What can HR learn from problem-solving squirrels?

What does a grey squirrel and your top-performing team member have in common?

No, it’s not their bushy tails, fondness for burying nuts in summer, or ability to tightrope-walk across your garden fence. It’s actually their ability to look at problems in unique ways.

Dr Pizza Ka Yee Chow of the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter has been researching why grey squirrels tend to be more successful than their red cousins. She believes it could come down to their superior problem-solving talents.

“Our results in the study suggest problem-solving ability may have given grey squirrels advantages to adjust themselves to new environments,” she tells HR Grapevine. “We know that having such kind of flexibility is important.”