The Dangers of Homophily in the Workplace

‘Homophily’ is defined as the tendency for people to seek out or be attracted to those who are similar to themselves. We like it when people support our opinions and think about the world as we do. It makes us feel good. It can help us strike an immediate rapport with someone. It is comfortable. But when it comes to problem-solving or enhancing innovation, groups or teams of people who think or act in exactly the same way can be detrimental to intelligent decision-making and even to society.

A brilliant example of this was recently sent to me by a reader of Rebel Ideas. Jon's story highlights the dangers of homophily in the workplace:

In his early career, Jon was keen to make a good impression. It was the late 1990s and he was employed by a major US management consulting firm. His first assignment involved facilitating a tough problem-solving exercise for a multinational Imaging company. The contract was worth over ￡1M – a large sum in those days.

Jon’s working client team were all technical engineers and specialists in the particular problem area. The problem area, in this case, was an ‘air bearing’. An air-bearing is a system which separates two moving parts with a gas – usually air.

The machinery was complex, but Jon made sure his group worked hard to collect data that carefully assessed exactly what was happening, where the problem was coming from and how often it happened. In addition to data collection, Jon pushed them to write down all of the serial numbers and part codes relating to both the faulty and healthy pieces. These actions helped them to gather key facts and, crucially, rule out any unsubstantiated theories.

At the end of the 1st day, the team had built a strong repository of data surrounding the complex problem. Yet, they were no further forward in finding any plausible causes to explain why the fault was happening.

As the group packed up for the day, the client's Finance Director walked in. He mentioned that he had once been trained in Jon’s company’s techniques in a previous career. He had enjoyed the problem-solving training and continued to refer to it in his current role. He looked for a moment at the work the team had sprawled on the white-boards and flip-charts. He then turned to Jon and one remaining senior engineer in the room and said, “those part numbers - the ones you have labelled faulty pieces - I think they’re from a different supplier than the healthy pieces”.

His comments were quickly met with an incredulous, “get out of here, you’re joking?!” But he was right. He had recognised a three-number sequential run in the serial numbers of some of the parts. He remembered that for a brief time some months previously, they had been sourced from another supplier.

The following day, the Finance Director brought evidence to confirm this to be true. On the surface, the parts had the same spec, but a subtle variation between the healthy and faulty parts meant that they didn’t work in exactly the same way. The engineers and SMEs had failed to spot it because they were too close to the technology and the theories.

What did Jon learn from the experience? The importance of having cognitive diversity in his team. He says that he now always makes sure to have an ‘outsider’ pair of eyes on any client problem-solving scenario.

Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking is available now