presentation to ahri’s od&d chapter - cls360 · cognitive dissonance !! a feeling of...

Copyright © 2007-2014. Licensed exclusively to CLS360 Pty. Ltd.

Presentation to AHRI’s OD&D Chapter Melbourne | 13th May 2014

Quentin Jones & Margherita Larné-Jones

Directors, CLS360 Pty. Ltd.

2 Copyright © 2007-2014. Licensed exclusively to CLS360 Pty. Ltd.

Listeners are advised that this presentation is rated CD. It may contain statements that cause discomfort,

irritation, and possibly a desire to argue vigorously with the presenter.

If you experience any of the above, you are likely experiencing symptoms of ‘Cognitive Dissonance,’ a common condition in homo sapiens that can only be

treated with large and frequent doses of hard evidence.

CD


Cognitive Dissonance

!

§  A feeling of psychological discomfort by holding two opposing beliefs and attitudes simultaneously.

§  Leon Festinger, a social psychologist, developed the theory more than 50 years ago: 1.  We are sensitive to inconsistencies between actions and

beliefs and are more comfortable with consistency than inconsistency, seeking homeostasis, or balance.

2.  Recognition of this inconsistency will cause the unpleasant experience of 'dissonance,' motivating an individual to reduce or eliminate the dissonance, and achieve 'consonance' (i.e., agreement).

3.  Dissonance is resolved in one of three basic ways: a) change beliefs; b) change actions; or c) change perception of action (Festinger, 1957).


What if you were confronted by the evidence that most of your leadership development tools and

practices were not supported by modern science?

You experience a whole lot of Cognitive Dissonance expressed as frustration and

resistance, which if you embrace, opens up to an exciting world of discovery, of unlearning, and

relearning.

Question


“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot

learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler


Unlearning…

§  Think of an occasion in your life when you have ‘unlearnt’ something.

§  It may be: o A belief e.g., the earth is flat o A value e.g., personal, religious o A practice e.g., burns treatment (Ariely, “Predictably

Irrational”) o A model e.g., leadership


§  “Around Leadership: Bridging the Scientist-Practitioner Gap” by Patrick Vermeren

§  “This book is...a theoretical and practical handbook for leaders.” (p. 4)

Around Leadership


New research is giving us profound, fresh insights into how our brain distorts reality – cognitive biases – reducing our capacity to learn and

unlearn, and ultimately change.

Cognitive dissonance and the associated cognitive biases distort our perceptions, hindering

our learning and unlearning.

However…


Some Common Cognitive Biases § Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for or

interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. Confirmation bias is related to the concept of cognitive dissonance, whereby individuals may reduce inconsistency by searching for information that re-confirms their views (Jermias, 2001, p. 146)[27].

§  Sunk costs bias: The irrational consideration of sunk costs when making decisions about the future.

§  Self-serving bias: The tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures.


Some Common Cognitive Biases §  Belief bias: When one's evaluation of the logical

strength of an argument is biased by their belief in the truth or falsity of the conclusion.

§  IKEA bias: The tendency for people to place a disproportionately high value on objects that they partially assembled themselves, such as furniture from IKEA, regardless of the quality of the end result.


Your Cognitive Biases

§  Chat to your group about your experience of cognitive biases:

1.  Which ones do you observe yourself doing?

2.  Which do you observe others doing?

3.  What are some outcomes of these biases?


§  Cognitive biases can be controlled. §  Debiasing is a technique which aims to decrease

biases by encouraging individuals to use controlled processing compared to automatic processing (Baumeister & Bushman, 2010, p. 155).

§  Taking an evidence-based approach to our work and life is central to being more rational – versus being ‘predictably irrational’ - and ultimately more effective.

Debiasing

Science is like a candle in the dark (Carl Sagan)


Our Belgian Partners


Evidence-Based (EB)? Experience-‐

Informa/on-‐

Evidence-‐


What is EB?

§  “Be committed to ‘fact based’ decision making—which means being committed to getting the best evidence and using it to guide actions,” (Pfeffer & Sutton, http://evidence-basedmanagement.com/).

§  EB Medicine: Studies have shown that only about 15% of physicians’ decisions are evidence based.

§  In short, what guides them is what they believe rather than the latest and best knowledge of what actually works (Sackett, D. et al., 2002. Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Teach and Practice EBM. London: Wolfe).


Why is EB important?

§  Risks of non-evidence based o Ethical (EB)

- False accusations (parents,…) - Damaged self-image & self-efficacy - Worsening of behavioural problems - Post-traumatic stress - Wrong career decisions -  Losing perspective of earning more - Categorisation and prejudices

o  Legal: liability


Why is EB important?

§  Last but not least:

We are sure it works!

You can be sure it works.


Evidence-Based Criteria 1.  Sound theory

o Convergent with other scientific domains: biology, evolutionary psychology, physics…

o Empirically tested hypotheses (confirmation or falsification/refutation)

2.  Statistics o  Internal reliability of scales o High test-retest stability o Convergent validity o Predictive validity

3.  Published in peer-reviewed, A1 journals – replication, meta-analysis


Our Belgian Partners


Literature Review – Popular but Non-evidence Based §  MBTI® 1921 (Jung), 1942 (Myers) §  Situational Leadership (II) ® 1969 §  Transactional Analysis 1961 §  LIFO ® 1967 §  Kolb learning styles 1984 §  Thomas-Kilmann Instrument 1970 §  Yearly appraisal talk with score 1921 §  Belbin Team Roles ® 1969 §  Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs 1943 §  Mehrabian 7/38/55% myth 1967 §  Robert Quinn (meta!) 1983 §  Change & Kübler-Ross 1969 §  (classic) Time Management 1919


…and bring science in!

§  Evolutionary Psychology 1981 §  FFM or personality or Big Five 1986 §  CBT protocols 1995 §  Proven pedagogical methods

o Priming (1964) & self-convincing 1993 o Behavioral Modeling Training 1974 o AER (after event reviews) 1999

§  A true circumplex! 1997


Still missing: a good leadership measure §  Evidence-based quest for a leadership tool o  Commercial tests: ILS (Hay Group), Quinn

Competing Values, SL & SLII (Hersey, Blanchard) o  Scientific tests: Syroit, MLQ (Bass & Avolio)… -  Not the full range of leadership (e.g., MLQ no

passive or aggressive) -  Reliability of scales too low (e.g., MLQ .60)

§  Only the ‘bright side’ of leadership, not the ‘dark side’ (destructive) of leadership


What is Leadership?

§  At the core of recent leadership thinking is the idea of influence.

§  A leader’s unique role is to influence others. §  And to influence others is to interact with others,

and this is expressed uniquely in a leader’s interpersonal behaviour.

§  Arguably, leadership is interpersonal behaviour; how leaders behave towards others and how others react in turn will determine their influence in any given situation and ultimately be the measure of them as leaders.


What is the CLS360?

§  CLS360 stands for Circumplex Leadership Scan 360°

§  The CLS360 is an evidence-based, scientifically rigorous assessment

§  Designed specially for leaders, it measures leadership interpersonal behaviours

§  A leader’s behaviour along eight different leadership styles is plotted onto an interpersonal circumplex


The CLS360 – 4 Quadrants, 8 Styles §  Quadrants:

1.  Charismatic 2.  Democratic 3.  Avoiding 4.  Autocratic

§  Styles 1.  Inspirational 2.  Coaching 3.  Participative 4.  Yielding 5.  Withdrawn 6.  Distrustful 7.  Authoritarian 8.  Directive


Sample CLS360 Results Plotted on the Leadership Circumplex


+

-‐

Predictive Validity: Effectiveness as Rated by Others


Total Raters


General Manager Wholesale Self


Ideal



Listeners are advised that this presentation is rated CD. It may contain statements that cause discomfort,

irritation, and possibly a desire to argue vigorously with the presenter.

If you experience any of the above, you are likely experiencing symptoms of ‘Cognitive Dissonance,’ a common condition in homo sapiens that can only be

treated with large and frequent doses of hard evidence.

CD


Questions §  Any questions?????

§  For further information please contact us:

o Quentin [email protected] or 0419 531 533 o Margherita [email protected] or 0477 299 829 o CLS360 website www.cls360.com

presentation to ahri’s od&d chapter - cls360 · cognitive dissonance !! a feeling of...

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