Leadership Perception Management: 2 Steps to Manage Bias

I’ve been writing about leadership perception management, and how great leaders excel in communication and “knowability.” They understand the process and go the extra mile to express themselves in ways that encourage more accurate perceptions.

Unfortunately, everyone has perception biases. If you don’t manage perception biases, people will misjudge you. In leadership communications, if you don’t tell people what they need to know, their brains will fill in the blanks, creating a personality profile that may or may not be accurate. I’ve seen this happen with the leaders I coach.

You see, our brains are hard wired to conserve energy. We rely on rules of thumb so our brains don’t have to work too hard:

• Confirmation Bias. When people look at you, they see what they’re expecting to see. They hear what they’re expecting to hear. They seek (and will probably find) evidence that matches their expectations.
• Primacy Effect. First impressions strongly influence how we interpret and remember information. People resist changing opinions once they’re formed.
• Stereotypes. Most people are biased, yet they deny being so. We are unconsciously influenced by stereotypical beliefs about gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, professions, socioeconomic classes and education. We categorize people on various dimensions, including facial features. It’s human nature. Our brains are wired to quickly sort friend from foe. We cannot turn off this feature, but we can become conscious of it and make necessary modifications.
• Halo Effect. We tend to assume that people who possess one positive quality also have many others. For example, we often judge a good-looking person to be smart and charming, even without evidence.
• False-Consensus Effect. We assume other people think and feel exactly the way we do. We erroneously believe our bad habits are universal and normal. We also tend to believe that we have better values and are generally more honest, kind and capable than others (the false-uniqueness fallacy).

2 Simple Steps to Manage Bias

Like it or not, you never start from scratch when meeting new people. Their brains are rapidly filling in details about you, even if you’ve never met them before.

1. Consider listeners’ likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and anticipate what they’re projecting onto you.
2. Emphasize your good qualities to  benefit from positive stereotypes and halo effects.

While humans are wired to make assumptions based on first impressions, we’re also capable of correcting those impressions—as long as we see value in doing so.

The more you can become aware of the biases and assumptions going on in listeners’ minds, the more you can make your intentions explicit. The better you’ll become at managing perceptions.

What do you think? How well are you managing perceptions of you as a leader? How do you come across to other people?  I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060; let’s talk. And as always, I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.

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