In our article last month we talked about the importance of having a reliable and effective franchisee selection process in place in order to avoid the risk of rendering your network as fragile as a domino structure where just one vulnerable tile could lead to the collapse of the whole composition. Once you attract good candidates through the application of proper marketing strategies and tools, you must analyze their profiles and compatibility with your network. Your recruiters are expected to wear several hats at the same time to ensure the development and growth of your network: sales, marketing, HR, to name a few. Moreover, they must stay impartial and not be fooled by the natural biases that can alter their perception of a candidate.
As Christine Cox from the NeuroLeadership Institute says, if you have a brain, you are biased.[1] So how do you make sure that when you meet your candidate, you can make the right call, avoid being distracted by the natural biases of our brains that cause us to misjudge people, seeing qualities and skills that are simply not there?
The first step is to be aware of such biases in order to be able to design your selection process to mitigate them, or at least to reduce their negative impact. Do you think you know the pitfalls? While some of them may be familiar to you, can you be certain that they have never caused you to take a bad decision or will never influence your judgment in the future? Remember, if you have a brain, you are biased.
Similarity bias
This relatively well-known bias refers to our natural tendency to attribute more credibility to people who seem to belong to the same group as us, i.e. people of the same age, race, interests, who come from the same background and have a similar personality, etc. Whereas those who are likely to be different from us are automatically perceived in a more negative light and get fewer merit points from us. To save time and effort, our brains tend to associate similarities with certain features by using known references. In this case it is YOU.
Confirmation bias
Our brains tend to analyze information about a candidate in a way that confirms our preexisting beliefs and proves the expected outcome of such analysis. Indeed, if we enter the selection process with the mindset that the person is a good candidate, we tend to overlook the clues – the red flags – that suggest that he is not compatible with the banner, and instead focus only on what would prove our initial belief.
Anchoring bias
A little less known, this bias can clearly get us to take a wrong route in choosing a candidate. Our brains tend to rely heavily on the first piece of information we receive and use it for subsequent judgments. Yes, the famous first impression! And it has been scientifically proven too. In fact, the first impression is like an “anchor” that, once set, will become the center point for all subsequent information, thus creating a bias towards interpreting other data around it in the same light.
Probability bias
If I tell you that the probability that people with a certain trait have only a 5% chance to succeed in your network, would you be more inclined to accept or to reject such candidate? Neuroscientists have tested this theory and came to the conclusion that if we think that a person fits the profile needed for the network, we shall be convinced that in our context the probability of his success is greater than 5%.
Risk of losing bias
When we are sure that everything will go as expected, we are less likely to take risky decisions. At the same time, if we are less certain of our success, we would take more risks to avoid losing. For example, our brains may play tricks on us if we have significant market development projects underway and we are afraid we might not find enough franchisees for that. In this case, franchisors will be more inclined to take a risk by accepting a candidate who does not fully match the requirements. In contrast, franchisors who are sure to easily attract franchisees would tend to take very few risks in their selection of new franchisees.
Lost investment bias
Once we have invested time, money and effort, we tend to find it difficult to give up a candidate. Our judgment is skewed based on the investment made.
In short, as you can see, it is no easy task to select the best franchisees: our brains take shortcuts to save time and effort, and may end up pointing us in a wrong direction. Effective tools and a sound selection process can help your recruitment manager make the right decisions. Indeed, if your recruiters feel torn between signing up new franchisees on one hand, and on the other hand staying open-minded and objective to select the best fit for the network, then implementing a sound process to mitigate such natural biases could be a valuable decision for your banner. First, our FlagFranchise.com franchisor-franchisee matching tool can optimize the quality of the pool of prospects for your selection process, and advise you on strategic questions to ask. Second, your selection process must include steps to mitigate the natural biases of our brains.
Our expert Totem Performance organisationnelle team would be happy to assist and support you in the optimization of your franchisee selection process.
Sylvie Grégoire, MBA, CRHA
President, Totem Performance organisationnelle and FlagFranchise
[1] Professor at the Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the New York University Langone Medical Center
