Leaders and teams can draw valuable insights into cognitive bias and situational awareness by observing meerkat behaviour. What does your team do when the pressure is on?
In complex and risky environments these small and quite cute little mammals exhibit a cooperative trait that ensures their survival, offering a compelling analogy for effective team dynamics.
Meerkats engage in sentinel behaviour, where individuals take turns acting as lookouts while others forage with their heads down. This practice maintains group safety by ensuring that at least one meerkat is always vigilant for predators such as birds of prey or big cats. Research indicates that all adult meerkats participate in sentinel duties, with older, more experienced individuals often taking the lead due to their heightened awareness and ability to detect potential threats.
This behaviour serves as an apt metaphor for team dynamics. In a recent project, a Sabre facilitator observed a team predominantly composed of detail-oriented perfectionists, known as Completer Finishers in Belbin Team Role theory. Their intense focus on tasks led them to overlook broader objectives, a common pitfall for those with high Completer Finisher tendencies. While their attention to detail ensures high standards, it can also result in tunnel vision under pressure.
The facilitator advised them to take a "Meerkat Moment," highlighting the importance of acknowledging how individual weaknesses can impact team performance. This prompted discussions about periodically pausing to assess collective operations in relation to overarching goals. Designating a team member as a "lookout," empowered to identify threats to decision-making quality, can be beneficial. Although such feedback might be unwelcome in high-pressure situations, addressing these biases respectfully and tactfully is crucial for the team's well-being.
Teams are susceptible to various cognitive biases that can jeopardize success as significantly as predators threaten meerkat clans. Cognitive biases, such as tunnel vision and reactive decision-making, often emerge under pressure, leading to suboptimal outcomes. The reactive neuro-limbic system can trigger "amygdala moments," where emotional responses overshadow rational thinking. While this may be advantageous in certain scenarios, it can also lead to poorly framed decisions.
Implementing "Meerkat Moments" for behavioural assessments can greatly benefit teams. During high-pressure projects, assigning a "lookout" to observe team processes can save time, effort, and resources, and preserve important relationships within the team. This approach requires trust, authenticity, and openness, but pausing to evaluate collaborative effectiveness can prevent potential issues.
For example, a team of highly analytical individuals, identified as Monitor Evaluators in Belbin theory, might experience "paralysis by analysis," jeopardizing project timelines due to excessive risk assessment. Having a "lookout" recognize this bias and emphasize the need to balance risk analysis with timely execution can be pivotal for project success.
A balanced team, encompassing various Team Role contributions and thinking styles, is advantageous. Understanding inherent biases and developing strategies to recognize and mitigate them enhances performance. Profiling an entire team using the Belbin model can identify strengths and weaknesses, informing intelligent strategies to counteract biases when they arise.
In high-pressure or complex environments, teams can benefit from emulating meerkats by maintaining situational awareness and appointing a "lookout" to monitor decision-making processes. As Meredith Belbin aptly stated, "Nobody is perfect, but a good team can be."
To explore how Sabre and Belbin collaborate to assist teams and leaders, visit www.Belbin.com.au.
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