When Your Reputation Becomes Your Blind Spot

The skills of a leader can vary widely according to job and industry. But in nearly all situations, honesty and integrity count for a lot.

Indeed, at a time when people are most likely to land jobs because of the their networks, reputation is everything. And building that reputation takes time and effort: as a leader, you want to show people that you not only have vision and technical skill, but that you can be trusted to act with a sense of fairness and objectivity.

Yet new research suggests that leaders can sometimes make poor decisions in the name of maintaining a pristine image. This can mean everything from rewarding the wrong people to wasting company resources. Leaders who find themselves in such a situation tend to do so because they’ve let their fear of how others view them get in the way of what they know is right. This inability to manage via your authentic self sets you up to lead via perception instead, says Valerie Hayes, a Korn Ferry Advance career coach. Here are the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them.

You could end up rewarding the wrong people.
According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, bosses will pass over friends for bonuses, solely not to be seen as playing favorites. While the friend may have a better case for getting the bonus, a reputation-conscious manager will give it to the less-qualified candidate, leaving weaker talent to rise up the ranks.

As a leader, the solution may be to bring in a third party to help. Talk with a fellow manager or your boss about your desire to make a neutral decision. You can even go as far as putting the two cases—your friend’s accomplishments and another employee’s accomplishments—on paper, without names. Have your liaison select whom they would promote. If they promote your friend, you know you’re seeing it clearly. If they would promote the other person, maybe your friendship clouded your views.

You could appear inauthentic.
People don’t want a robot boss—they want someone who has ideas and opinions and speaks out against wrongs. If you’re too concerned with maintaining a totally neutral image, people may not feel like they can trust you. Likewise, if you make decisions that are fair in your mind, but fail to communicate your reasoning to others, that could make you seem inauthentic as well. According to a recent survey of about 600 managers and employees, 26% of respondents said that a manager’s ability to make clear the reasons behind a decision was one of the best ways to build trust.

The best solution: don’t bad-mouth others, but do speak up about your vision, thoughts, and concerns. And don’t be afraid to share more about yourself with your direct reports. “Employees have to see the real you,” says Hayes. “Let the guard down a little bit.” An easy start is by showing some of your hobbies or interests outside the office.

You could squander resources.
In one experiment, researchers gave 69 participants the role of manager and then asked them to give out a computer to one of two equally deserving employees. Nearly half of the participants decided not to allocate the computer, fearing they would seem unfair. It’s essentially a sign of analysis paralysis. To avoid making the wrong decision, the managers opted to waste the resource. Instead, build a case one way or the other. As long as you have supporting evidence for the decision, even if it wasn’t the optimal one, you can show your justification, says Hayes.