I was in a recent meeting that was the culmination of five months of effort among multiple stakeholders supported by the efforts of a large staff of a public agency. The objective was to create a document that fully represented the goals of a diverse community of stakeholders and to reach a vote to move forward with the document. However, during the process, one stakeholder group had become disenfranchised. It came down to one meeting. The disenfranchised party was empowered: they voted to stall and possibly derail the process.

Emotions flared. Accusations were made. Frustration was evident. What happened?

The arduous effort to align goals between multiple stakeholders missed the mark. Despite all efforts to reach out and capture input and comment from all parties, something ran aground.