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Business News/ Specials / Managers/  Management idea round up | The benefits of learning from others
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Management idea round up | The benefits of learning from others

Seeking advice may convey wisdom as this is an efficient way to gather information

Though feeling confident decreases advice-taking, seeking advice may demonstrate vulnerability and willingness to take a risk, signalling one’s confidence to overcome the potential interpersonal costs of seeking advice. Photo: Hemant Mishra/MintPremium
Though feeling confident decreases advice-taking, seeking advice may demonstrate vulnerability and willingness to take a risk, signalling one’s confidence to overcome the potential interpersonal costs of seeking advice. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Mumbai: Do you seek help and advice from colleagues when you need it at the workplace? Behavioural scientists Alison Wood Brooks and Francesca Gino at Harvard Business School find that many are reluctant to do so, for fear of being seen as incapable of working independently.

Organizations require people to learn new and challenging skills, and people stand to benefit greatly when they learn from others, say the researchers.

“In practice, advice-seeking may boost perceptions of competence for several reasons," they say.

First, the act of seeking advice may convey wisdom as this is an efficient way to gather information, and advisers may recognize this.

Second, seeking advice can convey confidence. Though feeling confident decreases advice-taking, seeking advice may demonstrate vulnerability and willingness to take a risk, signalling one’s confidence to overcome the potential interpersonal costs of seeking advice.

Third, like praise or a sincere compliment, seeking advice can stroke an adviser’s ego, say the researchers.

The scientists also point out a fundamental difference between seeking advice and seeking help. Advice is sought to get information for a prescriptive course of action and the advice seeker has control of the decision-making process. But in help- seeking, one may share or relinquish control.

While both advice- and help-seeking are important for organizations, the decision to seek help involves potential costs and benefits for the self and the organization, say the researchers.

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Published: 28 Oct 2014, 07:53 PM IST
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