The Abilene Paradox is a paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group. The Abilene paradox was introduced by management expert Jerry B. Harvey in his article The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement. The name of the phenomenon comes from an anecdote in the article which Harvey uses to elucidate the paradox.
Most leadership teams are overwhelmed, tired and too busy just keeping up with their day to day routines to think about the future. Leaders who don’t take time to think about the business outside of busy work and meetings have a difficult time solving problems and aren’t able to lead as well as others who take a “time out” on a regular basis. As business coaches, or EOS Implementers™ teach, if you aren’t taking a regular Clarity Break™, you’ll have difficult envisioning the future and your leadership skills will be limited.
I recently started the EOS Process with a new client and in our 1st meeting they were introduced to the Level 10 Meeting Agenda. The Level 10 Meeting Agenda incorporates the psychology of what makes for great weekly meetings, forcing you to look at and address what is most important, solving your issues as they arise. In my experience as a Certified EOS Implementer, everyone typically fights the L10 agenda at first. I hear excuses like: “we don’t have time each week to meet”, or “we can’t commit to the same day and same time every week, we’re too busy.” I’ve heard them all and this client was no exception. After listening to all of their excuses, I reminded them how they all complained about their previous meeting format prior to starting with EOS and asked them “what do you have to lose?” They agreed to give it a try. The week after our Focus Day, I was contacted by one of the Leadership Team members thanking me for giving them a voice in their first L10 meeting. The team member went on to explain how they always felt “walked on” in their meetings, never able to get a word in without someone interrupting or talking over them. By following the L10 Agenda Issue Solving Track (IDS: Identify/Discuss/Solve), they were able to “Tee Up” an issue to the team and explain it without being interrupted. “People were actually listening to me!” they said.
Once a leadership team has set their quarterly priorities and annual goals, it’s important to stay focused and working towards the shared goals for the business. The Weekly Meeting Pulse helps companies do this by providing an opportunity to ensure that everything is on track for the week, which in turn ensures that everything stays on track for the quarter.
As you may know, we teach a powerful tool called GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity to do it), which helps a leader or manager determine if his or her people are in the right seats. A person must get yeses on all three items to be in the right seat. He or she must Get it, Want it, and have the Capacity to do the job.
