How did JFK beat Groupthink
After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, US President John F Kennedy (JFK) thought he was let down by the decision-making process followed by the US Govt. JFK's meetings were a textbook example of Groupthink, a term that was coined by Irving Janis which refers to a psychological drive for consensus at any cost and discourages dissent and other alternatives.
But JFK had learned his lesson. He redesigned his group decision-making processes and brought about four changes:
Every participant was to think like a skeptical generalist and think of the whole problem rather than a department-specific view.
Meet in an informal setting and avoid the agenda and protocol-led meetings typical of a White House-setting.
Break the team to sub-groups that would work on multiple alternatives and reconvene.
The group would sometimes meet in the absence of JFK so that the members don't just agree with his views.
These changes have modeled a lot of the thinking that has gone into business meetings and how decisions are made. What do you do to avoid groupthink in your organization?