Interact With Everyone Like They Are The CEO
How traits can come together under a single philosophy
Let’s be frank. We have biases that may affect how we interact with others. Is it more likely or less likely that we would be empathic towards a person, department, or organization that we have a negative biased towards? I recently wrote about leadership styles (you can find it here), and it included the top competencies of leaders that ultimately resulted in creating a safe and trusting environment. We would be naive in thinking that biases do not affect the environment we are intentionally working to create and maintain. So, what’s the fix?
Types of biases to consider are clearly noted and described by Bailey Reiners for Built In, an online community for those with a passion for tech. The quick list with their definitions are below, do any hit close to home?
AFFINITY BIAS
Affinity bias, also known as similarity bias, tends to connect with others who share similar interests, experiences and backgrounds.
CONFIRMATION BIAS
Confirmation bias is the inclination to draw conclusions about a situation or person based on your personal desires, beliefs and prejudices rather than on unbiased merit.
ATTRIBUTION BIAS
Attribution bias is a phenomenon where you try to make sense of or judge a person’s behavior based on prior observations and interactions you’ve had with that individual that make up your perception of them.
CONFORMITY BIAS
Conformity bias is the tendency people have to act similar to the people around them regardless of their own personal beliefs or idiosyncrasies — also known as peer pressure.
THE HALO EFFECT
The halo effect is the tendency people have to place another person on a pedestal after learning something impressive about them.
THE HORNS EFFECT
The horns effect is the tendency people have to view another person negatively after learning something unpleasant or negative about them.
THE CONTRAST EFFECT
The contrast effect is when you compare two or more things that you have come into contact with — either simultaneously or one-after-another — causing you to exaggerate the performance of one in contrast to the other.
GENDER BIAS
Gender bias is the tendency to prefer one gender over another gender.
AGEISM
Ageism in the workplace is the tendency to have negative feelings about another person based on their age.
NAME BIAS
Name bias is the tendency people have to judge and prefer people with certain types of names — typically names that are of Anglo origin.
BEAUTY BIAS
Beauty bias is a social behavior where people believe that attractive people are more successful, competent and qualified.
HEIGHT BIAS
Height bias or heightism is the tendency to judge a person who is significantly shorter or taller than the socially-accepted human height.
Check your blind spot. It’s a simple command, but how can it be done? A simple philosophy has floated around in various forms and this format is what worked best for me: Interact With Everyone Like They Are The CEO. It is not saying that a CEO is a better person, rather it simplifies and combines the actions employees tend to display when interacting with their CEO. By default, the workforce will respect a CEO, positively embrace and consider their input, and maintain openness to learn from them.
If we can take the same default approach with everyone else (colleagues, team members, vendors, and more), we will enable an environment where biases are mitigated and inclusion is fostered. We can actively contribute towards this knowing our actions will be contagious. Your personal brand will include being a welcoming person, and who doesn’t want that?