It takes real effort to bring your brain to work. For example, if you think you will be completely neutral and objective in the decisions you make today, I can tell you right away that you’re wrong. Your brain works by helping focus your attention. At any point in time, 11 million bits of information hit your brain. Only 70 get processed consciously, and you remember only seven properly in your short-term memory. Because of this enormous filtering exercise, your brain seeks patterns that make it easier for it to perform. The brain loves patterns and shortcuts, and the brain loves it when it’s right. As a result, when you look out into the world you’re basically reconfirming—with every piece of information you pick up—whatever theory you already have in mind. And that’s just one of the many cognitive biases we’re prone to.

It is extremely hard to remind yourself that you might be biased in the moment when you’re about to make a biased decision. Just being generally aware of your bias will most likely not help you. You need some sort of cue.

I worked with a fund manager who would almost get into a state of flow when he sold something. His action-orientation bias gave him the impetus to sell—and then continue to sell. I’m sure he liked the endorphin and serotonin rush, but it wasn’t necessarily good for the business at all.

I told him: “After you’ve sold one thing you’re going to stop, and you’re going to sit on your hands—literally, every time, you’re going sit on your hands so you can’t sell anything.” He did it, and it helped because it broke the pattern the moment it started to occur and gave him time to stop and think. The more you can break the immediateness of your actions, the better. The best cues happen automatically. Ideally, his computer screen would have gone black after he made a big sale. Technology can really help us this way.

Another business leader I know was convinced that he was right all the time. So we established a devil’s advocate process to challenge his assumptions and strengthen his decision making.

The problem was—it didn’t work. Why not? Because he was emotionally attached to his belief. He became even more convinced that he was right after someone “attacked” him. In the end, the countermeasure that worked was to create a “red team” and “blue team.” The red team argued his opinion, and the blue team argued the other opinion. The leader could watch them argue without feeling attacked. He could take himself out of the situation.

Ultimately, what this leader really needed—and what we all need—is a more diverse set of perspectives. Our affinity bias means that our teams—and especially leadership teams—are often homogenous. But we need people with different backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking to challenge our assumptions.

I discovered during implicit bias testing that I am moderately biased against women in leadership. Me! After all these years of trying to support and promote women in leadership roles. So I now have my own personal “cue” (or nudge): a handwritten note that says, “Why not a woman?” I bring it with me to every decision meeting where I might otherwise forget to live up to the inclusion principles I feel so strongly about.

You need something, too: whether it’s your own little note, or an inclusion app that reminds you not to interrupt others, or a mini board of directors who have your active permission to question your thinking—anything to tell you, “Stop. Wait a minute.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Sperling-Magro is a partner in McKinsey’s Frankfurt office.

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