We Are All In It Together
We Are All In It TogetherWeAreAllInItTogether ranks high amongst DefensiveStrategies, especially within governments.
It is a kind of TeamThink where the objective is to get everyone else onto the team. If there is a CatastrophicSuccess, then everyone takes the "credit". You can bet on other team members cooperate quickly in coming up with innovative explanations.
If risks cannot be avoided, it would be better to get external consultants to make initial recommendations. During project work, get other influential parties to sign up.
When the project fails, get a new team of consultants to "study" the incident, prepare reports, and then get another committee to consider the recommendations.
There are no unsolvable problems using this pattern.
As an AntiPattern
Also seen this used as a way to diffuse responsibility-as-blame when things heat up, usually as a result of a decision that "we" weren't all in together, but the consequences of which "we" are all in together.
Kind of "yes, I know I steered us onto the reef, but now there's a hole in the hull and if we don't all bail we'll all drown together."
I'm trying to think if I've ever worked for a company that didn't have this technique for excusing the downhill flow of effluent.
Nope. It's pervasive.
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(last edited January 28, 2005)
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