Talk is not cheap. It saves time and money.

Once upon a time, people used a grassy track to get their boats, canoes and kayaks closer to the beach.

It was between a picnic area and a national park.

I might have been one of the last ones to use it before it was closed off.

My guide, Ben, drove our kayaks down to the beach. But we had to carry them back after our ocean paddle.

Out for a paddle

As we puffed our way up the track with our load, Ben filled me in.

The national park authority had offered to turn this track into a road, while they were upgrading walking tracks in the national park.

The local council declined this offer.

They had their reasons.

One of them was to discourage illegal camping in the national park.

Another was that they didn’t want responsibility for maintaining the road, as local residents had explained to Ben.

On the day of our paddle, the council decided to block off the track with big, heavy sandstone bollards.

They didn’t talk to the local residents or to anyone who’d been using this informal boat track for years.

The lighter bollards the Council had used up until now were moved regularly by people who wanted to use the track.

So Council rangers regularly booked cars.

And a team of workers moved the bollards back.

Over and over again.

‘Move the bollard’ became an expensive game. Tempers frayed.

The Council had had enough.

As well as the heavy sandstone bollards, they installed a security camera.

If someone tried to move the heavy sandstone, they’d be filmed.

I counted five men, two trucks and lots of equipment.

Expensive work.

I wonder how much cheaper it would have been to talk with people – residents, boat owners, kayakers - to explore solutions. To perhaps make a better decision.

A decision that would have stayed in place, unliked those bollards.

If you engage with the people affected by your decision, they are much more likely to accept it, even if they disagree with it.

You won’t waste hours justifying it.

Or moving bollards.

Booking cars.

And installing security cameras.

They say talk is cheap, but not talking to people affected by your decision can cost you. Investing in facilitated conversations now can save a fortune in fixing mistakes later.

Thanks for reading this far.

Stay (fl)awesome!