What do you do if your decision-making is influenced by biases?

A great quote I heard which serves me well around biases and good behaviour generally is, "minds are like parachutes, they work better when they are open". In life we are so often led down a binary route of 'this is right, so this must be wrong' that we can end up blinkered and closed off to new ways of thinking and behaving. So a good place to start...be more parachute :0)

An example of why it’s so important to be self aware. I take a third position stance and step outside of myself, looking in before, during and afterwards. During I may even interrupt my own point to share that I have become aware of ‘a’ so it is then in the frame, this is to ensure any bias does not affect others decisions. It’s easier in consulting as I am already in 3rd position and ‘Keats’ ‘Bion’ thoughts in search of a thinker so as clear as I can be. It’s harder in role with deliverables and complexities so I suggest developing the practice of standing outside of oneself in that third position

Making a decision is an extremely complex process. Group decisions are better, because we bring different experiences and backgrounds to understand a situation and decide on it. In this way, the leader's flexibility in bringing other thoughts, even discordant ones, leads to the best decision. In my experience, this has been proven on several occasions. Therefore, understanding beliefs and combining the way of thinking brings the decision closer to the right one.

When you recognize that you have made a wrong decision, a possible solution is to analyze and understand the process for which you are responsible and plan standardization to avoid bias. This will help you and your team avoid this type of error. Always review the process to see improvements.

These are all great suggestions for the groups that we lead. Many leaders may also report to a higher-ranking leader who does not reflect on this topic. In this case, the ability to influence up is paramount to identifying how potential biases are influencing their decision-making process. While many leaders are open to feedback, others are not. In this case, the ability to influence a difficult or close-minded personality takes a different approach that requires an understanding of their motivations and leadership style so that you may ask probing questions that appeal to what is important to them. For example: What are our competitors doing in this area? or What would it look like if we were to change the way we approach this...?

Instead of asking for feedback or comments on your ideas, say things like, "What am I missing?" or "What have I got wrong?" Better yet, as a leader, ask those around you to voice their opinions before voicing your own to avoid biasing them.

That's the point, to encourage different ways of thinking, without prejudice. Encouraging the group to express their point of view, even if they disagree, leads to a path to a decision. It is assumed that everyone is correct in their way of thinking. They are faithful to their beliefs, defined by previous experiences. What the leader needs to do is combine ideas and find a line of reasoning that proves to be the solution. This is your greatest decision-making ability.

A good leader observes the environment, the process and people, to make decisions, and must also be aware of the company's internal and external policies that can impact their decisions.

A partir das informações e conhecimentos, o líder poderá compreender mais sobre as ações destes preconceitos no dia a dia e começar a buscar novos comportamentos e formas de ver o mundo, as quais são diferentes das anteriores que tinham muitos viéses.

To help reduce the influence of biases, create some subjective criteria ahead of time, to help guide your choice. That way, if you're leaning towards a choice that does not match the criteria you pre-selected, it may be a sign that there is some bias at play.

I believe that solo decisions are more contaminated with hope, which is why the leader must encourage other people in the decision-making process. Positive leaders tend to make more mistakes than they do right. This causes wear and tear and rework that leads to demotivation among leaders. The best way is to highlight thoughts in facts and data, to build a logical line of thought in the decision. Understanding that there will always be an ingredient based on your way of seeing this data and information. However, the decision will be based on logical and easy-to-apply reasoning. Everyone will understand why this decision was made.

A partir das informações sobre preconceito, será mais fácil de perceber os momentos e gatilhos em que os pensamentos e ações preconceituosos vem. Geralmente são aqueles que vem logo de primeira diante de um problema, pois foi a forma como você aprendeu e viveu até então. E para trabalhar com diversidade e diminuir o preconceito, é necessário ter um novo leque de comportamento e pensamento.

Personally RED critical thinking model has helped me with eliminating biases and make sound decision making. First step is to recognize assumptions, in this I focus on gathering all the information that is relevant to the decision making. Second step is to evaluate arguments where without bias, analyse and evaluate arguments in an objective manner. And lastly draw conclusions where you make a judgement and a decision on how to move forward in an objective, unbiased manner.

Applying structured decision-making techniques helps in this process: Edward de Bono's 6 hats, the 5 Whys, Brainstorming, as well as other existing techniques, help to purify prejudiced thinking in decision-making. They are useful tools in this process.

A ferramenta da Escada da Inferência e a Comunicação Não Violenta podem ser boas para que o líder consiga identificar os seus viéses e ter novas ações por meio da CNV.

A good framework is the polarity map. The polarity map was developed by Barry Johnson, and it allows you to limit biases during decision-making by visually representing opposing viewpoints, encouraging balanced consideration of perspectives, promoting open dialogue to challenge assumptions, fostering transparency in the decision-making process, and facilitating reflection on personal biases. Check out his books on this topic. They are really good.

Generally bias is unconscious, once it is conscious, then it is prejudice. Biases are formed by our hardwired mind concretised over years of past experience that one hold on dogmatically. Yesterday is today’s enemy. To avoid bias, learn about mindfulness and practice it. See things and events are “what it is”, devoid of judgemental lens of “what it should be. Use mindfulness to create conscious awareness to check bias. Ensure you understand what is “unlearning” to unlearn the old and tested success formula. Remember what brings you here today will not bring you there tomorrow. Unfreeze your past experience by pausing your decision by asking, what has changed? what is the differences?

I have NEVER had a leader say, "The real problem is I just have too many extraordinary people, all top performers and leaders with great attitudes, efforts, and results." All of us are influenced by our biases. That's the nature of being human. Your goal should be to avoid being held back by them. Two ways to do this. 1) Challenge your assumptions about what is required. Go through the job descriptions and ask how much of it you really have to have. Find ways to open up your process and you'll find your biases and challenge them. 2) Look around. If you've got a whole lot of people who look alike, you're missing great people. Whoever isn't represented is a pile of gold you're continually ignoring. Go scoop it up instead.