Cognitive biases
A 'What Did I Miss?' Checklist to Counter Groupthink
This checklist encourages a client to play devil's advocate or systematically consider alternative.
In a family negotiation or a high-stakes team meeting, consensus can form so quickly that critical details are missed. Your client may feel pressured to agree with the majority, even when they suspect the group is overlooking risks or alternative solutions. They sense a flaw in the collective logic but struggle to pinpoint it, or they fear being the lone voice of dissent.
This template guides the client through a process of deliberately looking for gaps, unexamined assumptions, and alternative interpretations. It shifts them from a vague sense of doubt into the role of a constructive critic, focused on the problem rather than the personalities involved. The client walks away with a clear, organized case for why the group needs to take a second look.
A 'What Did I Miss?' Checklist to Counter Groupthink
At a point in your group discussion when a consensus seems to be forming around a single solution, use the following script to check for potential blind spots. You can read it directly or adapt the wording to fit the situation.
“Before we finalize this, could we try a quick exercise? Let’s imagine it’s six months from now. We went with this decision, and it has failed. What went wrong? What was the most likely reason for the failure?”
Listen to the responses. If the discussion needs to go deeper, follow up with one of the questions below.
“What is the strongest steel-man argument against what we are about to do?”
“Who is most negatively affected by this outcome, and have we honestly represented their point of view?”
“Is there a simpler, smaller version of this plan that accomplishes 80% of the goal?”
Generated with Rapport7 — rapport7.com