Handling Bureaucracy Like a Riptide
Have you ever been caught in a riptide? There’s a moment where you look back to shore befuddled by how far out to sea you now find yourself…then typically some element of fear takes hold and concern develops over whether or not you have the strength to get back on land.
When one finds themselves in predicaments like this the appropriate response is to swim parallel to shore until the current normalizes.
I was recently in a private planning department meeting where our team presented building plans for a new residential development. Now despite following the rules to the “T” our proposed plan was running into some perception headwinds from key members of the planning department and that same riptide moment materialized.
Our rehearsed response was to point out that the intention of the architectural drawings was to follow the rules as presented, to identify that the building plans were not necessarily the most cost effective but that they allowed us to accomplish the intended goal while still meeting the city’s strict criteria.
Lastly, if all of those responses failed then the plan was to point to neighboring existing properties with the same zoning requirements that were already built to our intended specifications.
None of these ideas worked in practice and the result was the planning officials wanted to push us through an additional series of steps that upon further review would have most definitely resulted in the plans being rejected as not admissible.
How did we get here and what can we do differently to change the outcome?
When someone raises concern about an element of a project you are working on, ask why they have their objection, listen intently to their response, and then think about how you can re-draft the plan to redirect the reader’s attention elsewhere without losing sight of the intended goal.
Recognize that this is one step in a larger sequence with the goal being to balance a variety of factors:
To get construction team members on site as quickly as possible making progress on the final product
To achieve the intended goal of re-developing the space to it’s highest and best use both financially as well as for the community
You don’t necessarily have to accomplish both goals at the same time. Do what you got to do to get your plans approved and get your team onsite as soon as possible. Be mindful of leaving your submitted plan flexible to revision at a later date, then utilize other ministerial processes largely overseen by other gatekeepers to get to the intended destination.
Don’t swim against the rip current, pick your shots wisely, and reset the landscape so you can backstroke to shore when the time comes.