WEBVTT

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>> Have you ever been

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working on a group project

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where it feels like

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you're doing all the work?

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If you're here,
you may have

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a research paper or

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some homework that
has to do with

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the term social loafing.

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But have no
worries, because

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after watching this
video, hopefully,

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you'll have a complete
understanding

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of what social loafing is,

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how it works, and

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specific measures that you

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can actually take
to prevent it.

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So first off, what
is social loafing?

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Social loafing occurs when

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an individual is doing
less when working

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in a group as
opposed to putting

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forth full effort if
they were working alone.

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Maximilian Ringelman
discovered it in

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1913 when he noticed group

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pulling power in
a tug-of-war game

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was less than the sum of

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the individual's
strengths.

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In fact, the average
contribution decreased

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each time more people were

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added to the
tug-of-war game.

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Now this phenomenon
suggests members put

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in less effort as
group size grows.

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This thought
makes a mockery

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of the idea that putting

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people in the teams

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encourages them
to work harder.

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Now, this could cause an

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entire human resource team

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to have palpitations.

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This is, however, only
half of the truth,

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as I'm going to

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explain in the rest
of this video.

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So let's get into
some examples real

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quick so you can
understand it better.

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Here's a really
quick example.

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Tug of war, group
homework projects,

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an entertainer asking
an audience to scream,

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are all examples
of social loafing.

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Because as you add more
people to the group,

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the total group
effort declines.

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So tug-of-war is a
perfect example because

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it's where

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Maximilian Ringelman
originally found it.

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He realized
that as you add

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more people to a
tug-of-war game,

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the amount of
pressure did not

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exactly scale
up perfectly.

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In fact, the more
people you add,

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the less each
individual worked.

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Group homework projects

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are another great example.

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We've all seen the
meme where one student

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does all the work and

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the others get the grade.

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Those who don't work on

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the project are considered
social loafers.

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And have you ever been at

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a concert or an event,

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or somewhere where
the main speaker

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asks the audience to

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stand up or maybe yell
something or clap?

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This is a perfect
place for

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social loafing to happen.

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Sometimes the
speaker may even

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say something like, I
wasn't loud enough.

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Well, interestingly,
the same

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thing happens
as tug of war.

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As you add more
people to the group,

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they are less likely to

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participate in
whatever the

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speaker is asking
them to do.

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So after examples,
let's get into

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the psychology behind
social loafing.

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What causes it?

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Team members begin loafing

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socially when
they feel that

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they're not going
to achieve much.

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And therefore they
conclude that

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their participation
is optional.

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So here are two
main reasons that

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psychologists
have found that

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contribute to
social loafing.

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The first one is a loss of

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a sense of individual
responsibility.

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Ringelman's
experiment with a

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tug-of-war team showed how

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personal responsibility
seems to

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evaporate according
to team size.

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Now, the best
sports team coaches

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achieve incredible
results when they hold

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their team together
and motivate

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individual players as well

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as the collective team.

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It's also really important

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for these coaches to know

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their team's needs so

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that whenever
they need space,

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they can give
them space to

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let each player
let off steam.

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The second thing that

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causes social loafing is

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reduced belief in the
value of contributions.

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So if a team member feels

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their impact will
not be worth much,

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especially in a much
larger team setting,

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they may decide to
back off and enjoy

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the ride at the expense

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of the other people
on the team.

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Now, this is one of

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the main reasons
many of us don't

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volunteer for projects or

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take up leadership
positions.

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We just don't think that
we have much to add.

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It's probably also why

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half of the
American population

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stays away from the polls

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during presidential
elections.

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In many cases, the
individual that

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is loafing may not
even realize it.

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I also want to mention
another common thing

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is the division of

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an ingroup and
outgroup members.

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Now, this is common
during homework projects,

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but I think we can find it

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everywhere in
the world today.

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The third part
of this video, I

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want to give you
some tips on how to

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manage social
loafing through

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a little bit
of motivation.

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So there are three
ways that we can

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actually get a group

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moving in the
right direction.

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These strategies
are collaboration,

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content, and choice.

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And it sounds a
little interesting,

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but this is what

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psychologists have
come up with.

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This plan is a healthy

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alternative to encouraging

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competition because
it seems to

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reinforce a
collective dynamic.

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Now it's important to
remember that this

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works best during
collective practices.

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So the first one
is collaboration,

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and that means
each team member

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has their own
meaningful task.

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For example, the
worst social loafer

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can be allocated
to keeping

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minutes of meetings and
distributing them so

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that they don't have

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a place to hide,
so to say.

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The goal here is
to get each member

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in your group to
do something,

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and if they don't do it,

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hold them responsible.

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Secondly, we have content.

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And that refers
to the importance

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of a team member's task

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and how well that task

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suits their personal
attributes.

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For example, a person

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who likes
socially engaging

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could be an ideal person

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to lead a
brainstorming session.

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And allocating
tasks according to

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each person's talent
is a great motivator.

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It gives each person
a time to shine.

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Lastly, we have choice.

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Choice is equally
important because it puts

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ownership on the person or

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the person making
that choice.

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Excessive social
loafing will be less

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desirable to them because

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they'll have more
important things to do.

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Basically, the idea
of this third one is

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to let each person

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decide what they
want to do.

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So basically,
collaboration

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is holding everyone
accountable.

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Content is letting people

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do what they do best,

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and choice is letting

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them choose what
they want to do.

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So wrapping it
up, managing

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social loafing
attempts to make

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a positive contribution to

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the soft non-task-related

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aspects of group
functioning.

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Collaboration,
content, and choice.

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Those things that I
went over provide

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a great framework for

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group leaders
to manage it.

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I think actually just
remembering each of

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these can help someone
manage social loafing.

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However, groups
should also

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self-optimize from
the bottom up,

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not be driven
from the top.

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And what this means
is that teams

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work much better when

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each individual member is

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driven to do what
they want to do,

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how they want to do
it, instead of having

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one person at the top

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telling them what to do.

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I hope this short
little video

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on social loafing
helped you

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maybe understand
why it works

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and also how to manage,

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especially if
you're the one

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that's been doing
all the work.

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Thank you so much for
watching this video.

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If you have any questions

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about social loafing,

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feel free to
leave them below.

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Subscribe if you
haven't already,

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and I hope to see you
in the next video.