Before You Make the Plan, Talk to the People

Early in my consulting career, I got a call about a department in a state government where management and labor were at odds.

Important work wasn’t getting done. Tension had been building for a long time. Someone decided it was time to bring everyone together.

They had already booked the hall. Reserved the rooms. Ordered the food.

All they needed was someone to design and facilitate the meeting.

I had just finished two years of intensive training in organization development, teams, and conflict. I knew this stuff.

So I designed what I thought was a brilliant session.

You probably know where this is going.

Then the Lightning Started

The room was small and crowded. Maybe 60 or 70 people packed into rows of chairs.

We started the session, and before long, the tension began to rise.

Management went after labor. Labor went after management.

I remember thinking, This is good. This is what the textbooks said would happen.

And then everyone started attacking me.

Fortunately, I had been smart enough to bring along Lloyd Richards, one of the most experienced consultants I knew.

During a break, Lloyd asked how I thought things were going.

“Terrible.”

He disagreed.

He told me to imagine that all the tension between these groups had been gathering like storm clouds. Now, for the first time, all those clouds were together in one room.

Of course there was lightning.

And I happened to be the highest point in the room.

Lloyd suggested that instead of being the old oak tree getting struck over and over, I become the lightning rod. Let the energy pass through me so I could listen carefully enough to distinguish what was actually directed at me from what was simply years of frustration looking for somewhere to land.

That image changed the meeting for me.

It has stayed with me for decades.

The Lesson I Missed

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about that experience differently.

I’ve been writing about the importance of creating space — that tiny bit of room that allows us to notice something we might otherwise miss.

What if I had created some space before that meeting?

When the HR people first called me, what if I had stopped for a moment instead of immediately thinking about everything I knew about designing a great session?

Maybe I would have noticed something obvious:

The people planning the meeting weren’t the people who would be in the room.

What if I had asked to speak with a few representatives from management and labor before designing the session?

I might have learned something that could have changed the design.

I might have walked into that room better prepared.

And they might have trusted me a little more because I had taken the time to listen to them first.

Plans Aren’t Enough

Years later, I made a similar mistake.

I was planning an offsite with two leaders of an organization. Our conversations were terrific. We were engaged. We were having fun. The ideas were flowing.

I thought we were ready.

Then I got to the offsite and realized there was a significant undercurrent of tension among the larger group that I knew nothing about.

Once again, I had gotten caught up in the plan without leaving enough space to ask:

Who else do I need to hear from?

That question matters whether you’re facilitating a meeting, leading a change, developing a strategy, or trying to solve a problem.

The technical work matters. The plan matters.

But there are human beings inside every plan.

Sometimes creating a little space is what allows us to remember that.

Before you move ahead, pause long enough to ask:

What might I be missing?

And maybe more importantly:

Who might I be missing?

What do you think? Have you ever moved forward with a solid plan only to realize you hadn’t heard from the people who mattered most? Join the conversation on LinkedIn and share your experience.