Situation -  Our social media team had onboarded a digital media consultant to help us gain better traction and use our platforms more effectively. We explained our needs and the requirements to the new consultant and documented each aspect. Over the course of the engagement with our consultant, we noticed that the work that needed to be done was just words of agreement hanging in the air. 

When we attempted  to address the situation, our consultant agreed on the requested changes but none of them were put into action. It was a back-and-forth communication where requests for tasks were made and agreed upon but never implemented. 

Confusion -  Was our consultant taking us for a ride or was the person unable to accept that the work given was new to them? 

Was this just a small project they took up? Or was it a responsibility that they weren’t ready for and underestimated?

Assumption- Maybe the consultant didn’t take the responsibility seriously enough and was indifferent to our needs and thought that they could avoid our requests by working on things differently than how we needed them. 

Reflection- The overall interaction and collaboration made us feel like we were going back and forth trying to address the same situations numerous times which often led to frustration. Maybe we as a team missed out on clarifying and simplifying the requirements while being unable to gauge the consultant's capacity to deliver.