How To Avoid Groupthink And Increase Company Efficiency

Companies often designate intelligent and highly-competent team leaders to supervise and oversee operations. There’s that famous saying, “follow the leader” that seems to limit the members to participate in the crucial decision-making process. But if members are given the space to express their voice, opinions are compromised due to the pressure and demand for immediate consensus. In psychology, this phenomenon is called groupthink.

According to Anna Schmidt of online Britannica, groupthink is a mode of thinking where individuals who are part of a small cohesive teams reach a consensus of a particular decision or solution regardless of its valid, correct, or optimal. If groupthink is tolerated, companies are losing by disregarding better suggestions or opinions, undermining the value of research, and limiting possible breakthroughs. Here are some ways to avoid groupthink in the workplace:

Highlighting contributions

Since groupthink is not easily detected, companies must come up with activities to develop the employee’s capacity to participate in the decision-making process and empower their voices whenever they want to raise an opinion, suggestion, or dissent that they think is significant. Team building activities can be a great way to allow employees understand power relations by highlighting the importance of their contributions to the decision-making process. To cut the hassle of organizing events, you can look for corporate event management companies. 

Focus on research 

One of the overlooked acts which results to groupthink is the disregard given to facts or other vital information. According to Forbes, people tend to follow a strong voice especially if it comes from authorities. This can only be challenged if rigorous research is prioritized and facts are used to raise an objection or dissent. When dealing with facts or data, it is important to avoid biases which can tweak or change the true results just to fit the companies’ expectations.

Don’t speed up decisions

Time is an important aspect to consider in the decision-making process. Decisions made after meaningful debates help filter the suggestions and narrow them down to being the best. And this needs ample time. 

Other than debates, as mentioned above, you can also explore on various team building activities that include a mobile escape room game that brings out competitiveness, creativity, skills, and allow them to collectively decide to finish fun challenges. If you are interested in experiencing indoor and outdoor escape room activities, companies such as Escape Room Races can help you with accommodating your requests. 

Conclusion

You may have heard the term groupthink rarely but it can affect the company’s operations and efficiently adversely. Decision-making, at the end of the day, should be inclusive, comprehensive, and strategic.