Mindful Leadership: Eradicating “Groupthink”
Now more than ever, we need leaders comfortable with change, able to pivot quickly, and lead through deep listening. We need our leaders to help us stay calm, tap into our inner strengths, and recognize the uniqueness their teams bring. By removing the lure of vanity and surrounding ourselves with “yes-people” (Groupthink), we can emerge as more robust, emotionally-intelligent, open-minded leaders.
No matter how times change, one constant remains: the value of strong, values-driven, ethical leadership cannot be underestimated. Leaders who cultivate calm, ignite innovative ideas, and spark creative problem-solving are needed more than ever. But is it the sign of a strong leader? Through years of research working with visionary leaders driving change in businesses, start-ups, industries, nonprofits, and corporations, one constant remains the same. How they deal with challenges makes all the difference in their ability to drive growth and lead innovation.
The most common way I see these skills expressed is their ability to lead well by being adept in the “Five Challenging C’s.”
The Five Challenging C’s are:
Managing Conflict
Decreasing Chaos
Juggling Complexity
Communicating Well
Leading Cultural Competency
Leaders possessing these five skills can demonstrate proficiency through times of significant challenges, “pandemic upon pandemic,” and in so doing, they inspire innovation, trust, and solution-based thinking. They also keep their teams calm through how they move quickly to set the tone of what is acceptable and not acceptable, in helping people understand how boundaries decrease chaos and how diversity and inclusion increase the flow of new ideas and profits. They issue a series of regular, clear, and calming communications that decrease ambiguity, panic, and undue alarm. Not only are they culturally competent, but they are typically intuitive and flexible. They know how to manage complexity, lead with resiliency, and communicate clearly.
The ability to convey calm and inspire calm in others is gleaned through a combination of talent, skill, and commitment to mindful leadership practices. All good leaders practice accountability by walking the talk and encouraging fresh approaches to old problems. But only great leaders can admit mistakes, take responsibility, outline a new way of leading, and inspire others to be less defensive and more open to change and innovation. When a leader models mindful non-defensiveness and openness to thinking differently, they, in turn, motivate and inspire their teams to do the same.
When emotionally intelligent leaders allow critique and disruption of the status quo, they also help eradicate the need for an inner circle of sycophants who, in tandem with the leader’s ego, create the dreaded “Groupthink” that almost always stifles innovation, grassroots leadership, and the implementation of new ideas. By moving out of the Comfort Zone that Groupthink often provides, the great leader can forge ahead by encouraging cross-department collaboration, flatter organizations, and more engaged teams ready, willing, and able to harness this inspirational energy and creativity for the good of their teammates and the customers they serve.
What exactly is Groupthink?
As a dual major in my undergraduate college (Binghamton University), I studied English, Literature, Rhetoric, and Political Science. In my Rhetoric classes, I studied the use of persuasion, grammar, and logic in speech and writing. I delved deeply into the upside of persuading for the common good and the downside of using both charisma and flattery to manipulate the actions of others.
I was intrigued by Aristotle’s three persuasive audience appeals Logos (appealing to the audience’s ability to respond to your main arguments/logic before your big reveal; Pathos (appealing to emotions like love, honor, humor, patriotism, duty, and any other emotional appeal that is even more palpable if you know your audience well); and Ethos (appealing to your credentials/ethics as a speaker).
group·think /ˈɡro͞opˌTHiNGk/ noun 1. the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility.
In this post= pandemic era, the way organizations and businesses operate is not constant but instead changing rapidly, often with differing rules, procedures, and governmental mandates (mainly if operations are in different states and locations). Therefore, great leaders must overcome challenges with growth (rather than fixed) mindsets. They must avoid the egotistical lure of sycophants (Groupthink) and answer new questions they may not have pondered previously, such as:
How can I develop myself and, by extension, my team?
How do I assess my people differently now across various landscapes and environments? How do I then, in turn, overcome proximity bias?
What new behaviors, orientations, and attributes should I look for in my team?
How do I identify, leverage, and develop their potential to guide us into the future?
How can I help my team work differently and remain engaged in this uncertain, often physically isolated environment?
How might the shape of my organization need to change? Is it a case of restructuring or reimagining?
