False Consensus and Team Building

If you are a manager or a team leader, you need to be aware of the idea of false consesus when working with your team.  False consensus is the belief that other people know the same things you know.  If you expect that everyone on your team already knows the things that you know, and they don't know these things, then you are setting your team up for failure.  

Team leaders also need to be aware of their unconcious biases, especially with regard to similarity.  This is the tendency of people to feel more comfortable around those that they see as "similar" to themselves in some way.  If we believe that people know the things that we know, then we will see them as similar to us.  We will then expect them to believe the things we believe and think the way we think, and behave the way we be behave.  These are very dangerous assumptions because they are usually incorrect.

Here are some hints to help avoid false consensus and unconcious biases to ruin your team dynamic:

• Take the time to learn what your team really knows, so that you can provide them with the information they need to complete their tasks.  
• Be aware of your biases so that you don't favor some team members over others, despite their level of achievement and the amount of work they actually complete.(or not) 
• Recognize that although you might share some interests with team members it doesn't mean that they are like you in other ways. You have to allow for different work styles and personality types.
• Ensure that every member of your team is performing at an equal level and completing their assigned tasks.

We need to make conscious efforts to work against our unconcious biases, avoid false consesus, and  ensure that we are supporting and challenging all members of our teams.