Lacking

Sometimes you can’t know everything.  No matter how much you prepare, how much you think, and how much you want to be awesome…you are just lacking.

It happened to me today.  I was working with a client walking them through a storytelling exercise.  By nature I am not structured and rigid, however, when clients are involved I tend to really pay attention that I stick to the time limits given to me.  So, I went into the meeting today with a plan to accomplish in 2 hours.  And, while I ran about 3 minutes long…it all happened in those 2 hours.

My main client contact and I were debriefing after our meeting and he had a point of feedback for me: I stuck too closely to the outline.  Their organization places a high value on a collaborative process that includes the ability to deviate from the plan to chase a few rabbit trails.  I on the other hand was working as hard as I could to keep us on point and wrap it all up in the allotted time.

So, I was lacking.  Lacking in the knowledge of their culture.  I was approaching it from my world view and my experience.  So, we got everything done, but the process wasn’t what they were used to.

I left feeling like a big fat loser…but I guess in the end I don’t know what I don’t know.  The good news is that next time I’ll chase a few more rabbits and let the time take care of itself.