Unlocking human potential through behavioural science

When we hear the word resilience, we often picture someone who stays strong during difficult times and quickly “bounces back” afterwards. Yet resilience research presents a much broader picture. Resilience is not simply mental toughness or a fixed personality trait. It is a dynamic capacity to adapt to adversity, shaped by our biology, thinking, emotions, relationships, culture and the environment in which we live.

Leadership is often associated with making decisions, setting goals, and ensuring that teams achieve results. However, decades of research suggest that leadership extends far beyond managing performance. The way leaders interact with their employees influences how people experience their work, how motivated they feel, how willing they are to innovate, and even whether they choose to remain within an organisation. Among the many leadership approaches that have been studied, transformational leadership has consistently emerged as one of the most influential.

At Behaviour & Balance, we're proud to be part of the Female Founders Breakfast community. During our recent breakfast in Mallorca, founders from a wide range of industries came together to share their experiences, challenges, and lessons learned.

Behaviour change is often viewed as a straightforward process. Once people recognise that a behaviour is no longer serving them, they are expected to make a decision, take action, and eventually establish healthier habits. However, research in health psychology suggests that behaviour change is far more complex. Rather than following a straight path, it is characterised by progress, setbacks, periods of stagnation, and relapse.

Obesity has become one of the most widely discussed health concerns of the modern era. Its increasing prevalence has placed significant pressure on healthcare systems worldwide and has prompted growing interest from researchers, policymakers, and health professionals. Although obesity is often viewed as the result of individual lifestyle choices, contemporary research suggests that it is a far more complex condition shaped by a combination of biological, psychological, social, environmental, and economic influences. This complexity means that obesity cannot be fully understood or addressed through a single perspective.

Human behaviour is often perceived as the result of conscious decisions; however, psychological research suggests that a substantial proportion of everyday actions occur with minimal deliberate thought. Many routine activities, such as choosing what to eat, travelling to work, or following a morning routine, are guided by habits. These behavioural patterns are important because they allow individuals to function efficiently in familiar situations without constantly engaging in complex decision-making processes.

Coping describes the different methods people use to handle stress, pressure, and difficult situations. When individuals face problems or emotional challenges, they usually try to manage either the situation itself or the feelings created by it. Psychologists believe that coping styles are influenced by both personality and life experiences, meaning that people may respond differently depending on the situation they are facing.

Organisational culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, norms, and behaviours within an organisation that influence how people communicate and behave in the workplace (Schein & Schein, 2017). Leadership and organisational culture are closely connected because leaders help shape the behaviours, expectations, and values that become embedded within the organisation.

The present discussion is based on the meta-analysis by Loumakou, Anstasiou, Dermatis et al. (2026), which synthesises evidence from 35 peer-reviewed studies on transformational coaching across diverse professional contexts. The findings provide an integrated understanding of how transformational coaching operates and the mechanisms that underpin its effectiveness.

Procrastination is a common challenge, especially among university students. It refers to delaying tasks, decisions, or responsibilities instead of addressing them in a timely way (Gargari et al., 2011). In academic settings, this can look like postponing assignments, avoiding project work, or waiting until the last minute to prepare for exams.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is a widely recognised framework for explaining and predicting human behaviour. Developed by Icek Ajzen, it proposes that behaviour is primarily guided by an individual’s intention to act, making intention the most immediate predictor of behaviour (Ajzen, 1991).