We're all trying to work-smart about budget/staffing/other choices/challenges/opportunities. When planning, two heads are better than one; three better than two, etc.

So collaboration is real valuable, particularly if your competition has cut all but minimum staffing necessary to keep robo-radio on-air. You have a brain trust, they don't.

But the easiest way to (unintentionally) torpedo the collaborative process is to trigger the deference dynamic. Employees tend to be wary of disagreeing with (what they perceive to be) the solution The Boss favors. Particularly as we're all playing Moneyball, and with job security now so fragile.

Avoiding Groupthink
Seen this movie?

• Employees sit around the conference table. Three guesses where The Boss sits. So the deck is already stacked.
• The Boss states the issue/problem/challenge/opportunity. So far so good...but...
• If The Boss then offers a potential solution, that's that. Faux conversation which follows will largely be kissing-up.
• If not, deferential subordinates will reckon what The Boss wants, and read-the-room before committing. Nobody wants to vote first.
• Regardless of whether the consensus outcome is the best option, the option with the most votes wins.

Or in the words of management guru George Costanza, "Do the opposite" of follow-the-leader.