See Bias

Block Bias

Affinity bias: We often prefer people like ourselves in appearance, beliefs, and background.

• Example: Promoting someone because you’ve worked together for a long time instead of their impact and role scope.

Are promotions given for people with similar backgrounds or styles?

Confidence “trap”: We have a tendency to view confident people as successful.

Extrovert bias: We have a tendency to view talkers as leaders and as smarter than quiet types.

• Example: Mistaking style for impact

Is a promotion recommended because a person is very confident or very vocal?

Confirmation bias: Our natural reflex to pay attention to information that supports our own point of view.

Confidence bias: We have a tendency to believe we are less biased than others.

• Example: Ignoring or discounting development feedback for a top performer

• Is a promotion based largely on one individual’s assessment?
• Has input been solicited from others?
• Ask why this might be wrong.

See Bias

Block Bias

Shifting or double standard: We can tend to shift performance standards based on individual characteristics, rather than achievements, despite our best efforts to be objective.

• Ask for clarification when you hear someone has to “prove themselves,” or is “not quite there yet.”
• Call out when some people’s mistakes are forgiven more easily than others
• Focus on the impact of a behavior, rather than the behavior itself.

Groupthink: We can succumb to a false consensus for reasons that can be rational (out of respect for collective wisdom) or due to perceived social pressure

• Create space for divergent opinions.
• Beware of difficult decisions with too little discussion or difference of opinion.

Vague language:

• “They did a nice job there.”
• “She got good feedback.”

Ask for specific examples or outcomes when unclear or unspecific language is being used to describe performance.