Bias is a real thing. We all have personal biases, whether we realize it or not. Recognizing and overcoming your biases is essential for making sound decisions in your personal and professional life.
Here are three ways to quickly recognize and overcome your biases:
1. Be aware of your values
2. Be particularly mindful of times when you feel "triggered."
3. Utilize a decision-making framework
By following these three steps, you will be on your way to making more objective decisions that are not clouded by your personal biases.
Be aware of your values
Recognizing and identifying the values you value most is essential to recognize and quickly to overcome your bias. This could involve identifying your opinions and beliefs, which could lead to an emotional response. (There is an excellent video about Core and Flex that we recommend you watch)
Once you have identified your values, it is essential to consider how they impact your decisions and actions. Moreover, thinking about what you can learn from your specific values can be beneficial. This can help you better understand why something resonates with you and why you might have a particular reaction to it. This understanding can help you make more balanced decisions based on logic instead of bias.
Be particularly mindful of times when you feel "triggered."
Part of quickly recognizing and overcoming your biases is to be conscious of when you may feel strong emotions. Therefore, taking a step back when these emotions arise is crucial to consider their root cause better. Once you know what triggered the emotion, it can be easier to consider other avenues free of bias. This could involve involving a neutral third party or doing additional research to understand the situation better. This can help clarify and allow you to make more sound decisions.
Utilize a decision-making framework
One of the most effective ways to quickly recognize and overcome your personal bias is to use a decision-making framework. This could involve using a decision tree to help identify available options and consequences. Additionally, you could use a ranking matrix to prioritize a decision's different components and ultimately generate comprehensive outcome. The decision-making framework can offer a structure to help identify and eliminate bias. This structure can enable conversations to move away from feelings and values and towards the more logically sound ground. Ultimately, this can be an effective tool for recognizing and overcoming personal bias.
While biases can sometimes be detrimental to making sound decisions, we can make more impartial decisions by recognizing and overcoming our biases. By following these three steps, you can quickly identify and overcome your bias and make more informed decisions.
We would love to hear from you; how did these techniques work for you?