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First developed at Bristol University in the United Kingdom by Henri Tajfel and John Turner and their colleagues, the science of social identity is now the major framework in psychology for understanding group behaviour and inter-group relations.  It is a grand and incredibly useful theory for anyone hoping to mobilise people towards a shared goal.

 

 With over 40 years of research and more than 10,000 peer reviewed papers the social identity approach has advanced our understanding of the importance of people’s sense of their social self, their sense of “us”, that derives from group membership for sustained organizational performance, in part because it leads to higher levels of:

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• corporate citizenship,

• task commitment,

• intra- and inter-group cooperation and collaboration, and

• employee creativity.

 

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​Growth in social identity publications since 2000

 

For leaders, it is a new and realistic approach to thinking about teams and how to influence and motivate them to sustained high performance and well-being in an environment that is constantly changing and evolving.

 

INFLUENCE are leaders in the application of social identity to improving leadership trust and influence, team performance and culture. We teach leaders how to use the group processes uncovered by the social identity approach to unlock the creativity and potential of their teams.

 

Want to know more about social identity, how it affects behaviour and why an understanding of social identity is a powerful tool for leaders?