Great Leaders Stay Objective
GREAT LEADERS STAY OBJECTIVE
Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.
– Abraham Maslow
A leader’s role requires professional objectivity in many areas. First, leaders must be objective when making decisions about who to hire or select for an open position or promotion. They must also be objective when reviewing the performance of employees. When employee decisions are made on subjective sources of information, the decisions will be influenced by the leader’s personal thoughts, opinions, and judgments. Similarly, in daily interactions with employees, from social nuances to outright conflict, a leader must always manage their direct reports in a fair, consistent manner. Objective decision-making not only helps create a fair work environment but also fosters trust, as employees are more likely to feel confident in a leader who consistently uses facts and evidence to support their actions. Leaders who do not base their decisions on facts are not trusted as a good source of support for employees.
What is Objectivity?
Objectivity is the ability to maintain a realistic perspective and keep personal biases to a minimum. Leaders who are objective avoid using their own judgments and interpretations. They rely on facts or data to drive organizational success through fair and informed leadership practices. Personal biases that surface in the workplace can come from many sources. Sources such as previous experiences, personal history, and interpersonal conflicts, and all can influence a leader’s ability to be objective.
Are You Doing All You Can to Stay Objective?
In assessing your objectivity as a leader, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I consider all the available information before making a decision?
- Is there a way I could make use of observable data in my daily managerial duties?
- Are my decisions influenced by my personal opinions or experiences?
- Do I hold biases that influence my behavior at work?
- Have I overreacted in ambiguous situations?
- Do I rely on my judgment when making decisions?
Three Ways to Stay Objective When Making Decisions
Understanding Cognitive Biases:
The word “bias” often has a negative connotation; however, cognitive biases are a tool to improve human processing speed and to help us make quick decisions. These tools prevent us from having to think about every variable in every leadership decision. They may help us assess situations in the blink of an eye.
For leaders, however, decisions may require more careful thought and deliberation than allowed using cognitive shortcuts. While some individuals hold biases against groups of people, based on gender, race, or other demographic characteristics, there are a number of other cognitive biases that could potentially influence a leader’s objectivity. For example, people can be predisposed to like or dislike certain individuals based on personality, mood, or past experiences. In addition, some individuals generally have a more negative or more positive mindset that biases all their thought patterns. Personal biases can be subtle or so pervasive that an individual has difficulty recognizing them as such.
Be Aware of Your Biases:
Every individual has some kind of biases. The most effective way to overcome a bias is to recognize it as such. By acknowledging their personal biases, a leader can be aware of their tendency to react a certain way to specific individuals or situations. Then can correct their behavior accordingly. Biases can be a major issue when they are sub-conscious and influence leader behaviors in unknown ways. Recognizing biases is the first step in preventing them from affecting behavior and becoming an objective leader.
Recognize the Value of Subjectivity:
The need for professional objectivity during decision making or conflict resolution does not mean that subjectivity has no place in the workforce. Even highly objective leaders need to insert emotion or subjectivity into their interactions with employees. Strong, positive workplace relationships are formed in this way. Subjectivity is also often used when leaders are asked to make judgment calls based on their prior experiences or education. Simply remember that objectivity is required when making managerial decisions about employees. Objectivity is needed when hiring, promoting, firing, and especially in conflict resolution (where emotions may be running high).
How to Become a More Objective Leader
The following steps can help you to be more objective at work:
1. Be Patient
When faced with a conflict or difficult decision, take your time before reacting. Pausing for a moment or two can override the impulse to react judgmentally. Objective leaders are shown to have the ability to take a minute, reflect on their impulses, and temper their responses to be fair and even-handed. This not only helps in remaining level-headed in high pressure situations, but also prevents damage to the leader-follower relationship. Employees do not see their manager as fair when they believe their leader is biased for or against certain individuals in the company. The positive relationship between the leader and direct report is impacted. Given that this positive relationship is needed for leaders to effectively motivate and manage their employees, avoiding judgment can prevent long-lasting negative implications for the leader.
2. Consider All the Available Information
Biases are useful in cases where information is missing. When faced with these situations, it is better to attempt to collect or consider more information than relying on these cognitive tools. For example, many interpersonal issues occur when one individual interprets the intentions or motivations of another. Instead of attempting these interpretations, leaders should take an objective approach and consider the possibilities, such as the context in which the situation is occurring, or possible alternative explanations to their biases. For example, if a leader perceives their employee is being rude or difficult, rather than attributing this to characteristics of the employee, they should consider the employees’ life outside work, or their stress level due to work demands. Be careful not to project your own anxieties or fears onto others. This can quickly lead to communication breakdowns between employees.
3. Use Numbers or Hard Facts
One of the easiest ways to avoid acting on your personal biases is to use hard data. Data can be used to make decisions in a number of leadership tasks including hiring, promoting, or firing individuals. The interview is one area where personal biases and subjective opinions often influence administrative decisions. Scoring each candidate interview on the same job-relevant criteria is an excellent way to ensure you hire the person best suited to the job. Not the individual you got along with best. Often, we like people who are similar to us, so our biases may prevent us from choosing an individual with valuable experiences or diverse perspectives.
Making leadership decisions based on numbers, rather than feelings, gives a justification for making certain choices. It also makes it harder to argue with. Remember: not all numbers are created equal. Often, performance ratings produce a score for each individual, but these scores may be based on a supervisor’s subjective ratings of an employee. Information on countable things is a better source of objective data. Examples of these would be sales volume, days absent, or number of tasks completed.
Looking for More Ways to Improve Your Leadership Objectivity?
WATCH: Entrepreneurs and Objective Leadership
READ: Don’t Let Emotions Screw Up Your Decisions
DEVELOP your ability to stay Objective and other leadership skills by taking advantage of SIGMA’s Coaching Services.
Interested in a hard copy of the Great Leaders Stay Objective handout? Download your PDF copy of our Leadership Series Handout
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