What is Groupthink and How You Can Avoid it to Maintain Team Efficiency

Imagine your team faces a crucial and hugely time-sensitive decision. They meet and reach a consensus quickly and harmoniously, with no dissent. Job done.

Surely that team sounds better than one which argues, can’t reach an agreement and shares little common ground?

But has the first team reached the optimal decision?

Of course, in this hypothetical example we have no way of knowing. Maybe they have. Perhaps, over time, they’ve established successful and efficient collaborative habits and have effortlessly navigated the challenge.

On the other hand, it’s possible that they fell foul of groupthink. This groupthink may have evolved slowly: over weeks, months or even years. Or it may have flared up in that moment of stress.

If you want to make the best decisions, you need to understand how to avoid groupthink. But, first of all, what exactly is groupthink?

What is groupthink?

The concept of groupthink was outlined in 1972 by the psychologist Irving Janis. It describes the phenomenon where a tight group of ‘well-intentioned’ individuals values consensus over open-minded and rigorous evaluation of the options.

According to Janis, groupthink occurs when “concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.”

In other words, as a particular idea emerges as a consensus within the group, individuals may instinctively assimilate it. Doubts are rationalized away by these individuals; more controversial viewpoints, repressed; individual creativity and critical thinking, sidelined.

Unsurprisingly, such groupthink can lead to bad decisions. It’s like an organizational short-circuit: decisions are reached in the absence of a critical evaluation.

Groupthink is often explored in relation to key historical events but it is also immensely relevant to business teams. Successful businesses require high functioning teams. Teams that trust and respect one another enough to disagree. And this needs to be embedded in the increasingly remote culture of work.

Efficient teams are happy to discuss things. They can weigh options critically and determine the best – even when that involves dissent. 

For startups, this is especially important. Nothing is set in stone as they navigate the challenges of scaling up. Carefully deliberated decisions are needed, steering clear of complacent groupthink. When securing funding for startups for example, it’s crucial that the team evaluates all the options critically.

But groupthink is damaging for businesses at any stage in their journey.

How can you avoid groupthink in teams?

There are certain cultural features that help organizations to steer away from groupthink. Let’s consider some:

1. Nurture an open, constructive culture

It is okay to disagree! It will be harder for groupthink to take root if the overall workplace culture values constructive discussion: a climate where ideas can be freely expressed, challenged and considered.

Efficient collaboration does not mean conformity of thought. Alternative viewpoints and innovative thinking should be encouraged. Dissenting ideas, once aired, should be considered critically, on their own merit.

This principle can be nurtured generally: disagreement with a positive, constructive energy can be healthy. Yet dissent can be hard for some. Soft skills training on listening, asserting and negotiating can help with this. 

Trust is essential to enable dissent to be managed constructively. This trust needs to be rooted in the team’s culture. So start with the basics and focus on building trust between remote workers.

Employee surveys and performance management - where everyone gets to have their say - can help establish an open ethos. What could help an employee’s team work more efficiently? Listening and responding constructively can reinforce a strong, collaborative company culture. 

2. Be aware of power dynamics during team discussions

Leaders should be wary of how their own involvement may impact on group discussions. Some individuals may feel genuinely anxious disagreeing (even slightly) with a manager. Others may just assume that the manager’s view is automatically right; after all, they must know more! In either scenario, individuals may suppress good ideas for fear of rocking the boat.

Leaders should stay neutral until individuals have shared their ideas. Yet, even then, a discussion may be unwittingly inhibited: body language may suggest a particular view is favored or there may be embarrassment about expressing unusual ideas. Given this, leaders may opt to simply stay away from some deliberations.  

As a general ethos, critical thinking should not be seen as the domain of senior leaders alone. A better decision is likely if major decisions are considered broadly, by all levels, and from all relevant angles.

For some situations this is particularly pertinent. A non-leader perspective is vital, for instance, if you’re implementing a workflow management tool. Viewing proposals from different angles may uncover otherwise unconsidered advantages and challenges. Leaders may see one set of issues, employees another: better to consider them early on.

3. Develop ways of working that guard against groupthink

Businesses are shifting increasingly to remote working, and this can increase the danger of groupthink. For instance, it can be harder for concerns to emerge in virtual meetings: people's responses are less visible and silence - with no body language to read - can be read as agreement.

Yet communication platforms offer a range of tools that can mitigate this – chat, video, screen sharing, for example. These can facilitate open discussion and constructive dissent, reducing the risk of groupthink.

For example, chat features may empower less comfortable public speakers. It’s a less conspicuous way to share controversial or original ideas. Likewise, polling features can help to explore alternative viewpoints.

The size of teams is also relevant to groupthink - especially with virtual meetings. Within larger teams, a small handful of individuals may dominate. Others may be more passive: the apparent view of the (larger) majority may appear unimpeachable. Smaller team groups, or breakout rooms, may be more effective.

4. Build diversity into your teams

The composition of teams can make groupthink more or less likely. The more homogeneous a group, the more vulnerable it may be.

Teams consisting of similar professional and personal backgrounds and personalities may yield more consistent ideas – creating the impression of coherent unanimity. Conversely, a diverse team may see things more broadly.

A homogenous group may have a more static, limited outlook: carefully researched findings can become accepted assumptions over time, which in turn can meld into complacent stereotypes. But a team with more diverse perspectives may see through those.

And research suggests that diversity works. One research project found that 85% of senior executives agreed that diversity drives innovation by introducing different perspectives to their organizations.

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5. Encourage teams to keep looking outwards

Since groupthink involves short-circuiting to a comfortable consensus, it is important to instill habits against this. Teams need to be outward looking, wary of complacency and insularity.

A remote culture can support this. It’s easier than ever to connect teams to the wider world. Guest slots, customer research or input from other teams can bring fresh perspectives to discussions. Well informed teams can be more agile, grasping the evolving, bigger picture.

Simple activities can promote an inquisitive approach in teams. In the ‘Devil’s Advocate technique’, individuals are tasked to challenge a group’s assumptions. This can work just as well remotely as it can face-to-face. Actively seeking cracks in existing wisdom is a healthy antidote to groupthink.

A word of warning though. While the benefits of technology can undoubtedly support an outward-looking ethos, digital communication and collaboration does entail security risks. It’s therefore important to keep checking your security for business communication arrangements to ensure your channels are secure. 

6. Watch out for stressed teams!

Businesses should be conscious of stress in their teams. Its impact on staff wellbeing, productivity and recruitment is well known. But it can also exacerbate groupthink.

For example, pressure to reach decisions can lead teams to hurry to a potentially flawed consensus. It risks triggering a bunker mentality, further inhibiting a questioning approach.

Especially with bigger issues, teams should be given sufficient time and space to reflect. Facilitating this requires strategies to positively manage the pressures and stresses of work.

For contact centers, a workforce engagement management system can help. These show how busy teams are at different times (helping to plan staffing needs appropriately), and can help when evaluating team performance by measuring answer times, call resolution rates and even sentiment analysis of your callers.

Such tools help build efficient and effective teams where uncritical, uncreative groupthink is less likely.  

Challenging yesterday’s consensus

A business must address the needs of customers today and tomorrow, rather than indulging yesterday’s consensus. Efficient teams need curious, critical members, wary of complacency and prepared to stand up for what matters.    

For this to thrive, the business must value discussion and dissent. Technology should be used positively to support this and workloads should be managed to enable thoughtful and creative employee engagement. And the very composition of teams is worth considering, with a view to challenging homogeneity. 

Above all, efficient teams need to avoid complacency and insularity – alert to evolving threats and opportunities. Used purposefully, curiosity and enquiry are great guards against groupthink.