Leadership, thought diversity, and the influence of groupthink

Effective decision-making underpins mental health nurses’ capacity for providing person-centred, evidenced-based care. Whilst team environments have the potential to support effective decision-making, poor decision-making can occur when busy individuals, eager to please others, enable group consensus to pervade at the expense of thoughtful debate, reflection and negotiation. The promulgation of such ‘groupthink’ may negatively impact care. In this column, the concept of groupthink is explored and its impacts considered. Strategies for tackling groupthink are proposed in order to support effective leadership, thought diversity and the achievement of organisational and team goals.