Is Competitive Spirit Killing Your Workplace? with Dr. Margaret Heffernan

Dr. Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur who mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations and is lead faculty for the Forward Institute’s responsible leadership programme. She is the author of five books including Willful Blindness which was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times, and in 2015 she was awarded the transmission prize for her book A Bigger Prize. Margaret’s Ted talks have been seen by over seven million people. In today’s episode, Dr. Margaret Heffernan shares what researchers have learned about the impact competition has on our performance and wellbeing, and gives us some practical tips on building psychological safety in our organizations Connect with Margaret Heffernan:  http://www.mheffernan.com/?location=GB You’ll Learn: [01:45] - Margaret explains what research William Muir discovered about how competition impacts productivity and why every leader needs to be mindful of this research in workplaces [05:41] - Margaret explains why leaders may remain willfully blind to the cost on performance and wellbeing of fiercely competitive environments in workplaces [09:57] - Margaret explains how willful blindness is driven by our theories of the world and how this impacts our ability to take in data that challenges our ideas [11:40] - Margaret offers some tips for nudging leaders out of their willful blindness so they can appreciate the importance of their people’s wellbeing [13:38] - Margaret shares why and how institutionalizing dissent in workplaces can help to lower levels of willful blindness for ourselves and others [15:55] - Margaret explains how we can improve our ability in workplaces for “scrapping” as we learn to navigate conflict in healthy ways with each other [19:24] - Margret offers some tips for improving social capital in busy workplaces and the impact it can have on the bottom line in workplaces [22:41] - Margaret completes the Lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Thanks for listening!  Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review of the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care!  Thank you Margaret!