Overcoming the Obstacle of Group Think

Have you fallen into the dreaded trap of group think?

Group think is when a team tends to gravitate toward one idea on a regular basis.

It is easy to identify. You may have noticed a tendency toward agreeing with one voice and approaching problems the “way we’ve always done it.” Yep, that’s group think.

Break the group think cycle now!

Ask the following questions to stimulate new ideas:

• If we were to argue against this, what would we say?
• What’s another solution? What else?
• What would we do differently if we had no constraints and a completely blank slate?
• What if we’re wrong?
• What are we missing?

These questions are designed to trigger thinking from alternative viewpoints. They will help stimulate new ideas. When people feel good about making such contributions, they will do so more often. A big deal if you are striving for innovation.