What if....I asked a question? What is Groupthink?

What is Groupthink?

I appreciate the comments that came in this week regarding the above question. And I don't pretend to have all the answers on this. Just passing on some simple ideas and thoughts.... and remember that this involves working with a group of people.

Here is my journey with this word…..A few years ago I was attending a class - we had 25-30 people. Class was new - our fellow students were new to one another. We had subjects to discuss, problems to solve, and this would mean communication.Several weeks of class were pretty quiet as a whole as far as class participation. We had a lot to accomplish and we were stumbling big time.

Then one week we had to tackle another issue as a group and our leader mentioned we had the symptoms of Groupthink… well, I thought that was a positive thing – but learned it was not.

So he helped us understand, we all learned from it and went on to work better as a team. Decision-making can be a very serious issue when it comes to a church, a business, even a family. If the way we reach decisions as a group are not formulated ahead of time – the decision making process can become confusing, high-pressured, stressful, and the bottom line can be - we may not always wind up with the best decision.

PLEASE understand, that I am already assuming our foundation is God’s Word, our hearts are surrendered to being “workers together with Him.” Also, this is in regards to major decision making – perhaps building a new organization, starting huge new programs in a church, making major decisions that will affect a large group of people - fill in the blank.

Groupthink can result in faulty decisions because of several factors. Symptoms of groupthink are:

• Not staying “grounded” in realistic goals and plans. In other words, having great “faith” talk that creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks. We should always have a dream, always reach for more – but stay grounded into taking those God-given dreams and allowing Him to help us break it into realistic steps and goals as He directs.

• Group rationalization - members discount warnings and do not reconsider anything negative...

• Ends justify the means – moral issues – members believing in the “rightness” of the cause and ignoring that there may be ethical or moral consequences of their decisions. “I know we raised $100,000.00 for the new building, but let’s use that money here instead.”

• Being opposed to listening to “outside views” – in not wanting conflict, or anyone “questioning” upcoming decisions, we view it almost as the enemy and close ourselves off.

• Pressure (said or unsaid) to not express arguments on the view being taken or expressed.

• Illusions of unanimous – because people do not feel free to speak up, question, or express another viewpoint, it is assumed there is “unanimous” approval when there may not be. It is just a perception and not reality.

• Self-appointed watchdogs - members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

Portions above are from notes by Irving Janis...

Were you ever in a meeting or brainstorming session and there were a couple people you just wanted to kick out of the room because they always had something negative to say? You felt like they always wanted to throw a bucket of cold water on great ideas? Or you made a mental note,” Next meeting? don’t invite that guy…too negative.”

Remedies for Groupthink

Decision experts have determined that groupthink may be prevented by adopting some of the following measures:

• The leader should let all know in the meeting that they need to be as critical as they can while the decision making process is happening. Someone said once, “If the idea is a good idea, it will withstand criticism. Rather we critique ALL options NOW as we make the decision, rather than quickly pressure people for a decision, only for it to end up being a faulty one.

NOTE that it is” while the decision making process is happening” that we want this.

There will need to be a time we make the decision and then commit to that decision – we are all on board.

• The leader should avoid letting others know right away how he or she feels about all the issues – hold that for later – be more of a facilitator.

• One or more experts should be invited to each meeting a various times. The outside experts should be encouraged to challenge views of the members.

• Don’t view those with negative feedback to be the enemy. Could they be there to help bring to light things that have not been thought of? Even though it may appear they are negative, let them have their say without judging.

• The leader should make sure major decisions can have the proper time to have feedback, viewing pros and cons of decisions, etc. When people feel pressured to make a decision, and not given enough information or time to “think it through”, it can be difficult.

• NOTE: Understanding personalities are important. People who are more “A” type personalities want action, decision, snap, snap….let’s go! However, some of their best allies - the ones who will help in the decision making process - can be those with the questions - those with different personalities.

They may appear “slower”, but actually, they are thinkers - they may have thought in 5 seconds of 10 ways why the issue at hand won’t work – but they can help you still get it done and probably get it done better.

I am sure we can all share of times when a good or the best decision was not made. And we had to suffer through the consequences of that. And it may have affected a lot of people. Something that I have to confess to - over the years I have not always allowed, or encouraged a lot of input on certain issues and decisions as a leader…….

I can see now that if I had – I would have saved myself a lot of heartache.

There are many directions to take this subject. I just wanted to keep it simple and share a few things that perhaps can help us as we continue to grow and learn from one another.