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Why Groupthink Ruins Good Designs and How to Prevent It

Joe Darnell Last updated: March 28, 2024 · 4 min read

Groupthink occurs when a domineering manager or team member shuns individuality, and the team feels they should conform to avoid confrontation rather than save a project from a fatal flaw they have spot.
If you let the aspirations of the creative team get ahead of common sense and vigilance, you are slipping into deceptive groupthink. Good design sparks individuality, and simultaneously captures the attention of the crowd (and they cheer). We all like a bold idea, a nuanced style, a creative approach to embody design work. Groupthink stands in your way if you let it.

Groupthink Leads to Mediocrity

Groupthink is a form of peer pressure, which leads to following the top dog, whether or not his/her ideas have merit. Sadly, the leader’s interests may stray away from the project’s. Creativity will suffer, if not more…

Avoid Rationalizing

Rationalizing away shortcomings of a design is always a bad idea, because even if your boss doesn’t pick up on them, hundreds of others might. It often creates a stumbling block because customers don’t value your conformity to the creative team’s leadership. This means the designers put the wrong objectives ahead of craftsmanship, which leads to project failure.

Ego Check

Everyone thinks their ideas are best, and that you should immediately agree with their approach. This is bad news if your leadership puts irrational plans ahead of the team’s insights. It’s human nature though, and it’s a foolish trait we need to overcome if we’re to thwart groupthink.

Take Yourself Out of the Equation

What would you tell your boss or client (politely) if you didn’t have your ego or their ego to worry about? Think about this continually while you work through creative projects.
When you think that something will hurt a project’s goals that will make the leadership look bad, tell them–I bet they’d like to know! Bring it to their attention privately to show a little respect, and encourage them to get feedback from the rest of the team soon if they doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you.
And above all else, have a solution or two available before you point out the problem, so you’re at the ready to replace a negative with a positive.

Serve the Project, Not the Team

Constantly encourage the team to serve the project–not their own ambitions.
Everyone gets excited with the new possibilities a project will create. This often leads to a surge of creative ideas at the start. It’s easy to daydream, and brainstorming is often just that. Too much groupthink early on leads to biting off more than we can chew.

How Disney Avoided Groupthink

Walt Disney Studios, back in Mr. Disney’s day, had a great workflow to avoid the pitfalls of groupthink. They had one room for brainstorming and another for critical thinking. When creatives started a new film, they would allow the themselves to think big in the brainstorming room, where the team would speak freely.
When all the wild ideas were in, Disney held another meeting in the other room where they had the liberty to play the devil’s advocate. They would dissect their film without discrimination of any potential criticism. The team would wrestle with the film’s concepts to be sure the good ones were tried and true.
Then they would make their film. This system positively reinforces good ideas ahead of peer pressure.

How Do You Battle Groupthink?

We’ve only approached the tip of the iceberg that is groupthink. What do you do when blind reasoning takes hold of your team?
Header illustration: Looking at Monitor

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About the Author
Author
Joe Darnell

Joe is a UI and graphic designer with prior experience as the creative director for three media-based businesses. He has a passion for both web design and graphic design with about 15 years of experience in the media industry. Joe likes delighting people and making ideas and things simpler for them.

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7 Comments
  • They are called HIPPO's (highest paid persons opinion) and the best way around it is to just do what they ask you to do and don't look back. Regardless if it's against everything you were taught and / or best practices. They are paying you, not the other way around. 11 years ago
  • Fantastic advice. Great post. @Derek Stevenson I see what you're saying, and sadly that does happen a lot, but they shouldn't just be paying for for the end result, you would hope that they're also paying for your input and opinion along the way. Obviously you'll always find people or teams that don't want to listen, but I would never advise a designer to just "do what you're told" no matter what. You should express your concerns and have a voice when needed. If they don't respect that, you can handle the situation as it suits you, (which could mean doing what you say) - but there are good clients and good people out there who will listen. 11 years ago
  • @Liam McKay Yea, you would hope that they are wanting to get your input and opinion along the way but I've been in many positions where everything that I've suggested was disregarded due to personal opinion with out an ounce of facts to backup their final decisions. Even with blatant disregard for best practices and industry standards. There's a great blog article I read on LinkedIn about a month ago outlining why some managers / executives make emotional decisions. Many times they feel because it worked for them in the past that it will work for them now. Many times they are unable to cope with change. You need to do what you are told, no matter what because it could cost you your job in the long haul. Many states in the USA are right to work states, which basically means they can fire you for no reason whatsoever and this may include not listening, being combative with your suggestions and not doing what you are told to do. I'm a firm believer in you don't tell your mechanic how to fix your vehicle but at the same time I also firm believer in processes within corporations. Again, they are paying you to do a job not the other way around and not listening could easily cost you your job. I've seen it happens plenty of times working in this industry for the past 15 years. It's cut throat. 11 years ago
  • Good points Derek/Liam/Joe. It's also important to keep in mind that groupthink often occurs heavily in groups without that clear hierarchy in place. In these cases, it's not about following orders or obeying/disobeying a boss, it's about letting the quality of the work the team is producing suffer dramatically because no one wants to screw with the happy go lucky team dynamic. I've seen countless great design projects ruined by terrible ideas that were pushed by a single group member and simply never properly challenged by the group as a whole. I've been reading "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," which has great insight into how important open conflict is in team environments. Good stuff. 11 years ago
  • Joseph, great post. Groupthink is one of the worst things designer must grapple with. Often this is the reason I prefer to work rather with small business owners than corporations with a pocket full of money but with long decision way. I'm always afraid about the end result of such co-op. 11 years ago
  • I'm not sure I agree with Derek, while you obviously want to be respectful of opinions and take criticism, they hired YOU because they felt like you were an asset to the team and being passive and just following orders all the time isn't utilizing why they hired YOU. We're not monkeys, we have a say and part of the job is communicating an idea and backing it up. If a creative director tells you to do something a certain way/style, then yes, follow his orders but you have every right to give input if you have it, just be prepared to back it up with good reasons. If you're junior, ultimately it's not your say, but your creative director wants a problem solver and a thinker, not a robot that runs on autopilot. 11 years ago
  • Anonymous
    In school I was in a group where this happened. We had 1 dominate person who decided it all. And the group leaders where okay with that. 11 years ago