Abilene Paradox and False Agreements

An Abilene Paradox from Richard Boyle on Vimeo.

Many years ago Professor Jerry B. Harvey discovered that the fundamental problem of contemporary organizations is the inability to cope with agreement--not conflict. He finds that most agreement in organizations is actually false consensus. It occurs because many people feel they might be isolated, censured or ridiculed if they voice objections. This often leads groups to act on inappropriate goals and is a setup for organizational failure.  Harvey also believes that organizations stay away from conflict and keep ways of being that is not core to their beliefs and mission/vision.  These series of false agreements compromise the livelihood of many organizations.  

Core Challenge iZone360

Here is the challenge from Megan Roberts and her iZone360:

One of our challenges is to situate our reform initiative into the larger department of education. We strive to create support structures (money, people and advocacy) that allow individual schools to expedite a change process whose results will increase success for students. Our goal is for the new and innovative strategies that emerge from these schools can be diffused to other schools throughout the city. That said, the challenge is that changing school structures, even when expedited, can take years. Additionally, we struggle to maintain support for schools while also having clear expectations as well as measurable outcomes that show that our initiative is making a difference in the lives kids in the short term.