I was riding the train this past weekend, happily watching the scenery roll by, when the next stop brought some excitement. A bunch of people in colourfully themed costumes suddenly swarmed the doors I was sitting next to, led by a frazzled organizer determined to pack the entire group into one car.
Meanwhile, the conductor, clearly desperate to keep the train on schedule, urged the group to spread out across different cars. But the organizer refused, insisting everyone had to stay together in the same car.
In the end, not everyone managed to squeeze in, no matter how hard they tried. They pushed so much that bits of costumes were left scattered on the platform, along with half of the group, looking disappointed as our train pulled away.
I later learned they were Fan Expo attendees headed to Toronto, travelling as a large group decked out in their finest fan-wear.
What happened? Poor leadership.
Leadership in costume
The leader of this motley crew could have saved everyone some trouble with a little planning. With such a large and enthusiastic group, it would have made sense to direct everyone to fan out (no pun intended) across multiple train doors.
That way, they all could have boarded smoothly, avoided a scene, then found each other in the cars as we were underway. Believe me, they were easy to spot with their fan costumes!
But that wasn’t the case. Instead, the group piled toward a single door in a frenzy, which left half the party stranded on the platform, along with some random costume parts that didn’t survive the scramble.
Plan ahead to stay together
How often have you tried to stick together with friends or family at a large event? And how often does it actually work?
Now, think about business. How often do you have straggling stakeholders in your projects? These are the ones who somehow always get left off emails or missed on meeting invites.
Then, just as you’re about to move forward, they pop up, sometimes in not-so-pleasant costuming, with crucial information that suddenly changes the direction of your initiative.
The lesson is simple: as leaders, make sure everyone is on the same “train car” with all the essential information they need. This simply means planning ahead.
So the next time you’re boarding a train or kicking off a new initiative, in costume or not, remember that good planning is what keeps everyone moving forward together.
With 20+ years project management experience, Barbara Kephart has led projects across industries like medical software, clinical trials, and cybersecurity. With experience teaching technical project management and stakeholder engagement, Barbara is dedicated to helping companies pivot, prioritize, and complete projects with Chief Project Officer-level expertise, project professionals, practical training, and hands-on management—without the executive-level price tag.