The Halo Effect: Shining Light on the Impact of “Unconscious Favoritism”

The Halo Effect is a term that sounds good but when it is present on a team or in a family, there is widespread damage.

Definition:

A beneficiary of the Halo Effect receives UNDESERVED (not earned) recognition, attention or rewards and may avoid consequences for not following policies, breaking rules, or achieving poor results.

How common is the Halo Effect? My guess is that you have seen examples of it in your personal and professional life; in work groups; school teams and families. I certainly have paid the price for having this blind spot and have apologized and tried to make amends to the people I treated unfairly.

Why is the Halo Effect so costly?

Team Impact

If you are on a team and expecting fairness, something approaching a “meritocracy,” spotting the Halo Effect is demotivating and even disillusioning. I have also seen situations where it divides teams into subgroups. Some people fear the “favorite’s” access to and influence with power and decide to align with him or her.

Impact on the Leader

The team starts wondering, “Does he or she see this?” “If they do, why don’t they do anything about it?” The leader may lose credibility while people question his or her judgement. If this leader happens to give talks about culture and values, the disconnect between “the audio and the video” stands out in neon.

Impact on the Person

The Halo Effect obviously benefits the person for a stretch of time. However, during this time they get little feedback, or coaching, and rarely develop. At some point leadership changes and they don’t fare well without this protection. Even without a leadership change I have seen their hubris grow to the point where their inappropriate behavior draws complaints or the attention of HR.

How Do People Create a Halo Effect?

1. Manage Up – They start by studying their manager and other people in power. They learn about priorities, hot buttons, taboos, and non-verbal patterns to the point that in many ways they know a leader better than the leader knows himself. They flatter and tell people what they want to hear. (If you are their manager you are probably not as smart, funny or attractive as they are telling you).

2. Impression Management – They are astute about visibility, optics, and when and where impressions are formed. These situations bring out their “best self.” Out of the spotlight, when the leader is not present, the rest of the team often sees their dark side.

3. Taking Credit/Assigning Blame – They leverage their access to power to proactively “manage the airwaves” in their favor; aligning with successful projects and figuring out who they can blame when results come up short.

4. Commonalities – Sometimes people accrue the Halo Effect by having things in common with the leader e.g. geography, school teams, church, golf, worked for same company, etc. For example, my wife has pointed out to me on several occasions that my evaluation of someone from my hometown of Brooklyn, NY is rosier than it should be.

How to Avoid This Leadership Blindspot

If you have someone on your team who truly excels, the extra recognition or rewards they gain may trigger some envy but mostly the team will not consider it a fairness issue. It’s a leadership problem for you when you are overestimating talent and contribution, and not seeing the negative behaviors that others are aware of (or even worse, seeing them but excusing them).

Here are Some Tips on Avoiding or Erasing the Halo Effect:

1. Self-Reflection and Self-Awareness – It’s useful to set aside some time to reflect on previous experiences where someone has been able to create a “Halo Effect” with you. What are some instances where you overestimated people or missed signals about negative traits? Do you notice any patterns?

2. Develop/Enhance Your BS Detector – As a leader of a team or organization this is an essential skill for internal people calls or deciding about external consultants/vendors. People who “manage up” in a deceptive way do give off signs and signals (“tells”). More detail in these books: Survival of the Savvy by Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman, or A Woman’s Guide to Power, Presence and Protection by Monica Bauer, Marty Seldman, Paula Santilli and Jovita Thomas-Williams: Chapter 5: Detect to Protect).

3. Set a Trap: The Ron Rittenmeyer Technique – Ron Rittenmeyer is an executive I’ve enjoyed working with because of his intelligence, sense of humor and toughness. At one point in his career, he became the COO of an organization that was highly political. So one day he started a meeting with a strong point of view about a challenge the team was facing. He then facilitated a discussion, with most of the team agreeing with him. After about 30 minutes he reversed himself. Then he sat back and observed the comments and reactions from the team. He didn’t confront anyone at the meeting but soon afterwards he informed some individuals who had immediately reversed themselves at the meeting that it was going to be hard for him to trust their feedback going forward (I’m giving you a nicer version of what he actually said).

4. Solicit a Wide Range of Feedback – It is rare for someone to create the Halo Effect with everyone. In fact they often have “an audience of one.” So encourage people to give you feedback about your team. In particular, if someone you trust, who has no personal agenda, gives you a “heads up” about someone on your team, at least investigate further.

I know this is an unpleasant aspect of team/family dynamics, but I hope this information helps us all move in the direction of fairness.