How groupthink distorts decision-making

„It's easier to ask a critical question than to agree with each other”.

Said no one ever 😉

The comfort of aligning with the group is undeniably seductive.

Unfortunately it leads us also to groupthink and compromising the quality of decisions we make as a team.

The research* highlights four biases that impact decision-making in groupthink:

❌ Amplifying errors
Homogeneous groups not only fail to notice errors but also reinforce them through strong agreement.

❌The cascade effect
The tendency to follow the first speaker's lead, building on initial ideas rather than introducing new, independent insights.

❌The polarization effect
Groups tend to solidify their collective stance during meetings, leading to even more increased commitment to poor decisions.

❌The shared information effect
Finding comfort in shared knowledge makes it difficult to consider new or critical viewpoints that could enhance decision quality.

How to get away from groupthink?

✅ Break the mold of „culture fit”
Ensure that the team comprises individuals with varied backgrounds andexperiences

✅Cross-functional collaboration
Encourage collaboration across different departments or specialties to gain insights that might not be apparent within a single-function team.

✅Independent idea generation
Before group discussions, have team members write down their ideas independently and discuss it later.

What would be your suggestions for practices to avoid groupthink?

*Source: Cass R. Sunstein and Reid Hastie "Wiser, Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter" HBR
P. Luthra, S. Muhr, "Leading through bias"