How can you avoid groupthink during change management?

Creating a culture that encourages feedback and dissent is paramount for fostering innovation and preventing groupthink. The fear of conflict or rejection often stifles diverse perspectives, hindering the growth of teams and organizations. In my experience, during an emergency situation at my plant, I observed hesitation within my team. Two members seemed reluctant to share their concerns openly. Recognizing the importance of their perspectives, I took a moment to create a safe space, assuring them that their feedback was valued. This not only helped in resolving the immediate issue but also strengthened the team's trust and willingness to express dissent in future situations

A big part of inclusion is knowing how to ensure not only that you have the right group of different minds but also the appropriate methods for gathering their points of view. Some people will simply freeze if put under the spotlight, some need time to prepare and gather their thoughts and opinions, others may prefer to give feedback in writing. If you're not sure, ask people in advance so that you can design meetings accordingly and ensure that are considered. Additionally, if you want dissent, have different people play the role of dissenter so that nobody is stuck with a negative stigma that impacts group cohesion or that individual's desire to continue engaging.

Promoting a culture that welcomes feedback and dissent is crucial in mitigating groupthink, stemming from the fear of conflict or isolation. Establishing a safe and supportive environment involves posing open-ended questions to encourage diverse perspectives, actively and respectfully listening to all opinions, and addressing the emotions and fears associated with change. Constructive and specific feedback should focus on the issue rather than the individual. Emphasising common goals and the change vision over personal interests helps foster an atmosphere conducive to open dialogue and collaborative decision-making.

A safe, inclusive environment is a must, as encouraging feedback and dissent. Go beyond "encouraging" and actively pursue out-of-the-box ideas. Often having a neutral facilitator who can ask counter narrative questions or push the boundaries of the group can be useful. The facilitator also can raise the voice of the introverts by echoing or pulling the quiet side comments to the foreground.

Group think can be afforded if you create an environment that welcomes challenge, people feel safe to express dissent and that consensus is not expected or welcome without challenge. By seeking and enabling cognitive diversity you will make it harder for groupthink to be established. When you make groupthink as a concept understandable by others and you seek support in ensuring that it is guarding against you build an environment where it is less likely to be accepted.

When seeking external feedback, it's important to consider the following: 1. Seek diverse perspectives. Make sure you are not just looking for people who think like you AND who resemble your own identities. A value of diversity is innovation and minimizing mistakes. Consider fields of expertise as well as social identities. 2. Make sure you seek feedback from someone in your target audience, whenever possible. A message that resonates with you may not resonate with them. 3. Write in an accessible language. Corporate jargon often says a whole lot of nothing, and elitist jargon can be a turnoff to, or even discriminatory towards, readers.

Change is constant in today's world so rather than focusing on change management we need to better equip people to feel empowered and comfortable ongoing change. This will require experimentation and iteration as opposed to approaching change as a singular event. The Old Way: Spend months searching for the perfect solution, involve too many decision makers, find a compromise that nobody is happy with and then communicate the decision as final. (change has happened to people) The New Way: Seek feedback, summarise the problem, try something new, expect failure and keep iterating until you figure it out together (change as a Team Sport).

Combatting groupthink in change management involves addressing homogeneity and conformity within the group. To enhance diversity of thought and creativity, diversify group composition by recruiting individuals from various departments and levels. Rotate roles and responsibilities to prevent conformity. Encourage expression of individuality and preferences. Facilitate learning and mentoring opportunities. Recognise and reward contributions and achievements. These measures foster a collaborative culture, improving the quality and effectiveness of change initiatives.

In my career, we faced a significant challenge introducing new technology to our plant. The existing team, entrenched in conventional methods, hesitated due to groupthink, leading to efficiency losses from outdated technology. Recognizing the need for change, we boldly diversified the team with fresh talent and sought help from sister companies. This strategy dismantled conformity, fostering innovation. The diverse team, with varied experiences, collaborated seamlessly, successfully implementing the technological change.

This works very well especially when you decide on conducting focus group discussion during times of change. When you engage homogeneous groups, chances are you will not get diversity of thought, and neither will you get honest and valuable insights. However, with smaller and more diverse groups, you are likely to get more participation and insights that will be very valuable for the change that you seek to make in the organization.

This also an great method of thinking out of the box. Just we have to ensure the competency of the diverse group beforehand via proper assessment of their understanding. Collective efforts would surely be fruitful in bringing a change.

Avoiding groupthink in change management is crucial for success. Rotate roles to prevent dominance and foster a variety of viewpoints. Encourage devil's advocacy to challenge assumptions and stimulate critical thinking. Promote individuality within the group to value diverse contributions. Establish decision-making protocols with thorough analysis and objective criteria. Conduct anonymous feedback sessions to reduce fear and encourage honest expression. Acknowledge and address emotions tied to change, creating a supportive environment. Celebrate diverse perspectives, recognizing and rewarding innovative solutions. These techniques collectively cultivate an environment that prevents groupthink.

The Delphi Technique, rooted in the principle of mitigating bias and fostering diversity, offers a strategic approach. By employing this method, professionals bring together diverse stakeholders anonymously to share their insights and forecasts on change initiatives. This not only safeguards against singular opinions dominating discussions but also encourages innovative thinking. Implementation of agile methodologies showcase the Delphi Technique's effectiveness. Teams, comprising individuals from varied departments and levels, participated anonymously, enabling open discussions without hierarchical influences. Through iterative feedback and forecasts, the technique facilitated unbiased insights, leading to successful agile adoption.

When groupthink occurs or looks like it's about to occur, treat it as one individual's opinion only, and then immediately seek varied opinions. By playing "what if" or devil's advocate, for example, you can sometimes unearth alternative views that remained buried during the rise of groupthink. Reaching consensus is completely different from groupthink; the latter arises from group pressure to agree, a fear of expressing alternative views, or sometimes just laziness to contribute or think critically or creatively. Not so good if you are seeking buy-in for change.

Avoiding groupthink in change management isn't just about fostering diverse opinions; it's about fundamentally challenging how decisions are made. One unconventional method is to rotate leadership roles in meetings, ensuring fresh perspectives take the lead. Encouraging debate is another - not just welcoming, but rewarding devil's advocacy. Moreover, adopting a 'red team' approach, where a designated group's sole purpose is to find flaws and counter the majority view, can be highly effective. This approach transforms dissent into a valuable asset rather than a hindrance, ensuring that change is not just a consensus, but a well-contested and robust decision.

There is a fine line between groupthink and good team behaviour. Maybe the best distinction between the two is that groupthink results in poor quality decisions. So the question is how to distinguish between the two and guard against groupthink. Holding external, independent reviews and/or checkpoints from a diverse set of audiences is the most effective way to protect against groupthink. If the reviews or checkpoints do not agree with the team then it is important to revisit the decision in order to avoid groupthink.