story by Claire Miller
Associate Professor Yinying Wang has spent several years observing and working with educational leaders in schools and districts.
These experiences – coupled with her research on technology, decision making, neuroscience and social network analysis in educational leadership and policy – have given Wang insight into how leaders make decisions, and how certain biases can impact decision-making.
“We all are human beings, and we have the same flaws in our decision making. But leaders’ decisions are often more consequential than others because they are entrusted to make decisions on others’ behalf,” she explained.
Three years ago, Wang shared her observations and research findings in a workbook she created for her psychology of leadership class. After receiving positive responses from her students, she decided to expand and publish the workbook for others to use as a resource.
The resulting publication, “Something Went Wrong: 52 Biases That Undermine Your Leadership Decision Making,” is a workbook that leaders in education and other fields can use to understand and identify biases that affect their work.
Each chapter outlines a specific bias – such as overconfidence bias, which occurs when leaders are overconfident in their skills and overestimate their ability to influence future work outcomes – and offers example scenarios where the bias comes into play.
“At the end of each chapter, leaders can write down their own reflection upon the decisions made by themselves or the people around them,” Wang said. “An understanding of biases in leaders’ individual decision making and group decision making can help leaders not only make better decisions, but also ensures a group make quality decisions.”
To learn more about her book, click here.