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It was the end of the school year, and we had agreed to celebrate with a potluck-style dinner. There were six of us, and we were all new professors at a state university in the Midwest. We became close not only because we were newbies, but we also had similar personal interests, were roughly the same age, and had supported one another during the school year sharing different ideas and activities for teaching business and communication courses. We really worked well together. At times, it was almost like we could read each other’s minds. So, putting together a year-end, casual dinner should have been no problem.
We had agreed that we’d meet at my place on Thursday at 6 pm. We were going to watch our traditional line-up of Thursday night television sitcoms together. It was the days of yore before streaming and binge watching, a time when networks dictated your viewing schedule.
Chris was the first one to show up. He brought brownies that he baked himself. He was proud about the fact that he used his grandmother’s ooey gooey recipe for “blackout brownies,” named for the amount of chocolate used in the recipe.
Next was Suz, and she showed up with a gallon of French vanilla ice cream from the local independent ice cream shop. The owner was an 82-year-old man who had been in business at least 50+ years and loved making unique flavors. Although Suz showed up with one of his more traditional concoctions, it wasn’t any less spectacular. Originally, Chris and I thought, “Oh another dessert...” but then realized it would go perfect with the brownies.
Third was Lori, and she brought a butter cake with chocolate icing and cream in the middle. Then was Preston who brought an apple pie and lastly, Melissa, who showed up carrying homemade lemon-vanilla cookies with mint liquor in them.
After we put everything on the table including the dessert wine I provided, we realized that we didn’t really have a potluck dinner so much as training ground for diabetes.
Each item was appealing in its own right and tasted absolutely spectacular, especially the wine...but we didn’t collaborate, communicate or coordinate.
You can have the best people on the team producing phenomenal output at an expeditious pace, but if those efforts aren’t aligned, then you could end up hungry for dinner while stuck with dessert.
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