Thinking - have we decended into 'Group Think'?

Innovation unlikely

Einstein once said that: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

In business we often lament about lack of innovation and our corporate sounding mission statement's flowery tributes to our forward change orientated culture. But at the same time we hold onto our existing structures and organograms while chanting the mantra of "We have always done its this way" or its modestly better sounding variation "This is the way we do things." 

It is good to have stability and its natural to aspire to a state of stasis for these are normal and natural human tendencies. Why should be invite change? Why should we even allow a dissenting voice who questions everything we hold so dear? Why should we encourage the new?


If we go back to Einstein's sage words we learn one important lesson; unless we shake the tree, unless we add a measure of agitation, unless we invite an element of chaos and different view we will always get the same outcome and never will the result be worse; but neither will it be better.


But 'Group Think' is a natural outcome of homogenised hiring processes ('We only hire from within") and teams that are together for too long, who have in most cases been sourced from the same pool of employees, who have all been subjected to the same policies and procedures and whose thinking is all very much in line. The question is how different is their thinking really going to be?


Which brings me to 'Competitive Advantage' it is often seized by entrepreneurs who break the mold who disrupt the industry, but as time progresses these businesses begin to do the same stuff every one is doing, the net result cultures begin to mingle and apart from the logo everything begins to be the same.


But what if you allow some room for alternate views, make outside hires into key positions, change the status quo and even if a process is working, why can it not work better of be done more efficiently? Can we not save costs by rethinking? Innovation comes from agitation and disrupting the comfort zone.


Practically, I have found that 'Group Think' can be far more insidious, it allows potential to go unrealised, it hides risk, it threatens the very vital soul of innovation within the organisation. 


So not only can the same thinking not solve our problems we have now its suffocates an organisation and creates the semblance of security and comfort, while the organisation's culture is sacrificed and team members are transformed into mindless clones.

photo credit: khrawlings via photo pin cc