Coaching practices for Dunbar's Number at Work
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Dunbar's Number at Work, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- If you asked me to name my actual five closest people I’m not sure I could
- My calendar is packed with people and plans and yet I feel weirdly lonely in all of it
- I let all my looser acquaintances go totally silent because they felt less important than my close people
- I still feel just as close to people I haven’t actually talked to in months, and I keep assuming the bond is fine on warmth alone
- I’m not someone who does heart-to-hearts easily, so my friendships seem to stall out at small talk
Practices that may help
- Dunbar's Number
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation. - Map your social layers using Dunbar's concentric circles
Know which five people are in your inner circle and who fills the 15 and 50 layers.
Dunbar's Number - Prioritize depth over breadth in social investment
Having five genuinely close friends is more protective of wellbeing than having fifty adequate ones.
Dunbar's Number - Maintain weak ties for information and opportunity
The 50-to-150 layer isn't maintenance overhead — it's your network's reach.
Dunbar's Number - Invest contact time as the currency of closeness
Relationships are maintained by time investment; without it, they drift toward outer layers.
Dunbar's Number - Use shared activities rather than conversation alone to build bonds
Doing things together creates bonds more efficiently than talking about the relationship.
Dunbar's Number - Triage your outer layers to protect inner-layer capacity
You cannot expand your inner circle without something moving outward — the constraint is cognitive, not motivational.
Dunbar's Number - Always identify the denominator when evaluating risk or success
When a number or story is striking, ask: "Out of how many total cases?"
Base-Rate Neglect: Why We Ignore the Odds - Decompose the unknown into knowable sub-problems
Break the question you cannot answer directly into smaller questions you can.
Fermi Estimation - Pre-commit to a hard option limit
Decide in advance how many options you will consider — then stick to that number.
Choice Overload, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Dunbars Number As A Parent
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
- Dunbars Number For My Teenager
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
- Dunbars Number After A Loss
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
- Dunbars Number During A Big Change
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
- Dunbars Number During Conflict
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
- Dunbars Number Layers
Robin Dunbar's research proposes that the human neocortex supports a stable social group of roughly 150 people, with nested layers of closer relationships (5, 15, 50) requiring progressively more time investment to maintain. The 150-person figure has observational support across hunter-gatherer societies, historical military units, and company sizes; the nested-layer model is more contested. The practical implication is that meaningful relationships are a limited resource that require deliberate allocation.
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