Be Curious and Debias: 5 Debiasing Techniques

We do have cognitive biases, right? We know it, we heard of biases, we even know some of those: confirmation bias, loss aversion, sunk cost fallacy, champion bias, overconfidence, hindsight bias, anchoring bias, the halo effect, the self-serving bias and you can search for more.

We are, apparently, biased in everything we do and the decisions we make. And there is plenty of literature that will demonstrate how all of us are biased in so many ways. And there is not much to do with it than be aware of it and use some debiasing techniques from time to time, especially when the stakes are high or we need to take on different roads or directions in our lives or professionally.

But debiasing is actually a form of curiosity towards oneself. But also curiosity for the others and the world. I am being aware that I might look at things, judge situations and people in a certain way and I work on my openness to be shown differently… to see the others differently and see the world differently… It’s like striping down a black and white lenses and you get to see the world in colors…

According to Dan Lovallo and Oliver Sibony (2010) “cognitive biases affect the most important strategic decisions made by the smartest managers in the best companies”.

Well, well… even the best of the best! And how about us, the mere mortals? How can we debias? How can we be aware of the biases that sneak up in our lives and in our thinking process?

There are a few cognitive debiasing techniques that we can use to arrive at more rational decisions. But first you need to know your biases and acknowledge they exist. There is no such person that is unbiased (Nope, not even you!... what am I talking about? Not even ME!!! ;) )

Here are some techniques I have read about as I was going through my LSE MBA Essentials:

Consider the opposite

Sometimes, when you are extremely convinced of one thing it could be that you are biased in some way. Not all the time. Sometimes you are dead right…. but maybe just check if you are biased. Asking yourself a few questions that will help you see the other perspective might clarify things for you.

Example questions:

• What would a person who disagrees with me see this situation?
• What are some reasons that my initial judgement could be wrong?
• If I were to be demonstrated wrong what would be the used arguments?

Go through these questions, and maybe you even have someone in mind who is always contradicting you… What new info do you have? Be open about it!

Take the outside view

When we engage in work, in projects we have a tendency to focus on tasks and the capabilities needed and we are looking on the inside. We see what we have to do and we start doing it. And I have seen that a lot happening in team building games or just tasks I give for groups in my trainings. We have the specifics, let’s start working!

When looking on the outside we look for similar projects/tasks that have been unfolded by other people/teams/companies. Gathering important data for the project at hand, helps us in better planning and implementing a project/task and avoid biases like planning fallacy and overconfidence.

Engage in training

Uh, I love this debiasing technique for obvious reasons… yes, do go and train yourself… knowing they exist and how they manifest can help you become more aware of the existence of biases. At the same time, training in using the right debiasing techniques is also something to invest so that you can better respond, especially in leadership positions.

Do a pre-mortem

Not a post-mortem, but a pre-mortem. We do post-mortem on failed projects to learn from what went wrong and bring that learning into future projects. Which is great, by the way! Doing a pre-mortem means that we stop, at the beginning of the project, in planning stage and we imagine the project had been implemented with the present plan. And it failed miserably. Why did if fail? What happened? What is the history?

This is a great opportunity for the team to release some creative ideas and it makes way for constructive criticism to appear. It is an extraordinary method to look deeper into the planning we had worked on. And could also be fun if handled properly.

Group decision making

Sometimes deciding in a group rather than on your own or in 2-3 people could result in a better outcome.

Of course, there are downsides to making a decision in a group. Maybe people will not be so open in sharing their true belief on the matter for fear of rejection, or maybe some people will get influenced and get anchored in other people’s opinions. Yet, group decision making has its benefits.

• There is “more mind” in a group. More expertise, more experiences. Different experienced and knowledge make for a larger data base in dealing with the issue thus, more to rely on.
• Forecasts and predictions can be improved if more people come in with their experience.

In order for this to happen there is a necessity to bring the group to a healthy dynamic, and maybe even encourage people to individually crystalize their opinion before coming in for the group discussion.

In conclusion, we are biased. All of us! We make decisions based on our biases all the time. Debiasing is a sign of curiosity that should be seen in any team and at any leadership level. How do you debias?