On our January 16, 2013 blog, I gave an overview of cognitive bias (our tendency to filter information through our own past experiences, likes, and dislikes) and surmised that it can lead to judgments that are faulty.  So much of positive leadership is about good decision making so we really wanted to expand on different biases. In the second of our series, I am going to talk about Negativity Bias – the tendency to give more weight to negative information than positive information. When I think about the Negativity Bias, I immediately think of the amygdala, which is an almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain (specifically, if you happen to be curious, in medial temporal lobe).

The amygdala triggers your emotions faster than your conscious awareness and played a very important role in our past.  Think caveman and a T-Rex  – the amygdala quickly interprets the hints of danger (about 20 milliseconds) and activates the caveman’s sympathetic nervous system….Zog runs and lives another day.  If Zog had waited to become aware (about 300 milliseconds), he would’ve been lunch.

According Rich Hanson, a neuropsychologist, “humans evolved to be fearful — since that helped keep our ancestors alive.” The difference between then and now is that the likelihood of being eaten alive is pretty darn small today in modern times.  So while it helped our ancestors live, for us, it can be a nuisance when we find ourselves overreacting or favoring negative information over positive.  And we really do favor the negative.  We know that negative stimuli produce more neural activity than positive stimuli.   And to add insult to injury, negative information is more quickly stored into long term memory than positive information.

And the result?  We all have negativity bias.  As a species, we give greater weight to negative experiences and information than positive.  (No wonder the old broadcast news adage, “If it bleeds, it leads” has been so popular.)

So, what does this mean in your organization?

• -It means threats are overestimated.  Ever wonder how that untrue rumor of layoffs spread like wildfire in such a short span of time?
• -It means that your whole team, you included, are more inclined to notice mistakes than achievements.
• -It means a bruised (read: scared) ego can run “amuck” when it’s simply not warranted.
• -It means teams can underestimate an opportunity and you can be missing the boat on the next potential target market or product/service.
• -It also means teams can see a resource as scarce causing a more political environment and absence of risk taking.

So what can you do?

• -For starters, be aware of the Negativity Bias. And make your teams aware.
• -Understand that it takes about four pieces of positive information to each negative piece for teams to be happy  – which, by the way, has been proven to lead to productivity.   So share positive information. Bring it to the surface.
• -Dispute negative thinking with the facts.  Ask questions that surface the facts.
• -Don’t ruminate and don’t let your teams ruminate.  Move on rather than going over the same negative information again and again.

I hope this was interesting and I welcome any comments.  In Part 3 in our “Cognitive Bias and Leadership” Series, I will be exploring Confirmation Bias, which is the tendency to search for or interpret information that confirms what we already think or prefer.

Be sure to stay tuned as we expand on each of the cognitive biases above in this blog series.

If your employee makes a mistake, do you accept responsibility?

Fascinated by the discussion thread, I scrolled through all of the comments and got a good sense for what people had to say about responsibility, accountability, and throwing subordinates under the bus. While I didn’t do a tally, it struck me that a rather large percentage of the comments had a strong authoritarian flavor, many with advice on the process and education needed to avoid mistakes in the future. I believe the predominantly negative vibe rather accurately represents prevailing attitudes, which stunt healthy cultural development and frankly, our national economy.

I haven’t been able to shake the negative sensation the comments left me feeling all afternoon, so please indulge me as I share the comment I posted to the discussion group.

Your Thoughts, Please

I’d like to know what the Positive Business DC community thinks of responsibility, accountability, and handling mistakes in the workplace. What percentage of companies allow it to be ‘okay’ to make mistakes? Does the size of the mistake and risk involved matter to how ‘okay’ mistakes are? Is it ever acceptable to shift blame because you weren’t the one who actually made the mistake? Please read… and then comment.

One “Right” Answer Syndrome

The tone of the comments [in the HBR group on LinkedIn] tells a great deal about corporate culture and, I believe, give a good indication as to why we struggle to build innovative businesses on a large scale. A few people have noted the benefit of learning from mistakes and having a learning culture. The majority seem to think mistakes are inherently bad and turn to process, protocol, training, etc. Why are we so afraid to make mistakes? The basic flaw in thinking begins early when we are taught to look for one right answer.

Leaders are responsible for performance. That means, when something happens, a leader accepts responsibility and addresses the issues head on, appropriately, and with the person who made the mistake. And, being responsible for performance, it means leaders also have an obligation to develop the people on their teams… which means that these people will make mistakes. Errors should be expected as a matter of course.

If you’re not helping people develop their talents, try new things, and grow, then you have failed as a leader.

Individual performance will not be what it could because you have left a lot of untapped potential on the table. As a result, organizational performance will also be less than it could be because individuals and teams will be artificially constrained by what they [already] know [and do]. You cannot innovate, disrupt markets, or even thrive in saturated markets without the pooled intelligence and interest of an engaged team that relies on complementary talents to move your business forward in a smart way.

What The Research Says…

The neuroscientific research shows that people develop intuition by going through repeated cycles of success and failure. Do something well? Dopamine flows and you feel great! Make a mistake? Uh oh. The flow of dopamine cuts of and you feel bad. Only through these experiences do we develop a ‘gut feeling’ that helps us successfully make decisions in environments where you have only partial information–which is always.

Another interesting tidbit: Although humans like to think they make ‘rational’ decisions, the research shows that 70% of the decisions we make actually come from the emotional brain. When we use the rational brain to override the emotional brain, many times we make the wrong decisions.

A Very Revealing Interview Question

When interviewing, I ask a number of behavioral questions. One of my favorites is, “Tell me about a time when you tried something and failed. What happened?” If the candidate says they never fail, the I know this person does not fit my business philosophy. If s/he tells a whopper of a story (and can follow up with a way s/he resolved it), then I usually give one or two of my own. It leads to great discussion and helps me assess fit like few other questions can.

Finger-pointing—Always A No-no

A final thought: finger-pointing is not acceptable from anyone. Not management. Not employees. Finger-pointing builds a counterproductive culture where trust cannot exist. And that poisons everyone.

Build Trusting Relationships

I have two rules of thumb that have served very well over the past 20 years. 1) You can tell me anything without negative repercussion as long as it is the truth as you know it (and you didn’t break any laws, etc.); 2) If you think you’re going to miss a deadline, tell me as soon as you know.

Keep it simple. Build trusting relationships. And always, always watch your employees’ backs.

Please take your turn to speak up and be heard. Comment below.

I know a bunch of procrastinators that seem to live by Burr’s words. And yet, why would anyone want to delay leading a happy, fulfilling life? It turns out we don’t put off achieving happiness intentionally, but it is a by-product of the all too common ‘I’ll be happy when’  mindset. You know, when people think that they’ll achieve a greater level of satisfaction when they:

1. Get married
2. Find a boyfriend/girlfriend
3. Receive a much anticipated promotion
4. Lose weight…

The list goes on.

Also known as the arrival fallacy, this mindset actually produces much less satisfaction than expected because people have primed themselves for the achievement and it is already factored into their general state of happiness. When a person hits the longed-for target, they realize there’s something else they really want to achieve. And then the cycle begins again because they believe that achieving the next goal will make them happy. In this scenario, happiness becomes the illusive acorn Scrat chases in Ice Age.

As importantly, the I’ll be happy when mindset produces at least two additional by-products. You:

1. Seek happiness from without rather than within (a surefire way to fail at improving your well-being), and;
2. Forget to appreciate the wonderful things (big and little) that happen day-by-day

And now for an admission. Like most people, I have taken Burr’s quote out of context.

“Never do today what you can put off ’til tomorrow. Delay may give a clearer light as to what is best to be done.” —Aaron Burr, Jr.

Burr’s suggesting that we should not make decisions too hastily. And that’s another discussion about when (and when not to) use the rational brain vs. the emotional brain.