Volley was recently featured by Vistage, the world’s most trusted CEO & executive leadership network. Vistage does extensive research in the areas of Leadership, Talent Management, Customer Engagement, Operations, Finance, and Personal Development. The article is titled "How confirmation bias can affect your organization".
Matt Brady, Founder & CEO of Volley Solutions, has been studying patterns of business leadership and specifically the implications of behavioral economics over his 30 year career. In the article, he warns that cognitive biases can be a significant obstacle for organizations. This includes confirmation bias, which is our tendency to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms our existing beliefs, can lead to a range of negative consequences.
We are just not wired to be contrarian to our own beliefs.
What we end up doing is favoring data that confirms our existing viewpoints,
and downplaying evidence that doesn’t.
Brady emphasizes that confirmation bias can creep into all aspects of an organization's operations. From hiring decisions to strategic planning, this bias can distort our perception of reality and prevent us from making informed choices. For example, a manager who believes a certain candidate is the best fit for a role may overlook red flags or exaggerate the candidate's strengths.
One danger of confirmation bias is allowing a brand’s “halo effect” to have an undue positive influence on important business decisions like vendor selection.
To combat confirmation bias, Brady and the experts on organizational psychology interviewed suggest that leaders take several steps. First, they should foster different perspectives on teams to ensure that a variety of viewpoints are considered. Second, they should encourage open and honest communication to foster a culture where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas, even if they differ from the majority. Finally, leaders should gather data and evidence to make decisions, rather than relying solely on intuition or preconceived notions.
By following these strategies, leaders can minimize the impact of confirmation bias and make more informed and effective decisions. Volley Solutions provides a collaborative decision platform for organizations, and recently launched the free Volley app for personal and academic use. Decide better with Volley.