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Fundamental Attribution Error

The Pathwayz Group

Creating Pathwayz to Develop Leaders for the Future

发布日期: 2024年10月3日

The fundamental attribution error is one of the greatest blunders in providing effective performance feedback. This is just a fancy way of saying that, too often, we judge other people by their behavior while judging ourselves by our best intentions.

A famous example of fundamental attribution error is in driving. When someone cuts us off, we assume that that driver is a self-centered, egotistical, good-for-nothing jerk who should have their license revoked because they have no consideration for the road and are a complete hazard to society.

However, we tend to find many justifications for our actions when we cut someone off. We didn't intend on cutting anyone off… we didn't see them… we needed to get into that lane, and the turnoff was quicker than expected. We judge ourselves by our intentions while judging others by their behaviors.

Identifying outcomes or behavior and disregarding intention is pretty easy when addressing undesired performance. However, this mindset can create tension and a disconnect between both parties and hinder performance improvement.

For example, I was coaching a seasoned, established gentleman described by his team as constantly blunt, sometimes abrasive, headstrong, and sometimes called malicious. I spoke with the gentleman and asked him about his behavior. He didn't perceive that he was being that way; he intended to be confident, passionate, and persuasive. What others saw as abrasive, he saw as passionate. There was a gap between his intentions and his outcomes. Rather than reprimanding the behavior, I partnered with him to better match the intentions and outcomes. Remember, the goal is to partner, not police, in excellent performance.

Often, these inaccurate judgments can happen quickly and effortlessly, so here's what I want you to do when addressing undesired performance: begin the conversation by finding the intention. People generally don't intend to be low performers, bad drivers, or challenging team members. Find out the other person's intentions so that you can best coach the team member to better match the behavior with the intention.