From the course: Unconscious Bias

Halo bias

From the course: Unconscious Bias

Halo bias

- First impressions have a lot to do with the halo effect. When I was a teenager, I had a friend my parents liked because she was polite and got great grades. This meant they didn't worry when we were hanging out together, which meant I could stay out later. And I didn't get a lot of the usual questions a parent would ask about where I was going and what time I'd be home, win-win for everyone. However, I soon learned she shoplifted, she cheated on exams and was into whatever the new illicit trend was at the time. I stopped hanging out with that friend because I realized she wasn't a good influence. My parents, however, couldn't wrap their heads around it. They couldn't believe they were so wrong about her. Even after she was suspended from school they'd still ask whatever happened to that nice friend you had? The halo effect is our tendency to think everything about a person is good because our first impression of them was good. In this case, my parents liked my friend. She came from a good family and she was polite. The same thing happens at work. Think about the employee whose first project was a great success, but who hasn't lived up to it since. In fact, this person is coming in late making a lot of mistakes and routinely relies on others to get her work done on time. Yet the manager rates her highly based on the perception that she's a great employee. This employee is just like my teenage friend. Take out your notebook and consider the following questions. Who wears the halo in your life and is there anything you can do about it? Are you in an environment where grievances are taken seriously? If not, can you lobby for change? If you're a manager review your own process for evaluating work and put checks and balances in place. Did the person to whom you assigned the work actually do the work? There's nothing wrong with liking the people you work with. It's encouraged. However, looking at them through unbiased eyes is something we all need to do. Unconscious bias affects people but people can affect unconscious bias. We just have to acknowledge it and then decide to do something about it.

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