Brian Urquhart of the Office of the UN Under-Secretaries Without Porfolios. (1 January 1956). In September, 1944, Urquhart was a Major in the 1st Airborne Division of British Airborne Forces, and the division's chief intelligence officer, during the preparations for Operation Market Garden. The operation was an airborne invasion of the Netherlands as a means of circumventing the German Siegfried Line, and thereby gaining entry into Germany. Major Urquhart had assembled intelligence, both from captured German soldiers and from the Dutch resistance, that led him to believe that Allied estimates of German strength in the area of Arnhem were erroneous — so much so that the errors represented a serious threat to Market Garden's success. He then arranged for aerial photographic reconnaissance, which confirmed his conjecture that SS Panzer divisions were operating in the area. Deeply troubled and concerned about the grave threat to the Market Garden plan, he tried to persuade the Commander of 1st Airborne Corps, Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning, of his case, but failed. Gen. Browning then ordered the division's chief medical officer, Col. Austin Eagger, to send Maj. Urquhart on sick leave because of "nervous strain and exhaustion." (See : Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle 17-26 September, by Martin Middlebrook, p. 66, for the full story) The operation went forward as planned, disaster ensued, and Maj. Urquhart's concerns were validated.
The treatment of Maj. Urquhart is an example of what people fear might happen when they raise questions about a group's decision to take a Trip to Abilene, or about a group's default decision to Stay in Abilene. This sort of treatment has consequences far beyond the boundaries of the groups in question. People everywhere know of these stories, and they bring that knowledge with them when they arrive in a group for the first time. Leaders who want group members to speak their minds would do well to address the existence of these stories whenever people join the group. Photo courtesy The United Nations.
Sometimes groups find that they've undertaken efforts that all members privately acknowledge are wrong-headed, even though all members agreed to undertake those efforts. Prof. Jerry Harvey identified this dynamic and named it a "Trip to Abilene." (See "Trips to Abilene," Point Lookout for November 27, 2002, for more.) Many factors contribute to this dysfunction. Some group members fear that raising objections to the proposed effort might lead to personally unpleasant consequences; others, possibly without foundation, fear being ejected from the group altogether; others recall, sometimes incorrectly, harsh treatment of objectors to previous group decisions; and some fantasize harsh consequences based on experiences in other groups unrelated to the present. There are numerous other factors, because the human mind is endlessly inventive.
We usually regard a Trip to Abilene as a dysfunction that arises in the context of explicit group decisions. But sometimes groups face choices that lie entirely outside their collective awareness. One example is the choice to "keep doing what we're doing." When a group — by default — keeps doing what it's doing, when all members would regard that choice as wrongheaded if it were proposed and undertaken openly, that group is Staying in Abilene.
How does this happen? Here are some examples of perspectives that limit a group's ability to avoid Staying in Abilene.
- I'm no expert
- Some group members might believe that their uneasiness about Staying in Abilene is due to their own inferior grasp of the situation. They see that everyone around them is content. Believing that some of their colleagues are better positioned to judge the wisdom of Staying in Abilene, they set their own uneasiness aside.
- I'm outta here
- Some group members are approaching retirement, or are seeking, or have already found, employment elsewhere. They've detached from the group, emotionally if not formally. Even if they feel certain that Staying in Abilene is wrong-headed, their commitment to the group is so low that they have little interest in expressing their concerns.
- Tunnel vision
- Some group members are so involved in their own responsibilities that they have only limited situational awareness. Others with more global responsibilities might be willfully focused on small slices of their portfolios, and therefore unaware of the need to leave Abilene.
- Self-censoring
- Among the more Some group members might
believe that their uneasiness
about Staying in Abilene is
due to their own inferior
grasp of the situationinsidious of mechanisms contributing to Staying in Abilene is self-censorship of thought and feeling. If we let ourselves consciously experience our uneasiness about Staying in Abilene, we might feel obliged to express our uneasiness to others. And that can be so frightening that we choose instead to deaden ourselves to our own uneasiness.
Staying in Abilene can actually arise from changes in conditions that once justified a prior decision. Suddenly, we can find that we're in Abilene even when we never intended to go there. Are you in Abilene? 
Top 
Next Issue
Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
For more about Trips to Abilene, see Jerry B. Harvey, The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement," in Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1988, pp. 17-43.
Read even more in a wonderful book by Jerry B. Harvey, The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations on Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988. Order from Amazon.com.
See also "Trips to Abilene," Point Lookout for November 27, 2002, and "Virtual Trips to Abilene," Point Lookout for March 4, 2015.
Your comments are welcome
Would you like to see your comments posted here? Send me your comments by email, or by Web form.About Point Lookout
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and
found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.
This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.
Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.
Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.
Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.
Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Ten Tactics for Tough Times: II- When you find yourself in a tough spot politically, what can you do? Most of us obsess about the situation
for a while, and then if we still have time to act, we do what seems best. Here's Part II of a set of
approaches that can organize your thinking and shorten the obsessing.
Managing Pressure: The Unexpected- When projects falter, we expect demands for status and explanations. What's puzzling is how often this
happens to projects that aren't in trouble. Here's Part II of a catalog of strategies for managing
pressure.
A Critique of Criticism: II- To make things better, we criticize, but we often miss the mark. We inflict pain without meaning to,
and some of that pain comes back to us. How can we get better outcomes, while reducing the risks of
inflicting pain?
Management Debt: II- As with technical debt, we incur management debt when we make choices that carry with them recurring
costs. How can we quantify management debt?
On Delegating Accountability: I- As the saying goes, "You can't delegate your own accountability." Despite wide knowledge of
this aphorism, people try it from time to time, especially when overcome by the temptation of a high-risk
decision. What can you delegate, and how can you do it?
See also Workplace Politics and Workplace Politics for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
![Pair of Wooden Shoes [right] (Sabots)](../images/thumbnails/sabots-gaugin.png "Pair of Wooden Shoes [right] (Sabots)")
Coming June 4: White-Collar Contractor Sabotage- Modern firms in competitive, dynamic markets draw on many types of employer/employee relationships, including contractors. By providing privileges and perks preferentially among these different types, they risk creating a caldron of resentments that can reduce organizational effectiveness. Available here and by RSS on June 4.
And on June 11: More Things I've Learned Along the Way: VI- When I gain an important insight, or when I learn a lesson, I make a note. Example: If you're interested in changing how a social construct operates, knowing how it came to be the way it is can be much less useful than knowing what keeps it the way it is. Available here and by RSS on June 11.
Coaching services
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the ebook!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:
- Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, USD 11.95)
- Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, USD 11.95)
- Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, USD 11.95)
- Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, USD 11.95)
- Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, USD 11.95)
- Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, USD 28.99)
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
The message of Point Lookout is unique. Help get the message out. Please donate to help keep Point Lookout available for free to everyone.
My blog, Technical Debt for Policymakers, offers
resources, insights, and conversations of interest to policymakers who are concerned with managing
technical debt within their organizations. Get the millstone of technical debt off the neck of your
organization!Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group
Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even
think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory
for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics!Learn how to make your virtual global team sing.A Tip a Day arrives by email, or by RSS Feed, each business day. It's 20 to 30 words at most, and gives
you a new perspective on the hassles and rewards of work life. Most tips also contain links to
related articles. Free!Learn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare.