Are you looking for the "halo" or the "horns"?

….then you will find them...

Are you looking for the "halo" or the "horns"? I love this question. Why? It is yet another way to bring awareness to the fact that what we focus on shows up AND we have choices when it comes to directing our attention.

The concept of "halo or horns" comes up constantly, whether we are aware of it or not. Since we are in the home stretch of 2019 and many businesses are conducting their year-end employee reviews I thought I would give you some food for thought. How we choose to look at someone is often how they will show up for us. In the boardroom and elsewhere.

At work, it can be how a boss sees an employee. This is a classic one. You will find whatever you are looking for. It is a form of confirmation bias. When you have an employee who is a super star, you will find evidence to support it and may even overlook warning signs because of this halo bias. Conversely and possibly more detrimental is the horns bias. Once you decide that someone is not doing what they should do or underdelivering, you will amplify all of the things they aren't doing to your satisfaction and find all kinds of evidence to support the horns you have put on them. Scary, right? This can also happen across teams in different areas of an organization and, no surprise, they will meet your expectations.

The really scary thing is that this doesn't just show up at work. There could be that particular kid in the classroom that you have decided is not good at something or is a trouble maker. Perhaps it is the halo or horns that we put on our close relationships with people in our personal circle and our loved ones. Whether you are looking for the "halo" or the "horns" you will find them. You will become blinded by the bias you have unwittingly created. This blind spot will prevent you from seeing the full picture.

Everyone wears horns every now and then and everyone typically tries to wear the halo. Think about it. Where might balancing out this truth be useful?

What if you think about a particular situation or maybe a person that is causing you some difficulty and ask yourself, "am I looking for the halo or the horns"? You may be surprised by what you discover.