In our team room, I put up this poster that details 24 cognitive biases that can stuff up your thinking. It’s a fun resource that has sparked laughter and interesting conversations among our team.
It also serves as a helpful safety check for decision making.
Although we try to be objective, us humans naturally take shortcuts.
For day-to-day decisions, shortcuts are helpful. For example, it’d be crazy to perform a cost-benefit analysis on which type of milk to buy each time we find ourselves at the supermarket.
However, for complex decisions, shortcuts in the form of cognitive biases can lead us dangerously astray.
One example is Confirmation Bias, which is when we seek out data that proves our existing beliefs, and ignore information that disproves our world view.
By creating a playful atmosphere to learn about cognitive biases, we give ourselves and our teams a licence to call out when they crop up in our daily work.