentions toward these groups. These effects persisted even when outcomes were measured eight months after training. Even more exciting is the fact that perspective-taking was shown to be capable of producing crossover effects. In our experiment, taking the perspective of LBGT individuals was shown to be associated with more positive attitudes and behaviors toward racial minorities, and vice versa.

Another activity that has empirical support is goal setting. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-012-9264-7" target="_blank">Recent evidence</a> shows that this strategy — more broadly used to motivate improved aspects of someone’s job performance — can be successfully adapted by asking diversity training participants to set specific, measurable, and challenging (yet attainable) goals related to diversity in the workplace. For example, a trainee might set a goal to challenge inappropriate comments about marginalized groups when overhearing them in the future (in combination with receiving information about how best to handle such situations). Our experiment with 158 undergraduate students showed that goal setting within diversity training led to more pro-diversity behaviors three months after training and improved pro-diversity attitudes nine months after training. These long-lasting effects are notable, given that diversity training sessions in organizations are usually few and far between.

There are no general regulations that permit volunteering of services to an employer in the private sector. All hours worked must be paid.

Most for-profit organizations cannot accept volunteer, unpaid labor without running afoul of the FLSA.

Even interns must be paid in most circumstances—if they’re performing tasks that benefit the employer (as opposed to just learning and observing), they’re completing work that is entitled to pay. This is true even if the intern <em>offers</em> his or her services for free just to get started with the organization.

Rounded corners are easier on the eyes. When we align cards in a row, it’s easier to count the total number of cards when they have rounded corners.

<mark class="xl xm if">Fully rounded buttons are excellent in interfaces that have adequate space.</mark>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In a Mastery Loop, every time you make a poor decision, you see the poor consequence play out, then you automatically get to make the decision again. Once you make the right decision, the story continues. There’s really only one way to get to the ending, and it’s always the best ending.</p><p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Some people discourage the use of Mastery Loops because they feel it’s overly controlling to “force” people to eventually choose the right path.&nbsp;</p><p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">But if your business problem is relatively simple, and doesn’t require a lot of nuanced decisions, a Mastery Loop might be the best format to use.&nbsp;</p>