Will Schutz (1925-2002) is arguably one of the greatest psychologists of the second half of the 20^th century. He was rewarded with his PhD in 1951, graduating from UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.

As soon as he began studying, he became interested in relationships between individuals as well as in behavioural psychology. Having served in the US marine from 1944 to 1946, he returned to the army at the end of his studies. He was tasked with analysing the way in which groups work together. He pursued his career working on statistics applied to behavioural psychology and taught classes in some of the greatest American universities, from the West Coast to the East Coast (Berkeley, Harvard, Antioch, Chicago). In 1958, he published his first book “Firo, a three-dimensional theory of interpersonal behaviour”, explaining his theory on the Fundamental Orientations of Interpersonal Behaviour. He also created several tests (including the famous FIRO-B test on behaviour).

As early as 1961, working with the Western Training Laboratory, he grew interested in group dynamics and individuals’ development. In doing so, he drew on some original approaches. He broadened his expertise/knowledge by studying analytic psychodrama, Gestalt-Therapy, Rolfing, Bio Energy. At the end of the 1960s, he went back to California and got involved in the Movement for the Development of (the) Human Potential in Esalen.

Drawing on his varied experiences, Will Schutz founded his own method: “the Human Element®”, synthesising all his discoveries and including/ adding (in) various/diverse theories on individuals and group psychology. He published is method in 1994 under the same title, “the Human Element®”.

The Human Element® approach consists of building links between self-esteem, trust, individual and group performances. It reduces behavioural rigidity and increases collective efficiency by more than 50%. Since 1980, this approach has been used around the world by more than 500 companies, in 17 different countries.