Biases: they have a bad reputation, and for good reason!
From gender to race to age, these mental shortcuts help our brains create patterns and narratives so we can make sense of the world, even if they aren’t facts at all. Fun fact about our brains: for every shortcut or story we create, we get a dopamine rush as a reward.
Remember when we discussed biases in corporate culture and the problems they caused? What about when we addressed psychological safety in the workplace—whether in one of our blog posts or during one of our webinars?
Well, here’s a short and sweet list of best practices that combine vulnerability, psychological safety, and difficult conversations in a powerful blend to overcome the organizational culture biases that keep driving down your employee satisfaction scores:
- Loss aversion bias
This bias is a negative reaction to change. When it occurs, people tend to focus on potential losses rather than on the potential gains.
When a major shift in organizational culture occurs, potential threats to "order" within an organization are often singled out and exaggerated, including risks to established processes that are generally outdated and harmful to the work culture.
How to solve it: Taking responsibility for our own decisions fosters continuous learning.
It’s really hard to learn from our experiences if we can’t admit that we made a mistake or that we could have done better. This allows us to grow professionally and lead by example.
- Confirmation bias
This happens when we focus solely on information that confirms or supports our beliefs and opinions.
How to solve it: Overcoming ego is a crucial step toward finding solutions.
We're too accustomed to boasting about our achievements and glossing over our mistakes. By acknowledging our shortcomings and challenges, we can lay the groundwork for more creative and strategic decision-making.
When proposals are made for new processes or alternatives to the current corporate philosophy, be open to exploring opportunities for improvement and progress.
- False consensus effect
Because of this bias, we believe that more people agree with us than actually do.
This can happen when a team member expresses their view that there is no need to change the organizational culture.
How to solve it: Authenticity and empathy.
Vulnerability acts as a game-changer, helping to foster deeper connections that lead to greater empathy and more effective and transparent communication. We often forget that we are human beings working with other human beings in our professional environments. Creating psychological safety in the workplace increases participation and reduces the fear of being criticized. As a result, people are more willing to share what is really going on.
- Affinity bias
This happens when we feel more empathy for what is familiar to us—people, faces, situations, or environments that are as similar as possible to our own.
How to solve it: Maintain open communication to pivot and avoid irreversible failures.
We need to create environments where people feel psychologically safe—where they can feel comfortable admitting mistakes or sharing different perspectives and concerns about a project or decision. This significantly reduces the prevalence of what is known as imposter syndrome among employees and managers, a common phenomenon in traditional corporate cultures.
Do you think your workspace lacks some of these characteristics? Here’s a great opportunity to improve how people feel about taking risks and sharing what they’ve learned: our workshops!
From Failure Management to Innovation, to Fear of Failure and Psychological Safety, we offer a series of workshops designed to help you transform your organizational culture into one that embraces authenticity while boosting productivity—with a focus on diversity and inclusion. It’s all part of The Failure Program!
Just fill out this form and we’ll get back to you with a customized proposal so you can start making failure work for you.
Editor: Raquel Rojas
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