Group-think can be great. However, it has many downfalls and can mislead many organizations if it’s not balanced out, here are some collaboration comments.
Everyone wants to come out and say that teamwork is best, or two heads are better than one, or collaboration is king… I have heard more group-work terms than I care to spout, but more often than not these are simply feel-good sayings and the teamwork is not curated properly. Group-work can be über-productive, but here are a few things to note:
A team leader is necessary for group-think
Yes, we want to encourage others to step up and no we don’t want the person in charge to run the entire session. The person chosen for team lead must be a balanced-thinking person that is not going to push their own agenda.
This is a perfect opportunity to encourage someone to “step up” and show what they’re made of. Maybe this is a up and comer in the organization or maybe this is the out-spoken person who does great solo work, each person should get a shot at being this team lead to get a feel for it.
If no distinct lead is defined, my next point will come to fruition immediately AND people will be on their own agendas versus being accountable to the team lead. When it’s time to define roles, there needs to be one clear voice.
One person’s ideas will trump other’s because they’re the loudest, not because they have the best idea
Be sure to have anonymous brainstorms: Don’t just let one person control the flow of ideas, put all ideas on a whiteboard or note cards without people’s names by them when brainstorming. List as many as possible, we won’t use them all.
List all ideas whether they’re good, bad, or obvious: One mistake groups often make is that nobody wants to be the first to push the envelope and come up with crazy ideas. So instead of speaking up, we wait until there’s a good list to be present and then try to slip it in. The problem here is that the good ideas don’t come until the group is 18 minutes into brainstorming and we’ve only allotted 20 minutes, so the best ideas don’t get the time they need to be explored.
The individuals that don’t speak up are often introverts that don’t want to look “dumb” in front of a group. A group leader needs to direct questions to them specifically and give them the opportunity to speak without interruptions. If they don’t receive this encouragement, their ideas will never blossom without being given the floor.
Having individuals work solo on a project can give ideas another layer of depth
As each of us work together we are influenced by each other’s words and thoughts. In solitary settings we can instead focus on one individual thought and “go down a rabbit hole” with it, exploring all angles of possibility. One way to do this is have each team member spend 5-10 solo minutes exploring thoughts/solutions before coming together for the big picture.
A clear option should always be chosen
Another major downfall of collaboration in teams is no clear direction after coming up with a number of solutions. The final verdict should be written down and explained thoroughly before breaking so the final vision is clear.
Each individual should be assigned specific tasks coming out of this collaboration, whether it’s working solitary or with team members so that clear expectations are set for them.
A brief follow-up session should be held shortly after the team breaks in order to make sure everyone is working on their respective puzzle pieces properly. This part frequently catches teams, they will assign work and then come together a day before the deadline and one individual didn’t understand their assignment. Because one person didn’t understand their role, they wasted hours of time working on something that didn’t fit with the rest of the group. At this point a scramble occurs and the project is not what it could be.
Group-think can be very helpful, but structured collaboration is more effective than randomly throwing people into a room with a problem and a whiteboard.
