Did you ever notice that things tend to play out the way you think they will? And information and actions tend to support the ideas that you already have about a person, subject or situation?
Cognitive Bias
In the CIA (and other places, too – I’m sure) they call it Cognitive Bias. It’s what they do NOT want their intelligence analysts experiencing as they put together briefs. They want clear, unbiased information, because the best decisions are made that way.
In organizations, this can be a challenge when a manager sees something, or someone as a problem, then every action or issue tends to support that perception. This creates an even bigger challenge: poor decisions based on faulty or incomplete information. As leaders and managers, we must do our best to remove the Cognitive Bias factor so that we can make clearer decisions.
Awareness is the Goal
We must ask ourselves: “Am I seeing only what I want to see?” This takes a great deal of self-awareness. The best leaders are very self-aware. They know their own blind-spots, and put someone in place to point them out to them – like a coach, or trusted advisor. The goal must always be to seek greater self-awareness so we can make the best possible decisions for ourselves, our organizations and our world. .
This also takes courage – at first. Eventually it becomes second nature to question our own understandings and motives. Over time, it becomes much more matter-of-fact. We become fearless decision makers. We get better and better at questioning ourselves in service to clarity. Clarity becomes more important that ego. It’s our ego that wants to be right in our assumptions. For successful businesses, families and lives, clarity is critical to making sound decisions. Ego is helpful – it just works better when combined with the clarity that comes from self-awareness, and asking ourselves the right questions.
Next time you are looking for evidence to support a theory, spend an equal amount of time (or energy) searching for points that do NOT support the theory (or support the opposite). You may be surprised by how much you find, just by looking for it. In the end, your decisions will serve you and your teams better.
