Success Archives - Ann Tardy | Speaker, Author, Trainer

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When the Self-Serving Bias Does Not Serve Us


Why did you succeed? I worked really hard.

Why didn’t you succeed? The weather, the traffic, my computer, the regulations, my boss, my peers, my car, the company policies. I’ve been so busy! The dog ate my homework. The serpent beguiled me.

This is the Self-Serving Bias in action.

A behavioral influence in which we take credit for our successes, while blaming external circumstances for our shortcomings, disappointments, and failures.

Of course we do! We’re boosting our confidence while protecting our self-esteem!

There are 2 problems with blaming circumstances:

1. People absolve themselves of personal responsibility. As a result, they become a victim under their circumstances, leaving little room to become a victor over them.

2. People fail to evaluate all the information available to them (internal and external roadblocks), resulting in poor decisions.

As leaders, how do we lead people out of their own way? With the Lasso of Truth.

Wonder Woman used a truth-compelling lasso. We can employ truth-compelling questions (just imagine the twirling lasso!):

  • What role have you played in your success or disappointment?
  • If we look at only controllable factors, which ones attributed to your success or failure?
  • From your perspective, what specific actions/behaviors did you take or should you have taken?
  • What actions/behaviors can you change moving forward to change your results?

 

When we allow people to point fingers at external circumstances, we condone their victim status, and they stay stuck. Stuck people, stuck team, stuck leader.

But when we help people focus on controllable factors (their actions and behaviors!), we lead them out of their own way.

Why Just-Do-Your-Job Won Belichick the Super Bowl

People at my Super Bowl party were starting to leave. The ending was all but inevitable, as the Falcons were up 28-3 in the third quarter.

And then the game got interesting. The Patriots came back with a vengeance, winning 34-28 in the first-ever overtime in Super Bowl history.

We can glean a trite lesson like, “never give up.”

But the real lesson for us as leaders comes from the head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick whose mantra is: do your job. Since 2000, he’s used this truism to coach the Patriots through 305 games (winning 225) and 7 Super Bowls (winning 5).

There’s no greater test for us as leaders than supporting our people from the sidelines, completely unable to rescue them.

What can we possible do from the sidelines? Cheer. Motivate. Yell. Scream. Scold. Cajole. Plead. Berate. Threaten.

Or we can do what Belichick has been successfully doing for 17 years: instill discipline.

“Do. Your. Job.” is Belichick’s philosophy that reminds his team to:

  • worry about your own job, effort, results
  • know the guy next to you is doing his job
  • count on your peers and they’ll count on you

 

With this simple yet potent formula, Belichick calms his team in the midst of chaos and overwhelm. He uses it to focus them, eliminate distractions, demand readjustment, enlist improvement, and emphasize accountability.

No doubt at half-time, Belichick once again reminded his team to “just do your job.”

We lead when we coach our people from the sidelines, and we lead best when we focus them on the one thing that everyone on the team is counting on them to do… their job.