Answer to Question 1
Groupthink can be avoided when certain steps are taken. Two things a group can do are to bring in outside experts with differing opinions and ask members to be critical evaluators. Leaders can keep personal opinions to themselves until members speak, sometimes miss a meeting and let someone else lead, emphasize the importance of many options, and offer a second chance to rethink tentative solutions.
Answer to Question 2
If the problem cause is unclear, ask four sets of questions: what is involved and not, where it is found and not, when it occurs and not, and to what extent it occurs and not as well as differences between answers and associated changes. Two additional questions for each pair are (a) what is the main difference, if any, between the answer to the first question and the answer to the second question, and (b) what change, if any, caused the difference?