Wie können Sie Vorurteile in Ihren Managemententscheidungen erkennen und überwinden?

This can be a really tricky one to overcome given its cyclical nature. Even if you seek out information to broaden your perspective, you have a natural tendency to dismiss what goes against what you think and accept what confirms it. Couple of ways I’d encourage people to actively overcome it. First, surround yourself with a diverse group of people. It’s relatively easy to dismiss information and data since you feel disconnected from it. When you have a personal relationship with someone, it breaks through those cognitive biases in powerful ways. Another one is to start by assuming your initial reaction or decision is inherently biased and actively seek out people and information that explains the conclusions those biases would lead to.

Being the CEO, tackling bias in management decisions is a priority for fostering a fair and inclusive workplace. Start by acknowledging biases exist. We all have them. Regular self-reflection and seeking diverse perspectives on decisions help uncover and challenge our biases. At Ginkgo, we encourage an open culture where team members feel comfortable speaking up. By embracing transparency and promoting inclusivity, we can collectively overcome biases and make decisions that truly reflect our values.

I think it starts by building awareness of your own bias and being conscious when and why your bias is triggered. Personally I always seek to surround myself with a mix of talented people not just in terms of different races and cultures but also different personality types (I'm extroverted and have always recruited introverts where I can). I'm a big picture thinker too and always seek out the advice of those who are more detailed oriented than me. Surrounding yourself by the widest array of diverse individuals is certainly a great start.

It is not easy to acknowledge or even recognize our own biases sometimes, even for the most experienced leader. I believe what we can do is to acknowledge that we might have these biases and actively work to mitigate them. It involves a continuous process of learning, self-awareness, and creating an environment where biases are openly discussed and addressed. And use decision-making tools and frameworks that can aid us in making more informed and objective decisions (SWOT, Decision Matrix, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Pareto Analysis, Root Cause Analysis etc)

Addressing bias in management decisions, especially cognitive biases, is a crucial (but tricky as well) aspect of fostering fair and inclusive leadership. By acknowledging the existence of cognitive biases and actively implementing strategies such as diverse perspectives, data-driven decision-making, and ongoing self-awareness, leaders, managers can navigate potential pitfalls and cultivate a more equitable decision-making process that aligns with organizational values and promotes a culture of DEI.

Mitigating biases in managerial decisions, particularly emotional biases (but cognitive, self-serving, etc.), is pivotal for cultivating an inclusive leadership approach. Self-awareness is crucial in my point of view! By fostering emotional intelligence, leaders can navigate subjective influences, promoting a decision-making environment that values empathy, objectivity, and understanding of diverse perspectives.

Just like cognitive basis, emotional bias starts with building self awareness to your own personal preferences when it comes to emotional responses and bias. The more you know yourself the more prepare you can be to balance out any potential bias. I highly encourage pro-actively asking for feedback from colleagues who know you well. Look for mentoring for those with very different emotional styles and where you need help getting a coach is a great investment.

I love the topic of GroupThink and this can be a challenge to deal with particularly when it is infused in the culture of an organisation. Being open to challenging the status quo and not being afraid to rock a few boats is a great way to keep social bias in check.

If you are the leader of the group, I would strongly suggest adopting a facilitative leadership style that focuses on guiding the group rather than directing it. And regularly review group decisions and processes to identify instances of groupthink.

An easy way to keep any self-serving bias in check is to always ask yourself what are the external resources, people or environmental factors that played a part in my success? This helps to ensure a more objective view of how success was achieved.

Addressing self-serving bias is about fostering a culture where accountability is valued over individual accolades. In my leadership approach, I emphasize 'collective success' over 'individual glory.' We conduct regular team reflections where successes and failures are discussed in terms of team effort rather than individual contributions. This approach has helped in creating a more collaborative environment, where the focus is on learning and growing together, rather than attributing outcomes to single individuals. It's a subtle shift in perspective but one that significantly impacts how decisions are made and owned.

Anchoring bias can result in over-reliance on initial information, potentially leading to skewed decisions. To overcome this, it's important to gather and evaluate a broad range of information before making decisions. Avoiding hasty conclusions based on first impressions and considering multiple perspectives ensures a more comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand. This practice not only helps in making more informed decisions but also opens up possibilities for better alternatives that might have been overlooked.

Everyone has biases. Where you were born, your age, the colour of your skin, the community you grew up in. What I find helpful is that whatever opinion you have, flip its on its head. And think about the exact opposite of your opinion. Say you are established in your career and you have an opinion on something. Flip it on its head and think about what my person early in career think about this? it’s not going to be perfect because you’re still have biases, but at least you’ll be aware of them and consider that there are different viewpoints.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Bias exists because our brains try to identify and use 'helpful' short cuts to save processing power. It's normal. Try using some structured analytic techniques on your own or in your management team to de-bias your analysis, discussion and decisions. There are lots of different techniques which can be helpful.

Let us first agree, that overcoming bias is difficult! It needs us to pause and reflect. These are not instincts for many of us. One hack I have used for critical decisions - write your decision in a few words - after few hours/days read that decision as a reviewer

Identifying and overcoming bias in management decisions involves self-awareness and deliberate strategies. Cognitive biases, like anchoring or confirmation bias, can skew rational decision-making. Emotional biases stem from personal feelings influencing professional choices. Social biases arise from societal norms and peer pressure, while self-serving biases favor outcomes beneficial to the decision-maker. Hindsight bias can distort learning from past decisions. Overcoming these requires a conscious effort to seek diverse perspectives, rely on data and evidence, and establish clear, objective criteria for decision-making. Regular reflection and feedback can help identify unnoticed biases, allowing for more balanced and fair decision-making.

If we know the bias - we find the way to deal with it. If we don't know - we need an instrument who can help us identify it. There are various options which can make you see, what you don't see. A professional coach can be a good solution. In other cases you can deliberately appoint a member of your team to play "devil's advocate" for your decisions, or even establish a parallel team which will have to develop an alternative solution to yours and then compare them. Making the decision is one of the last steps in the process, which usually starts with identifying the goal. If you do your homework with setting the goal properly, this will help to deal with biases at the stage of decision making.