Eluding Prospect Groupthink & Decision Misfire

Above is a pull-quote from a bizarre section of the media Japanese Knotweed that is the BBC website. (Add its existence to their long list of crimes most recently added to by inexplicably, disgracefully making an online multiplayer game.)

One thrust of the piece – that star-heavy teams reach a point where results fail to live up to composition – will be familiar to both sport fans as well as anyone working in a salesteam with sector-busting sign-on incentives.

I was reminded too of the long-promoted instruction to ensure you have as many different ‘personality types’ as possible. The more varied, the higher success tends to flow. Think of the classic Belbin construction.

More intriguingly, have you ever stopped to consider whether the suffocation of groupthink is afflicting your prospect’s decision-making unit?

Have they a track record in building a camel from a horse’s spec?

It seems we now have a checklist from which to gauge potential mis-decisions, and act to fix.

Is the hierarchy accepted by each of their players?

Is equal time given to each participant?

Is it loaded with ‘stars’?

Do any competing interests exist?

How sensitive are they to impacts beyond this particular realm?