Have you ever found yourself favouring one team member over another, not because of their performance, but because something about them just “clicked” with you?
Perhaps they shared your background, interests, or communication style.
This is an example of affinity bias, and while it may seem harmless, it can have profound implications for your leadership efficacy. Biases like these often operate beneath the surface, shaping decisions, interactions, and evaluations in ways that may undermine fairness, inclusion, and effectiveness.
Biases are mental shortcuts that help us process information quickly but can lead to flawed judgements. For leaders, these biases can be insidious, subtly influencing decisions and behaviours in ways that harm team dynamics and organisational outcomes. In this article, we’ll explore how biases manifest in leadership and how you can recognise your own biases and provide actionable strategies to mitigate their impact.
Table of Contents
Defining Biases in Leadership
Biases are systematic patterns of deviation from rationality in judgement. They are mental shortcuts – often unconscious – that influence how we perceive people and situations. While biases can help us process information quickly, they can also lead to unfair or inaccurate conclusions.
In leadership, biases can shape hiring decisions, team dynamics, and performance evaluations.
According to a Deloitte study,
almost two thirds (64%) of employees believe unconscious bias exists in their workplace, yet just 30% report ignoring bias they witnessed or experienced.
And there are different types – unconscious biases and cognitive biases.
Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, refers to prejudices or stereotypes that operate outside of an individual’s conscious awareness. These biases are often related to social stereotypes about race, gender, age, or ‘other’ group characteristics.
While cognitive bias refers to systematic errors in thinking that arise from the brain’s reliance on mental shortcuts (heuristics) to process information quickly. These biases distort judgement and decision-making.
Understanding biases is the first step toward mitigating their effects on leadership efficacy.
Common Biases in Leadership
Leaders are not immune to biases; in fact, their positions of authority may amplify the impact of these biases on teams and organisations. Below are some common biases that leaders need to be aware of:
Confirmation Bias in Leadership
This occurs when leaders seek out information that confirms their existing beliefs while ignoring evidence to the contrary. For example, a leader who believes a specific employee is underperforming may unconsciously focus on mistakes rather than successes.
Anchoring Bias in Leadership
Leaders often rely too heavily on the first piece of information they encounter when making decisions. In performance reviews for example, this can manifest by a leader anchoring their evaluation of an employee on the first piece of feedback they received, such as an early project performance, even if the employee's performance has improved significantly over time. This can lead to unfair assessments and missed opportunities for recognising growth.
Halo Effect in Leadership
This bias involves allowing one positive trait to overshadow other aspects of an individual’s performance or character – leaders may assume that a team member who excels in one area is equally skilled in others. For example, a leader might believe that an employee who is exceptionally organised is also great at problem-solving, even without evidence to support this. This could result in overlooking developmental needs and can leading to favouritism and unequal treatment within the team.
Affinity Bias in Leadership
Affinity bias, also known as similarity bias, refers to the unconscious tendency to favour individuals who share similar characteristics, interests, backgrounds, or experiences. This bias often manifests in leadership when leaders gravitate toward people who remind them of themselves, potentially leading to skewed decision-making and reduced workplace diversity.
Gender, Race, and Age Biases in Leadership
Biases related to many aspects of an individual's identity can impact an individual's opportunities. For example, we dive into how gender, race, and age significantly influence leadership dynamics. These biases manifest in various ways, impacting who is selected for leadership roles, how they are perceived, and their opportunities for advancement. Research shows women of colour are underrepresented in the corporate pipeline in the United States, behind white men, white women, and men of colour.
Gender Bias in Leadership
Gender bias refers to the unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. In leadership, this often – although not always – results in women being underrepresented in high-ranking roles or facing additional challenges compared to men.
It can manifest in:
Unequal opportunities: For example, DDI’s research shows that women are less likely to receive support and clear expectation setting during leadership transitions, crucial for success. While McKinsey finds that men are promoted from entry-level to manager positions more often than women. Specifically, for every 100 men, only 87 women receive the same promotion.
Stereotyping: Leadership traits such as assertiveness and dominance are often seen as masculine, creating a "double bind" where women face backlash for exhibiting these traits but are also deemed unsuitable if they don’t. In her recent book, Likeable Badass reviewed in our 25 Must Read Leadership Books 2025, Fragale challenges the misconception that women must choose between competence and likeability, arguing that it's possible and essential to embody both traits simultaneously.
Glass ceiling and glass cliff: Women may struggle to reach top positions (glass ceiling) or be placed in precarious leadership roles with a high risk of failure (glass cliff).
The broken rung: Describes the phenomenon where women in entry-level positions are not promoted to managerial positions at the same rate as men, creating a significant obstacle in their career advancement and contributing to a gender gap in leadership.
Racial Bias in Leadership
Racial bias involves discrimination based on race or ethnicity, often favouring underrepresented racial groups. Kimberlé Crenshaw, in her 1989 article, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex," describes how overlapping systems of discrimination – such as race and gender – create unique experiences of oppression, particularly for Black women.
It can manifest in:
Leadership prototypes: White individuals are often perceived as the "prototypical" leaders, disadvantaging underrepresented groups who do not fit this stereotype.
Intersectionality challenges: Women of colour face compounded biases that hinder their advancement and perpetuate stereotypical expectations.
Underrepresentation: Women of colour are often forced to deal with the same barriers and issues repeatedly due to systemic problems.
Age Bias in Leadership
Age bias refers to discrimination based on age, which can affect both younger and older leaders differently. This is often intertwined with gender bias.
It can manifest in:
Youngism: Younger women leaders may face belittlement or assumptions about their lack of experience.
Oldism: Older women leaders are often seen as outdated or less capable compared to male counterparts of similar age.
Middle-ageism: Middle-aged women may be stereotyped as burdened by family responsibilities or health issues like menopause, limiting their career progression. And research suggests that middle-aged professional women are perceived less warmly compared to men, and received lower performance evaluations compared to when they were younger.
How Biases Impact Leadership Efficacy
Biases don’t just affect individual decisions, they ripple through teams and organisations with far-reaching consequences.
Decision-making: Biases can lead to poor decision-making by distorting how leaders evaluate risks and opportunities. Korn Ferry's research intentionally diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time and are 70% more likely to capture new markets than homogenous teams.
Team dynamics: Biases undermine diversity and inclusion by favouring certain groups over others. This weakens collaboration and innovation since diverse teams are shown to be more creative and effective at problem-solving.
Communication: Bias influences how leaders interact with team members – who they listen to more closely or whose ideas they dismiss prematurely. Research by Textio revealed that biased language in communication impacts employee engagement and retention rates.
Performance evaluation and feedback: Bias affects how leaders assess team members’ performance and provide effective feedback – employees from underrepresented groups often receive less actionable feedback compared to their peers.
The cumulative effect of these biased interactions erodes trust and fairness within teams.
Recognising Your Own Biases
Acknowledging your own biases is a critical step toward becoming a more effective leader and self-awareness plays a key role in this. In fact, self-awareness is the cornerstone of effective leadership. Leaders who recognise their biases are better equipped to make equitable decisions and foster a collaborative environment.
Forbes reports that leaders ranked in the top quartile of self-awareness were 10% more effective than those in the bottom quartile.
Here’s how you can start:
Self-reflection techniques: Regularly reflect on your decisions and interactions by asking questions like: “Am I being fair?” or “What assumptions am I making?” or "Which voices am I not hearing in meetings?" Journaling or mindfulness practices can also help increase self-awareness.
Feedback mechanisms: Utilise tools like 360-degree reviews or anonymous team surveys to gather input on your leadership style from multiple perspectives.
Situational analysis: Examine past decisions for patterns that may indicate bias – for example, consistently favouring certain types of candidates during hiring processes.
Coaching: Working with a leadership coach can provide valuable insights into blind spots and help you develop strategies for overcoming them.
Strategies for Mitigating Bias in Leadership
Once you’ve identified your biases, the next step is to actively work toward mitigating them:
Education and awareness: Continuously educate yourself about different types of biases through books, podcasts, workshops, inclusive leadership coaching or online courses.
Diverse perspectives: Actively seek input from individuals with varied backgrounds and experiences to challenge your assumptions and broaden your perspective.
Decision-making frameworks: Implement structured approaches such as checklists or decision matrices that minimise the influence of personal bias during critical decisions.
Accountability measures: Establish systems for accountability by involving others in decision-making processes or setting up regular reviews of key decisions for potential bias.
Cultivating an Unbiased Organisational Culture
Creating an environment where bias is addressed at all levels requires intentional effort:
Leading by example: Model bias-aware behaviours as a leader by role-modelling inclusive meetings, fairness in decision-making and communication and creating inclusive team-building activities.
Leadership training and development: Implement organisation-wide leadership development and coaching programmes focused on inclusive leadership awareness and mitigation strategies.
Policies and Procedures: Develop clear guidelines that promote fairness. For example, standardising interview processes and establishing diverse hiring panels.
Encouraging open dialogue: Create a safe space where team members feel comfortable discussing biases without fear of judgement or retaliation.
Conclusion
Addressing biases is not just about improving individual leadership – it’s about fostering an inclusive culture where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. Recognising your own biases requires humility; mitigating them demands commitment; but the rewards – stronger teams, better decisions, and greater organisational success – are well worth the effort.
Bias awareness is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time fix. As a leader, take the first step: reflect on your own blind spots, seek feedback from others, and invest in continuous learning through coaching or leadership development programmes. By doing so, you’ll not only enhance your own leadership efficacy but also contribute to building a more equitable, attractive and profitable workplace.
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