The Abilene Paradox-Is It Fact or Fiction? |
Recently I conducted a creative training program for a large aerospace firm. During the course I asked the training participants to gather into teams. Once their teams were formed I asked each team to brainstorm a creative solution to a hypothetical situation. During the follow-up and team discussion about their solutions, and the process by which they arrived at their recommendation, many of the team members admitted they "went along for the ride." Either they felt overwhelmed by more dominate team members, or they did not believe their solution was as strong as the one agreed upon.
In essence they agreed because everyone else was in agreement, the Abilene Paradox revisited.
For those of you who have discovered that there is fact in the Abilene Paradox you may have, like me, found the outcome of this version of "going along for the ride" usually ends up in a less than satisfactory outcome.
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