Most decisions are made by the people who happen to be in the room.
The challenge is that the people most affected by a decision are often somewhere else.
They may be future users, residents, operators or members of the public. They may never meet the people making the decision. They may never know the conversations that shaped the outcome.
Duty of care begins when we recognise the significance of that empty chair.
The strongest professionals develop a habit of asking who is not represented. They recognise that good judgement requires more than technical expertise. It requires consideration of those who will ultimately live with the consequences.
Decisions are rarely confined to those making them. And the empty chair often belongs to the person most affected.