{"id":1373,"date":"2012-07-10T03:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2012-07-04T16:09:06","modified_gmt":"2012-07-04T23:09:06","slug":"why_fast_agreement_raises_a_caution_flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/10\/why_fast_agreement_raises_a_caution_flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Fast Agreement Raises a Caution Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Originally posted November 22, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Your biggest obstacle might be the person who agrees with everything you say.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve been around leadership circles for any length of time, you\u2019ve no doubt experienced this phenomenon for yourself.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1374\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/happy-face.jpg\" alt=\"happy face\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" \/>The scenario might go something like this. You\u2019re in a leadership meeting where you present an idea for an initiative you\u2019d like to see launched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBob\u201d quickly says, \u201cGreat to see new ideas like this!\u201d Others chime in, citing both potential challenges as well as solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Once again \u201cBob\u201d pipes up. \u201cBoy, what a fantastic discussion!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Is \u201cBob\u201d on board? You might think so, but before you give him a chunk of this new initiative to run with, consider this; \u201cBob\u201d hasn\u2019t committed to <em>anything<\/em>; he\u2019s simply agreed to <em>everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus faced this one day in a lunch meeting, but he wasn\u2019t fooled for a minute.<\/p>\n<p>The story is recorded in Luke 14. Jesus was giving very pointed, very practical teaching on humility. <em>\u201cWhen you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.\u201d <\/em>(Luke 14: 13-14)<\/p>\n<p>But then \u201cBob\u201d got into the act. \u201c<em>When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, \u2018Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d <\/em>(Luke 14:15)<\/p>\n<p>Sounds like he\u2019s on board, right?<\/p>\n<p>Of course, he\u2019d actually agreed to nothing that Jesus was talking about. He had simply tossed in an innocuous sounding platitude that <em>sounded<\/em> like agreement, but which in fact contained absolutely no substance. If anything, this guy was implying that <em>everyone<\/em> will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God; precisely the opposite of Jesus\u2019 message.<\/p>\n<p>What should you do with the \u201cBob\u2019s\u201d on your team? Don\u2019t dismiss their eager agreements out of hand, but don\u2019t let them off the hook either. When they offer their quick agreements, ask them questions like,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Why<\/em><\/strong><strong> do you agree with this?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is it you\u2019re hearing that you particularly like? Be <em>specific<\/em>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Do you see <em>any<\/em> potential problems?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Leaders would rather have thoughtful opposition to an idea than baseless agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Because agreeing to <em>everything<\/em> doesn\u2019t necessarily mean someone is committed to <em>anything.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally posted November 22, 2011 Your biggest obstacle might be the person who agrees with everything you say. If you\u2019ve been around leadership circles for any length of time, you\u2019ve no doubt experienced this phenomenon for yourself. The scenario might go something like this. You\u2019re in a leadership meeting where you present an idea for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478,7,744],"tags":[746,594,984,747,745],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-leadership","category-team-2","tag-agreement","tag-clarity","tag-leadership","tag-meeting","tag-obstacle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1378,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}