Bill Gallagher shares a story about an offsite meeting in the mountains where organizers didn't account for team members who were uncomfortable driving in snow. The oversight caused stress and reduced participation, illustrating why meeting planners need to consider people's practical needs and comfort, not just logistics.
As I was getting ready to do one of those meetings in the mountains a couple years ago, and the CEO and a couple of people were really excited about this mountain trip, but they didn't stop to think about it, and they didn't realize they had a lot of people on the team who were not confident drivers, didn't like or weren't comfortable driving in the snow. And by the time everybody really thought about that, it was a little late to arrange, like, you know, a shuttle bus or something to get them to the location. So people just kind of muddled through it, but it had a real impact on the team. And one person just was, like, freaked out because the snow started to come down. They're like, I'm not driving in that. You know, and that was that. Right. So they didn't end up participating. So thinking about your people as holistic human beings with. With, you know, all kinds of quirks and personal, beautiful things and. And odd things and. Right. Is really, really helpful.
