Scott Watson breaks down four unconscious biases that hijack hiring and leadership decisions: affinity bias, in-group/out-group bias, authority bias, and confirmation bias. He shows how to catch them by slowing decisions by 24 hours, naming the comfort factor, and testing arguments as if defending them to strangers.
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Come on, you can admit it to me. You didn't choose that successful candidate for that role because they were the best fit for your organisation. You picked them because they felt familiar to you, and now you're trying to justify a biased selection decision with logic that perhaps just doesn't hold water. Here's a hidden trap that many leaders and managers fall into, and they don't even know it's happening. Think of it this way. It's called affinity bias, where you gravitate toward people who are like you in background, personality, thinking, working style, where you studied, even hobbies. You tell yourself, "They just get it. They're like me." But here's what's really happening. You're confusing comfort for competence and what your organisation needs. And when you build your teams or approve projects based on that, you're not helping your organisation. You're actually hurting it. Now, try justifying that biased decision you made to someone independent and objective. You might just begin to Squirm, because deep down you know it wasn't about facts, it was about feelings completely or mostly. And it gets deeper. Let's say you made a call that favoured your go-to person in your team. But what about the person outside of this bubble that doesn't get a look in? The person that isn't the go-to person because you don't put opportunities their way. How can they be the person to go to? That's in-group versus out-group. The in-group gets the benefit of the doubt, the out-group gets held to a different standard or excluded completely. You can't build a high-performing team that's a high-trust team when you unconsciously play favourites. The organisation deserves better. Then there's authority bias. You adopt an idea or direction just because it came from someone with status or seniority or specific expertise. Your gut's telling you that it doesn't feel right, but you stay silent, you nod and you comply. And you carry out that flawed idea or decision into your team. It's as if it's gospel, but you know it's wrong, or at least not quite right. Don't comply. Discuss. Now stack that with confirmation bias. You only see what supports the decision you've already made and ignore anything that challenges it. You cherry-pick the evidence, spin the facts to match your story, and when someone questions it, you double down instead of listening. It isn't healthy, it's definitely not value-adding for your organisation. So how do you lead better? Here's what high-trust leaders and managers do. Slow the decision-making process down, even by 24 hours. Ask, what evidence am I not looking at? What am I choosing to ignore? 2. Name your comfort. Am I choosing this person because they sound like they're easy to work with and they're like me, or is it because is what the organization actually needs. Bring in a devil's advocate to see the worst in everything and mismatch your thinking and challenge and positively question. Say things out loud such as, "If I had to defend this in a boardroom of strangers, could I do it without flinching?" These are just points to make you aware of. Everyone has bias. Bias doesn't make you a bad person, but as a leader, ignoring bias and its impact does make you vulnerable. Because when the decision gets questioned, and it will, you may be exposed because you've not thought things through. And it's not by malice, but by your own blind spots. Your counterparts, if they're challenging and questioning, they might not be questioning you or doubting you. They might be questioning and doubting the thinking that's led you to certain decisions. Excellent leaders aren't just confident in their decisions, they're confident in how they made them, and they're confident enough to have their thinking and decisions questioned, not to prove them wrong, but to help the organisation refine and optimise the thinking behind decisions so the organisation can benefit as much as possible. That's the difference between bias-driven and bulletproof decision-making. Have a think, how might you apply what you've learned in this brief video in your organisation, and with which people in which situations?
