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            [post_title] => Is the sky the limit or will you be blocked by bias clouds
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            [post_content] => Professor Costas Markides will be speaking at IMI's upcoming National Management Conference on October 9th 2013 - for more information click here.

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I recently listened to my colleague Freek Vermeulen tell a wonderful story about a belief (or is it a “myth”) that seems to exist in almost every country of the world.  This is the belief that porpoises are intelligent animals which have on many occasions pushed shipwrecked sailors to the shore, thus saving their lives.  There are many such heart-warming stories from different parts of the world, a fact that suggests that there is some truth in them. The problem with these stories, says Freek, is that they suffer from what statisticians call “selection bias”.  This is our tendency to draw inferences from only a selection of the outcomes, specifically the successful ones, while ignoring the unsuccessful ones.  In the cases involving sailors and porpoises, we only get to see and hear from the sailors that were pushed to safety by the porpoises.  But for every survivor, there are probably nine other sailors who were pushed away from the shore by porpoises.  We don’t get to hear from them because they all drowned!

The exact same problem raises its ugly head when we talk about game-changing companies.  It has become very popular these days to proclaim the virtues of “breaking the rules of the game” in an industry and to encourage companies to become “revolutionaries” and “game-changers”.  Examples of successful game-changers such as Google, Zappos, Amazon, Ryanair and many more are often given as evidence that breaking the rules is a very profitable strategy.  What we usually forget to tell people is that for every successful game-changer there are nine others who failed miserably in their pursuit of revolution!

Game-changing is difficult for any company but it is an especially formidable task for big, established companies.  This is because established companies already have an existing business model and a set of skills and attitudes that they need to successfully compete in their existing businesses.  If they are to become game-changers, they not only need to adopt a new business model and acquire a new set of skills and competences but they must also find a way of either discarding what they already have or making the old and the new co-exist peacefully together.  Both tasks are extremely difficult to pull off and that is why the failure rate is so high.

This is not meant to scare established companies away from rule-breaking.  This is a worthwhile strategy that every company ought to consider.  But we also need to appreciate that coming up with a new, game-changing strategy is the easy part.  Implementing it is the real challenge and companies should not undertake such a task lightly.  Game-changing is not a matter of creativity; it is an organizational challenge that requires patience and leadership.

Costas Markides is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and holds the Robert P. Bauman Chair of Strategic Leadership at the London Business School.  He is a researcher and widely published author on the topics of diversification, strategic innovation, business-model innovation and international acquisitions.   He was name one of the Top 50  Most Influential Management Gurus by Thinkers50 in 2011.

 

 
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“There are two certainties in life, death and taxes” said Brad Pitt in the 1998 movie  “Meet Joe Black”. Actually I believe there is a third certainty, problems.

wrong solution car

Source: www.cliparthut.com

Problems are part of the journey of life, we cannot move forward without dealing with some sort of problem from the most primordial of finding food and shelter, to the most trivial of choosing the right colour tie for your next meeting. The fact is that problems are very deceiving, in so many ways they are also similar to illnesses in that we despise them deeply. Like illnesses we become aware of them only when they hurt, by which time it is probably already too late to stop them doing some damage. Once we become aware of a problem and feel its pain we tend to treat the symptoms rather than truly tackling the causes. And again, like illnesses if we leave serious problems untreated and only tend to their symptoms they generally turn into even bigger problems and sometimes far to advance to be able to fix them.

Are you feeling the pain yet?

If you are, don’t panic just quite yet. Most problems can be resolved quite easily by simply understanding them and exploring them from different angles. We often believe there is only one right solution to a problem, in reality the solution to every problem doesn't depend on its symptoms but on its desired outcome. Exploring a problem from different angles allows us to gain clarity on what is going on and provide us with the opportunity to formulate a number of options and alternatives to focus on achieving what is truly important.

Do you feel as healthy as a fish?

If you don't then perhaps you should question why? Problems become serious only if we ignore smaller issues that don’t seem to mean much when they surface. Because they are so trivial and don’t seem to have an impact on the overall big picture such small issues tend to go unchecked until they become big enough. Then this requires all hands on deck to resolve and will distract everyone from performing the way they could. It is important to question the potential impact of small issues. What can happen if you don’t tackle them? What are they the symptoms of? What critical values are they eroding in your organisation?

Have you had these symptoms before?

If you have then it doesn't mean what is happening right now is the same as what you have experienced before. It might be the same problem but almost certainly the conditions in which its presenting itself are very different and the solution that worked before might not work this time. Experience forms connections in our brain between situations and actions. This is very useful when we operate under pressure but most often it causes us to make rushed decision and bad choices. It is always important to understand: What is different this time? How different are the causes from my previous experience? Which new conditions are causing the problem this time?

dr google

Source: www.drlinda-md.com

Googling won’t make it better, it will almost certainly make you feel worse!

Today it’s easy to “Google” any problem and find ready made solutions very quickly. The internet is indeed a powerful resource to find interesting answers and ideas but remember your problem has very unique characteristics and to be able to solve it effectively it is important to involve the people around you that are connected with it.

Most of the time fresh eyes help finding new and innovative solutions but before throwing all your energy on any external solution it is important to be candid and open up with what is really going on internally.

  Fabio Grassi is the Programme Director for Innovative Problem Solving, a two day programme which runs on the 26th & 27th of November 2015. Fabio is a specialist in the development of team performance, collaboration and motivation.  [post_title] => Are you treating the right problem? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => bugging-treating-right-problem [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 20:28:03 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 20:28:03 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=13041 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) )
Clare Mulligan

Clare Mulligan

8th May 2018

Clare Mulligan is associate facility on the IMI Diploma in Organisational Behaviour

Related Articles

Is the sky the limit or will you be blocked by bias clouds
Game changing is fun - but difficult!
Are you treating the right problem?

Being conscious of the unconscious

 

Unconscious Bias workshops are currently very popular as part of equality, diversity and inclusion programmes. Organisations are working towards raising awareness of how we as human beings make decisions especially about other groups of people, and how we can build more inclusive workplaces.

Unconscious biases are implicit preferences we have about other people. Throughout our life each one of us gather millions of pieces of information and categorise this information to help us make sense of the world and to enable us to make quick decisions.

We use social identities to categorise the information we gather, such as gender, race, culture or even profession, appearance, age, role, grade, education, hobbies. We then apply positive or negative associations to each category we create.

Some categories can be understood to some level as we can access media, news, social influences that we are all subject to, such as gender bias on TV programmes. However, most biases are not even aware to the individual as we each gather categories and perceived negative or positive associations from personal experiences and influences.

 

All Biases are Created Equal

We all have bias, and it is a normal part of how we as humans operate. However, we know there are common biases that human beings are subject to;

Affinity Bias – we are more likely to apply positive attributions to someone we have an affinity with, so if we went to the same school as someone it can create a natural affinity. As we have an affinity we are more likely to see the positive traits in them as they are ‘like us’ and we are more likely to trust them

Confirmation bias – our brain will look for evidence to support what we already think is correct. So, if you think everyone from a certain group has a set of characteristics you will look for evidence of this. Your brain is satisfied when it has confirmed the existing thought process and will not be motivated to look for further information.

Primacy effect – First impression of a person tends to influence their future assessment

Halo effect – Seeing one area of success in a person and thinking that they are successful on a wider scale. You will see their halo and that will affect your overall impression. Important to realise not everyone else will see the halo and therefore more likely to notice other behaviours that you can be blind too. The opposite of this is ‘horns effect’ where we see one negative trait and it influences our overall perception of the person.

Beauty Bias – judging someone on their appearance.

Age bias – judging someone on their age and making assumptions about their values, behaviours or ability.

Gender bias – Judging someone on their gender or showing preference to one gender or asking gender biased questions.

Generational Bias – Each generation will have been influenced by media, tv, world events and social experiences of their era. This creates a shared view of the world for each generation. By not realising other generations will have a different view causes a bias towards other generations.

Biases become obvious through showing preferences to one person such as recommending them for a promotion or hiring them. Biases can also play out in a subtler way through micro affirmations or small evidences of body language such as head tilts, smiles, listening etc.

We can see evidence of affinity bias in a team meeting, where some people are listened to more attentively. The person not being actively listened will feel this and it can lead to demotivation or perceived unfair treatment. Consciously listening to each team member, can be a big step in overcoming bias and working towards an inclusive culture.

 

Recognising the Blind Spots

It is important to recognise that most biases don’t come from a place of bad intent, and as we learn to reflect on our biases there is a need to be kind to ourselves to allow us to recognise our biases and then improve and biased behaviour moving forward. We have a ‘bias blind spot’ in that we are more likely to recognise biased behaviour in others. This is because we will notice behaviours or actions that are not in line with the way we think.

Being able to recognise blind spots is a key skill (Picture source)

So, when working with your teams and colleagues it is also important to show tolerance when highlighting any biased behaviour you perceive. Holding each other accountable and calling out biased behaviour is essential in modern workplaces and is effective if we use it as an opportunity to learn and develop.

 

 

 


Clare Mulligan is associate facility on the IMI Diploma in Organisational Behaviour, a Business Psychologist and researcher in the area of organisational behaviour and regularly provides consultancy & research projects to both public and private sector companies in the areas of diversity, workforce planning and leadership.