Leadership Biases: Stop Letting Attribution Error Hold You Back

Leadership Biases: Stop Letting Attribution Error Hold You Back
Leadership Biases: Stop Letting Attribution Error Hold You Back

Uncover the hidden influence of attribution error on leadership decisions. Explore how biases can hinder progress and learn strategies to overcome them. It's time to break free from the shackles of misjudgment and propel your leadership journey forward.

Why We Do It

We do this because it’s easy and we don’t have to think too hard.

  • It’s much simpler to blame someone’s personality than take into account all of the situational factors that may be affecting them.
  • We also like predictability in dealing with other people because we want to know who we can trust and who we cannot.

Overcome Your Attribution Bias Today

Remembering that we don’t know someone else’s motivations is the first step in overcoming attribution bias

  • Another trick is to put yourself in their shoes and recognize how external factors influenced your own behaviors
  • Talk to people
  • Have a conversation and understand what’s really driving their behavior

People Often Fail, But Not Because They’re Failures

Ninety percent of poor behaviors tend to be a result of miscommunication

  • The fault almost always lies with the manager
  • Look at four potential causes whenever someone fails to live up to your expectations
  • Direction
  • Competence
  • Opportunity
  • Motivation
  • Most likely, the more likely cause is that they weren’t set up for success in the first place

Why Is There So Much Incompetence?

Hanlan’s Razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

  • Simply because someone does something stupid, it doesn’t mean that they are stupid.
  • People aren’t making poor choices from a lack of intelligence or motivation, they’re making them because their environment is pushing them in that direction.

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