Many have heard me reference paradigms, either during presentations or in this column.
Paradigms are the beliefs, values, assumptions and ways in which we view the world. Trying to challenge our own assumptions and thinking is one way to expand our personal growth. One of my beliefs is as human beings, we are meant to be continuously growing.
Underlying our paradigms are several biases. When examining these biases, I can easily come up with specific examples in my own world. Perhaps you can too.
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According to innerdrive.co.uk, confirmation bias is paying more attention to people or ideas you agree with. I think we can all relate to this one. What do we beef producers think about those who follow a plant-based diet? I don’t even want to go down the political road, but there is another clear example. Some say the algorithms on social media exacerbate this bias by feeding you more of what you have already liked. One suggestion to overcome this is to talk to a diverse range of people before you make a decision.
The halo effect is when your overall impression of someone is influenced by one part of their character. Overcome it by remembering that first impressions are not always accurate.
The Hawthorne effect shows that when someone knows they are being observed, it can alter their behaviour. I can think of situations where I have done this, particularly with a new group of people. It can be overcome by taking a long-term approach and making observations of others as discreetly as possible. But it is not bad to be on your “best” behaviour. In family businesses, we do not always follow that practice, but having an outside facilitator to lead family meetings can encourage this in a positive way.
A negativity bias is when you pay more attention to and remember negative things. Overcome this by actively reflecting on the good things that have happened. Edward de Bono outlines how to manage this in his book Six Thinking Hats. Remove the negative black hat and put on the optimistic yellow one, he writes. Or ask yourself, what if everything turned out better than we could possibly imagine?
The bandwagon effect means you tend to believe things when other people do. It’s also referred to as group think. I recall being asked about this one as a teenager. Overcome it by listening to your gut. Also ask yourself what your opinion would be if you did not know anyone else’s opinion. In meetings, consider voting by a secret ballot versus a show of hands.
The Dunning Kruger effect explains that unskilled people overestimate their ability and experts doubt themselves. When someone makes strong, definitive statements, take them with a grain of salt. Imposter syndrome is similar. This is when we doubt our abilities. It happens to everyone, no matter how skilled or experienced they are.
The Ikea effect means you place a disproportionately high value on the things you create or assemble. Just because it is your idea doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Know when to cut your losses.
Outcome bias is judging your decision based on the outcome instead of the quality of the decision when it was made. Take time to reflect on what information you had at the time and ask if you would do anything differently.
The planning fallacy is underestimating how long it will take you to complete a task. Overcome it by giving yourself more time than you think and starting earlier.
Here are more biases from elearninglearning.com.
Anchoring bias is the tendency to place excessive weight on one piece of information, usually the first one you hear or learn.
Curse of knowledge bias is when well-informed people are unable to look at something from the point of view of a less-informed person.
Functional fixedness is using an object or idea only in the way it was traditionally used. We explore this one in warm-up brainstorming exercises in holistic management sessions, when we take an everyday object and come up with as many different uses as possible.
Mere exposure bias is the tendency to like something just because you are familiar with it. Again, this happens all the time.
“Not invented here” bias is the tendency to discount ideas, information or products developed outside of a certain group, such as “that is not how we do things around here.” Consider switching from your preferred breed of cattle or brand of machinery. Is that challenging?
Reactance is the tendency to do the opposite of what is suggested to preserve your freedom of choice.
Status quo bias is the tendency to want things to remain the same and system justification bias is the tendency to try to maintain the status quo. These explain why we are often resistant to change.
No matter how well intentioned we are, we can fall into some of these biases, which may not help our functioning in a group. As they say, the first step is acknowledgement and awareness. For some reason, it is easy to identify when others are operating under some of these biases but perhaps more difficult to recognize your own tendencies. I challenge you to reflect on some of them and in your next team meeting discuss it.
