When I was first starting out as a consultant, a local theater company invited me to facilitate an afternoon meeting.
The room would include staff, board members, donors, and others involved with the organization.
The director and I worked out an agenda. My role was simple: open the meeting and close it. He would handle everything in between.
That sounded reasonable.
Until the director began speaking.
Someone interrupted him. Then someone interrupted the person who interrupted him. Before long, the emotional temperature in the room was rising, and neither of us knew quite what to do.
I sat there wondering whether I should intervene. And even if I did, what would I say?
That meeting happened decades ago, but I still think about it.
I should have recognized that we were trying to do more than we were prepared to handle.
We needed some important conversations. But we hadn’t created the conditions to have them productively.
The Double Black Diamond
When I studied at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, I learned about something called safe emergencies.
The idea is to try something that stretches your abilities, but not so far that a mistake could cost you your job, your credibility, or your footing.
I think about skiing.
There’s the bunny slope, where I might fall down but probably won’t get hurt. And there’s the double black diamond, where I had better know what I’m doing.
When leading change, it’s tempting to head straight for the double black diamond.
After all, that’s where the big possibilities are.
But getting everyone together to tackle a difficult issue isn’t necessarily a good idea if I don’t have the experience, preparation, or support to manage what might happen.
Sometimes the more productive choice is to start with something smaller.
Two Questions Worth Considering
I’d like to invite you to think about two questions.
- Can you recall a situation where you or someone else got in over your head trying to lead or influence a person or group?
- What might you have done differently that could have been productive with far less risk?
I’m not looking for an essay. Just a brief example of what happened and what might have worked better.
If you’re willing, I’d love for you to share your experience in the comments on my LinkedIn post. I’ll be joining the conversation, too.
I suspect we can learn quite a bit from one another.
About the Author, Rick Maurer
