Top 5 challenges for Lawyers with career goals & professional projects: Negativity Bias
Ever wondered why your latest professional project or personal career goal isn't getting off the ground yet?
One of the top 5 challenges for Lawyers (and other professional services experts) with any new goal is Negativity Bias.
This means our brains are wired to scan for and avoid negative outcomes - like incurring any risk whatsoever - even more than we're motivated to go after positive ones.
I'm sure you’ve seen this in action.
Example: Someone suggests a promising Innovation Project in a meeting, but instead of discussing any project benefits the discussion devolves into a laundry list of risks (however minor). Or you try to start on a new career goal yourself, but your mind gets overwhelmed with ruminating about all the many mistakes you could make.
Or... a daily example... if you’ve ever been out for a business lunch and seen someone get distracted from ordering because they keep noticing typos on the menu then you’ve seen this in action.
Finally... maybe you’ve noticed this when someone remarks: “Lawyers can’t see the upside like business people can”. Yes and No to this observation. Our training prompts us to focus on and avoid risk constantly. It’s an excellent skill for reducing potential liability for clients. But if we use our risk focus everywhere, including outside negotiations, it can ruin our chances of getting across the finish line (or even getting started) with any kind of meaningful change.
The good news is there are highly effective tools to overcome Negativity Bias. (I strongly suggest Dr. Rick Hansen on this topic.) With any new project - not just personal ones but professional ones too- one of the first steps is to move past Negativity Bias and into action based on calculated risk scenarios instead of outsized risk perceptions.
So many risks we worry about will never come true. Why sacrifice your meaningful goal for a risk that will likely never happen?
Or, as Stoic Philosopher Marcus Aurelius put it: “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
Overcoming Negativity Bias is almost always an exercise we do in Coaching. It can arise with any and EVERY new goal or project. It can be easier to overcome or even notice with a Mentor or Coach than by ourselves.
PS - While Negativity Bias is a normal topic of discussion in consulting or executive coaching contexts, it can be disguised and even rewarded as never-ending “Due Diligence” in a Legal Setting! I’d say that’s double Negativity Bias.
https://chiefexecutive.net/four-ways-to-stop-negativity-bias-from-killing-innovation/
