In the work environment, both companies and employees are prone to falling into cognitive biases that can influence their perceptions and behaviors.
For those of you who don’t know that term, a cognitive bias is a way of thinking that can distort our perception of reality. It is as if our mind has a shortcut or an automatic tendency to process information in a certain way. This can affect our decisions and judgments, as it does not always allow us to consider all available information impartially.
The discipline in charge of its study is cognitive neuroscience, which relieves the behavior of people with the reactions produced in the brain, and is capable of analyzing the brain mechanisms that underlie non-conscious decision-making.
Biases, in essence, constitute a form of prejudice, and are frequently repeated in life in general, and also within the world of work. By producing detours and cuts from the big picture, they influence the way we interpret what happens, how we remember things, or how we evaluate people.
As you can imagine, this mental bias often creates communication barriers and negatively affects work relationships.
The 10 common biases of companies and staff
To dig deeper, here are 10 common biases, both from the perspective of companies towards constituents, and from employees towards companies and their leaders.
Here you will find concrete examples, some representative phrases that you may have heard, and also, several ideas to overcome them.
Some biases of companies towards their staff:
- Job stereotype bias:
This bias refers to generalizing and attributing negative or limiting characteristics to certain groups in the workforce. An example of this is when you hear it said: “Young employees lack experience and commitment, they are all lazy.”
Companies can fall into this assumption by basing their decisions on anecdotal examples or general past experiences, rather than more accurately considering hard data and evidence. A phrase that illustrates this bias is: “I remember an employee who made a mistake, therefore all employees are unreliable.”
This distortion manifests itself when companies or their executives selectively interpret information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs about people, ignoring what challenges them. For example, you might hear someone say: “Employees in a certain department are uncooperative. I always find examples that back it up.”
This biased view occurs when staff evaluations are based on a single positive or negative characteristic, generalizing it to influence all other perceptions. For example: “This employee is very friendly and sociable, therefore you must be highly competent in his work.”
- Authority overestimation bias:
Some companies tend to attribute greater validity and credibility to the opinions of people in positions of authority, without considering the ideas and contributions of collaborators in lower roles. It is common to hear: “The ideas of the people below do not make sense, they are not relevant; We are going to listen to the directors”.
Staff biases towards companies:
This bias occurs when employees assume that the company’s intentions are always negative or unfavorable for them. A common phrase that reflects this bias is: “The company only cares about their profits, they don’t care about our well-being.”
- Unfair attribution bias:
Staff can fall into this distortion by attributing company actions or decisions to internal factors, such as wickedness or incompetence, without considering external circumstances or legitimate constraints. For example, you can hear in the corridors: “The company never promotes us because they don’t care about our professional growth; and only and exclusively those who are accommodated always go up.”
- Unrealistic expectations bias:
Some company members may have unrealistic expectations about the growth opportunities or rewards they believe they should receive. As an example is this sentence: “The company should promote me after only six months of work.”
- Selective attention bias:
In this case, it is about focusing only on the negative aspects of the company, ignoring the positive efforts or achievements. The subjective interpretation may be: “The company never recognizes our hard work; it only focuses on our failures.”
- Organizational apathy bias:
It manifests itself when employees assume that the company does not value their opinions or suggestions, so they stop actively contributing. Example: “It is not worth sharing my ideas, the company will never take them into account.”
10 ideas to overcome biases
To help you narrow the gap caused by cognitive biases, here are a series of recommendations for working in any type of company, team, and business:
For the companies:
- Foster diversity in hiring and promote inclusion in the workplace, allowing for different perspectives and strengthening more equitable and comprehensive decision-making.
- Implement cognitive bias awareness training programs for employees, providing them with tools to recognize and mitigate these biases in their daily work.
- Reinforce good communication with empathy and assertiveness, and establish policies and practices based on data and evidence, avoiding decisions influenced by assumptions or stereotypes.
- Promote a work environment with psychological security (containment network of tacit agreements between both parties) and openness, where each member can feel comfortable sharing opinions and diverse perspectives.
- Conduct regular reviews of company processes and systems to identify potential biases and take corrective action, especially by observing the performance of people with people in charge.
For staff:
- Be aware of your own cognitive biases and be willing to question them, reflecting on your own decisions and judgments before reaching hasty or habitual conclusions.
- Actively seeking different perspectives and opinions, maintaining an open dialogue with colleagues, and learning from people with diverse experiences, including your leaders.
- Develop active listening and empathy skills, as well as critical thinking, allowing a better understanding of the perspectives of others and avoiding the influence of biases in interaction with colleagues.
- Expand knowledge and understanding through continuing education and exposure to different cultures, practices, and approaches.
- Have willingness and concern for personal and professional development programs that promote emotional intelligence and conscious decision-making, helping to counteract cognitive biases in daily work.
And for both parties, they can create the “Biasometer,” a way to measure risks of bias in every formal and informal situation, meeting, and activity. I apply it in companies from different countries and it is extremely useful.
How does it work? It’s simple: first, create an awareness campaign, followed by practice actions, such as a cognitive bias awareness workshop. In the next phase, you go on to experience it on a daily basis. For example, in the face of some expressions that, from the perspective of others, may be biased, say out loud “Biasometer” or make a pre-agreed gesture -an anchor, NLP technique, Neuro Linguistic Programming- so that people take consciousness instantly, and can reformulate their thought and communication patterns. Although it seems too simple, it works!
And it works because reality is not what we perceive, but what we want and choose to see.
Daniel Colombo Facilitator and Executive Master Coach specialized in senior management, professionals and teams; mentor and professional communicator; international speaker; author of 31 books. LinkedIn Top Voice Latin America. ICF certified; Certified Coach and Member of the John Maxwell Team.