Humans and animals do not need complete information to act; they can operate on various clues provided there is a sufficient context. Organizational teams can also use this thin slicing technique in conjunction with short messaging to enhance their performance. Malcolm Gladwell’s introspective book Blink digs deep into the abyss of human cognition to illustrate the human ability to think at a subconscious level. The idea of thin slicing is used where one is introduced to only a few snippets of information which lead to a series of conclusions based on moments of rapid cognition – an ability claimed to be intrinsically dormant in most humans. By bioteams guest author Max Bhanabhai.

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Insight: phobia, mania, and delusion... the shrinks have a word for it

Adrian Furnham writing in the UK Daily Telegraph Insight column, July 7 has shared some slightly tongue-in-cheek insights on the new crop of psychiatric conditions which are afflicting today's teams and organisations. My three favourites from Aidrian's(extensive) list are:

When a team building session goes wrong or out of control or slips into inappropriate behaviour it is not just the staff involved who will face the music but the senior executives in the company who allowed it to happen.

Pattern recognition skills in bees are so advanced they can recognise human faces better than we can