Our leadership team has worked together for so long that we have developed groupthink, and we rarely challenge each other's assumptions during strategic planning. How do we inject fresh perspective and critical thinking back into our team health?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

While a highly aligned leadership team is a strength, too much harmony can become a silent threat to your growth. If your team members are constantly agreeing with each other and nodding along, you are likely suffering from groupthink. This lack of healthy friction leads to poor strategic planning because assumptions are never tested and blind spots are ignored.

To inject critical thinking back into your team, you must actively encourage healthy, unfiltered conflict. During your quarterly and annual planning sessions, assign a rotating devil's advocate for major strategic discussions. This person's designated role is to challenge the consensus, poke holes in the plan, and present worst-case scenarios.

You can also use tools like the Kolbe index to understand the cognitive diversity of your team. If everyone on your leadership team has the exact same problem-solving style, you will naturally fall into groupthink. You may need to bring in an outside perspective, such as a professional EOS Implementer®, to facilitate your sessions and ask the hard questions that your team is too polite to bring up.

Remember, alignment is only valuable when it is reached after a period of rigorous debate. Force your team to argue the issues, challenge each other's metrics on the Scorecard, and dive deep into IDS®. A healthy team must be willing to push each other to find the best solutions for the business.