"Group think" is the continual, albeit often subtle, censoring of honesty and authenticity in a group of people.” Groups are naturally coercive: they need shared norms and shared ways of thinking and seeing to function effectively. But problems arise when the collective censor goes unrecognised by the team members.
When an individual within the group faces the unfamiliar, s/he almost immediately encounters the "fear, judgment and chattering of the mind" that Michael Ray calls the "Voice of Judgment." Ray, creator of highly popular Stanford Business School courses on creativity, starts with three assumptions:
1. that creativity "is essential for health, happiness and success in all areas of life, including business",
When we allow ourselves a willingness not to impose pre-established frameworks or mental models on what we are seeing, fresh ways to understand a situation can eventually emerge.
For more on creativity and developing mindfulness, check out Michael Carroll’s "The Mindful Leader: Awakening Your Natural Management Skills through Mindfulness Meditation.”