Let's dive in and uncover your hidden decision-making patterns! Every leader has cognitive biases - mental shortcuts that can help or hurt our judgment when managing others.

The key isn't eliminating biases (impossible) but recognizing when they might be influencing important leadership decisions like performance reviews, team assignments, or conflict resolution.

Engagement Message

Think of a time when your "gut instinct" about someone turned out to be wrong—what might have influenced that first impression?

Think of biases as your brain's autopilot. They help you make quick leadership decisions with incomplete information, but sometimes they steer you wrong.

For managers, these mental shortcuts can impact performance evaluations, team development, promotion decisions, and how you handle employee concerns in ways you never intended.

Engagement Message

Can you think of a time when your "gut instinct" about a team member led you astray?

Let's start with confirmation bias - our tendency to seek information that confirms what we already believe about our team members.

Example: A manager thinks quiet employees aren't engaged. They notice every time the quiet person doesn't speak up in meetings but ignore their strong written contributions and one-on-one insights.

Engagement Message

What's a strong assumption you hold about what makes a good team member?

Next is the halo effect - when one positive trait makes us see everything about a team member as positive.

Example: An employee always meets deadlines. The manager assumes they're also great at collaboration and communication, missing signs that they actually struggle with teamwork.

Engagement Message

Have you seen someone get opportunities based on just one visible strength?

Anchoring bias happens when the first piece of information we learn about someone heavily influences all subsequent judgments about them.