Rooting Out Organizational Cultural Biases That Impair Innovation

No matter what company they work for, people want to feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard in the workplace. That is inclusion, and it is one key driver of innovation. When built into the business strategy and culture, innovation creates a blueprint for team cultures to thrive and sustainably achieve performance effectiveness. When teams or management behaviours undermine a culture of inclusion, spontaneous innovation falls to the wayside.

As organizations strive to address employee burnout and increase engagement, they must uncover the root causes that may negatively impact the trust and collaboration needed for innovation. As we all know, innovation is critical to achieving competitive advantage.

For companies, how do all these factors tie together? Transformational shifts in the culture include recognizing and identifying how biases influence culture. Three biases that can undermine change, and lead to maintaining the cultural status quo, aka staying stuck, are Halo effect, Desirability bias, and Groupthink.

Leaders must look beyond the Halo

The Halo effect is the tendency to always see someone in a positive light because of their title, role, or simply because you like them. It can influence the workplace, shape perceptions, and interactions, and impact decision-making. This cognitive bias may also reinforce stereotypes about gender, age, and ethnicity, which can negatively impact inclusion efforts.

For example, when Apple first launched the Apple Watch, many consumers assumed it would be revolutionary simply because of the company’s track record with the iPhone and MacBook. This initial trust and enthusiasm—driven by the Halo effect—contributed to strong early sales, even though smartwatches were a relatively new category, and competitors offered similar products at lower prices. Over time, this perception continued to benefit Apple’s overall brand loyalty and revenue.

I have observed firsthand how the Halo effect plays out in workplace settings. For example, during meetings, I’ve seen individuals with strong reputations and significant social capital command unwavering attention and agreement from others. Their ideas and statements are often treated as infallible, not necessarily because of the content itself, but because of the positive perception surrounding their past successes or charisma. This dynamic can lead others to overlook critical thinking or alternative viewpoints, driven by the belief that someone perceived as exceptional is always right.

The undesirable effects Desirability bias can bring

Desirability bias is the tendency to overemphasize or prioritize outcomes, ideas, or choices that are seen as socially desirable, attractive, or ideal, often at the expense of objective reasoning or evidence. It occurs when individuals or groups favor options or decisions that align with what they aspire to or what they think others will approve of, rather than focusing on practicality, feasibility, or factual accuracy.

In business, Desirability bias can manifest in areas like hiring, project planning, or marketing, where decisions may be swayed by what looks good or aligns with an idealized image, rather than what is truly effective or appropriate for the situation.

Desirability bias is also a culprit of culture breakdowns and puts innovation at risk. It can lead to a culture that is pressured to perform rather than express their true thoughts. Perspectives are neither valued nor considered. Rather than engaging in honest, open conversations about a project’s challenges and risks, employees may feel compelled to highlight its successes while suppressing any failures due to fear of negative backlash and judgments.

Hiring decisions are one area desirability bias can show up. Consider a company launching a high-profile project requiring innovative thinking. The hiring team may disproportionately favor candidates from prestigious universities like Harvard or Stanford, assuming these candidates are inherently more capable of delivering groundbreaking results.

This bias reflects the desirability of associating the project with individuals perceived as elite, rather than evaluating candidates based on their actual experience, skills, or the relevance of their qualifications to the project. As a result, highly capable candidates from less prestigious backgrounds might be overlooked, even if they are better suited for the role. Companies can miss out on rfinding the best talent, risking introducing blind spots into team dynamics.

Groupthink can torpedo innovation

With Groupthink, people go along with the group rather than voicing their own thoughts and beliefs,choosing to prioritize consensus over critical thinking. Unlike consensus, think how challenging Groupthink can be to innovation.It discourages questioning the status quo, creates a false sense of overconfidence in decision-making, and undercuts psychological safety that exists in the workspace. When employees begin to feel unsafe expressing themselves, it erodes trust, and discourages open communication. This results in employees feeling undervalued.

Blockbuster, the video rental company started in 1985 and went bankrupt in 2010, is a classic example of the real dangers of Groupthink. Blockbuster’s leadership team dismissed the growing threat posed by Netflix and the rising trend of digital online streaming. Despite some team members reportedly voicing concerns about the need to innovate, the dominant opinion within the leadership group was that their traditional video rental model was too established to fail. This overconfidence and unwillingness to challenge the consensus led to a lack of meaningful action to pivot their business model. The culture within the leadership team stifled dissenting opinions, and the group collectively reinforced the belief that their existing strategy was sufficient, even as market trends and consumer preferences indicated otherwise. This ultimately led to Blockbuster’s decline, while Netflix survived and thrived by embracing streaming technology.

Tackling hidden biases frees organizational culture to innovate

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
Martin Luther King Jr.” MLK’s words are a timely reminder that change requires challenging norms and standing up to adversity with courage and determination.

Actions to support and foster a culture of innovation and begin to break up biases include:

  • Encourage diverse perspectives by actively inviting input from individuals with different expertise, backgrounds, or viewpoints. To avoid groupthink, assign someone to play the “devil’s advocate” role to challenge prevailing ideas.
  • Break the Halo effect by embedding psychological safety in your culture. Create an environment where team members feel safe expressing dissenting opinions without fear of criticism or reprisal.
  • Avoid Groupthink by developing a structured, decision-making process. Implement techniques like anonymous voting, brainstorming sessions, or decision matrices to evaluate ideas objectively and prevent dominant voices from overpowering the group.
  • Consider practicality over perception. Assess the feasibility of choices by examining resources, constraints, and potential risks, rather than prioritizing what looks good on paper or aligns with societal expectations.
  • Separate reputation from performance. Assess individuals, products, or ideas based on specific criteria or metrics relevant to the decision at hand, rather than relying on overall impressions.

Choosing to use outdated models and refusing to adapt to market trends can be a result of hidden biases dominating organizational culture. Consciously or unconsciously, these biases are present and they will kill innovation, inhibit the creation of effective processes, and stifle the ability to remain competitive and innovative. To dismantle these biases, knock down any hubris. Leverage humility to question how the organization can be better. Watch, listen, and learn from different perspectives. Invest in your employees, especially your bench talent. Train your teams to question assumptions, to engage in critical thinking, and to recognize when positive attributes in one area are influencing judgments in unrelated areas.

Are you ready to take your company’s values, culture, and competitive advantage to the next level? Contact us at Your Choice Coach to discover how our comprehensive leadership coaching and consulting services can help drive innovation by creating a thriving workplace. Call 646-213-9079 or email [email protected]