Issue #38 - Groupthink 🦛

This week I’m covering groupthink, and a related idea - the HiPPO effect.

You might find this week’s model a little more lighthearted. Or it might hit a nerve and rattle you a bit!

Groupthink explains our tendency to favor harmony or conformity in a group, which can result in poor quality decision making.

Groupthink occurs when the thinking of a group slides towards the views of the dominant group member.

In any organization with a hierarchy you’ll probably find groupthink to be common. You might be able to recall times when you just nodded along with others even though you disagreed - not wanting to speak up? Or maybe you were leading and no one seemed to question you on a decision that turned out to be quite wrong?

Sometimes groupthink occurs unconsciously and it’s not very obvious. Other times it’s more conscious and can be kinda gross to witness. (Have you ever had a colleague who terms like bootlicking or brown nosing were made for?)

Either way, deliberate or not, it’s groupthink.

HiPPO stands for highest paid person’s opinion.

Maybe it’s a board member, or a CEO or some other executive. This person’s opinion is at risk of dominating all judgements and decision making - and this is the HiPPO effect.

Sometimes the HiPPO can be a driver of groupthink. When I’ve been in organizations with a HiPPO problem I’ve noticed a couple of subtle signs. Communication tends to be more hidden, rooms go silent the HiPP arrives, and there are a lot more direct messages via email/Slack or equivalent instead of broadcast activity. This is not good!

Groupthink can lead to suboptimal decision making, and the HiPPO, as well as louder extroverted types can make things even worse - by drowning out quieter more thoughtful opinions or constructive dissent.

I’ve had great results implementing these two processes to reduce groupthink:

I wrote about these solutions in a little more detail here.

😂 There are some great (albeit insulting) terms related to groupthink… Take the “empty barrel”:

I think the term might have been inspired by Plato who said:

🔖 The bay of pigs disaster is one of the original case studies on groupthink

🔖 If you’re a product manager of some kind you probably about HiPPOs all too well. The ProductPlan blog cautions you:

🧠 Build your latticework! Revisit related mental models:

What has been your experience with groupthink?

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