Avoid Groupthink and Herd Mentality At Work

When you are part of a group, do you speak up and voice your opinion or avoid criticism and choose a path of fewer conflicts. When popularity takes priority over individual responsibility, people develop a tendency to conform to ideas and beliefs that lead to conservative thinking, ignore potential signs of failure, and make decisions with incomplete and biased information leading to groupthink.

When such behavior becomes part of an organization's culture, it gives rise to collective blindness to unethical ways, regressive thinking that ignores the future demands of your business and a propensity to ignore truth especially if it requires taking a hard stance.

Without the environment that encourages fresh perspectives, constructive conflict with a desire to learn new information, and a clear process for making decisions, it's easy to succumb to groupthink where herd mentality drives decisions instead of utilizing the collective power of group intelligence.