Who Are You Giving a Halo To?

Any time a leader views a colleague in a highly favorable way and then proceeds to evaluate everything else about them as positive, they are said to be giving that person a halo. Once given a Halo, these colleagues can do little wrong in the eyes of the leader. 

Technically speaking, the so-called halo effect is a cognitive bias whereby people overestimate the specific qualities of a person because of an extremely favorable general impression. The halo they attach to others creates a powerful distortion, influencing how they interpret many other features and descriptions about the person.  

This distortion is rampant in everyday judgments of people, and leaders are especially susceptible to it. This bias for leaders is so strong at times that they go out of their way to dispute, ignore, or dismiss negative information and data about people they think highly of. 

While the leader may be generally unaware of the halo they have attached to a particular person, team members are on high alert. They watch in dismay as a colleague they know, who has both positive and negative traits and qualities, is given a free pass and nothing but accolades. 

They quickly become confused, puzzled, and exasperated. With a leader who is in full denial of anything negative about this person, what is safe to say?  After a time, team members become resigned to the halo and refrain from offering negative examples or critical assessments of the individual. This wreaks havoc on the candid and open dialogue which is essential for cohesive teams. 

This problem is equally poignant for the reverse halo, where a general negative impression influences a leader to see only the warts and blemishes of a person, overweighing the negative because of their general distaste. Both halos and reverse halos are hugely problematic for leaders and their teams.

Good leaders remain vigilant against any distortion that colors their objective view, especially a bias that influences how they judge people. They fight off the halo effect by always viewing people as multifaceted, with both positive and negative traits and qualities. They refrain from judging people as a single entity, preferring instead to evaluate their different qualities and attributes independently. 

Who are you giving a halo to? Now is a good time to resize it, shrink it, or get rid of it altogether. While everyone deserves your support and positivity, no one is worthy of a halo. They blind leaders with inaccurate judgments of people.