Published
Inspired by my ongoing review of the Major Projects Association archive of 40 years worth of reports, I posted a poll for our knowledge community on LinkedIn at the end of last month. The poll picked up on the theme of the Association conference of 2010: Project Personality Matters and I invited people to indicate whether they thought project personality matters and whether it reflected on their approach to delivery. 77% of those who responded answered ‘Yes’ to both questions.
Coincidentally, yesterday, I took part in a wonderful knowledge café organised and facilitated by David Gurteen, which involved 50 people from right around the world. There was even a New Zealander taking part, despite the fact that it was 1.00 am local time. The theme of the café was Communityship, drawing on the work of Henry Mintzberg:
We spent a couple of hours discussing what it might mean and how to make it happen. If I summarize the main points:
HEALTHY Communityship (because we recognised the dangers of the concept too):
- is inclusive not exclusive;
- involves a common purpose;
- thrives on positive shared values;
- has a positive impact on society;
- champions difference;
- engages our whole being;
- enables (and is enabled by) a learning mindset
I am sure other parties to the conversation will have taken away other elements but these were my takeaways.
What’s communityship got to do with major projects?
You may ask but this brings me back to the 2010 conference on project personality and an idea shared by Jenny Robinson and Mollie Bickerstaff of Hinton and Co who attempted to describe the characteristics of project personality using the acronym PROTECT:
Purpose: a shared sense of purpose, direction, objectives
Risk: ability to cope with uncertainty, attitude to risk
Openness: openness to innovation, flexibility, how change is dealt with
Trust: honesty, whether other entities appear truthful, any politicking
Empowerment: freedom to manoeuvre inside acceptable boundaries
Collaboration: sharing information, joint decision making and joined up working
Tempo: energy, excitement and enjoyment
I was immediately struck by the similarities between these two lists of attributes.
On the one hand, I always find it motivating to be reminded how the Association and our members anticipate emerging ideas and just how brilliantly those working on major projects intuitively understand the dynamics of complex social systems and the meaning and significance of the industry.
On the other, it’s a salutory reminder of the power of the status quo. If Communityship is a direction worth pursuing, why aren’t we further ahead? It’s 12 years since that conference and 10 years since Henry Minzberg really popularized the ideas behind it.
The good news is that this year’s Association conference will be exploring the premise of a major reinvention/reframing of major projects and their delivery, if we are to realise the value that is tied up in our endeavours. It remains to be seen to what extent we will return to the ideas of 2010 but if we do, the challenge will clearly be, how do we prevent the baleful influence of the status quo and the continual pressure of NOW from trumping the potential of our collective imagination.
Jonathan Norman,
Knowledge Manager