Creating Space in Construction (long'ish)

[Brendan McKeague]

Hi folks
A few weeks ago I posted a topic on the List about a bunch of 
construction folks building a big, long road - $550m project - and 
how they had become a bit 'stuck' around communication and mistrust 
between management team, supervisors, designers et al....this was an 
alliance project where a number of construction companies had joined 
together to tender.....a couple of previous interventions by the 
'expert' (and thus expensive) HR consultants had been close to 
disastrous and there was now a sense of mistrust around any 
facilitated processes that involved outsiders....

After a couple of heavy'ish conversations with the managers, and my 
confirmation that Open Space does not accommodate a Plan B, they 
decided, 'with 'positive caution', to proceed with an OS meeting for 
an afternoon - with an emphasis on the fact that every minute 
'off-the-job' was costly and could be of critical significance to the 
success of the project.

And so, we continue the story....

The invitation was languaged and circulated - "how can we shape the 
alliance we want?' - no visually appealing lay-out - plain 
writing/memo-style was the order of the day.
About 35 folks came together at the site-office dining area to begin 
with a 12noon 'working lunch' and were then gathered into the circle 
at 1230 precisely!  (I was amazed at how quickly all the sandwiches 
disappeared - mmm, wonder why i noticed that - probable because i 
missed out!) - here was a group hungry for something....
I was conscious of the energy levels of 33 big-framed men and two 
women - in a relatively confined space and the curious suspicion that 
permeated the atmosphere
The Alliance Innovations Manager introduced the meeting, followed by 
the Project Director (Big Boss) sponsor thanking everyone for coming 
and reiterating that 'time off the job is expensive' and thus the 
need to use the time well and then handing over to me....

I entered the circle of mostly rigid blokes, and breathed my way into 
the space...

'Welcome to Open Space - you have been invited to come to this 
meeting - you have agreed to be here rather than somewhere else this 
afternoon - you have said yes to help shape the alliance you want to 
have at this time...as you look around this circle, notice your 
colleagues in this alliance who have also come here this afternoon to 
join you in this task...and I now invite you to consider what it is 
that you wish to address here today....what is really important to 
you to raise and deal with here...the remaining time of this 
Alliance, the next twelve months or so can be shaped and influenced 
by what you talk about and decide to do here today....an important 
opportunity awaits you"

Of course by this time I was around the circle and feeling the 
energies that were present....mostly suspicious, unsure, somewhat 
curious and some downright hostile....

and then, the rest is history.....into the process of 'opening' and 
describing how it works...

After my opening (about 14.5 mins according to my Org Psych colleague 
who was observing) - I walked out of the circle and made my way to 
other end of the room - out of site so to speak!  There was that 
pulsating, power-filled pause - about 10 whole seconds - before the 
first insertion to the middle - by one of the women present (i 
discovered later she was one of the designers) - and quickly followed 
by a couple of others - and then they were off....for the next ten 
mins, a strange topsy-turvy roller-coaster of announcements and 
pauses - nothing happening (on the surface) - then a couple more 
postings - until I asked them if they were done - and then they were off.....

The rest is typically what we see in an OS meeting...in this case it 
was very intensified for me - a smaller-than-usual physical space, 
and a shorter-than-usual time, with a more heavily male dominated mob 
of concrete-operational thinkers - much more accustomed to building 
spaces than 'being' in them....
Lots of movement and intense levels of engagement throughout most of 
the afternoon - some wandering around at times looking unsure what 
they should be doing, or which topic was being discussed in each 
break-out space, little off-shoot conversations, and plenty of solid 
work being done...

There were three 1.25 hr conversation slots - and about 30 mins 
convergence for any action planning (similar to what has recently 
been described here as 're-opening the space') in which five action 
planning groups met to pin down next steps....and a closing circle....

I thought you might identify with some of the comments:
    * This afternoon has opened up some trust in this group and I'd 
like to think that we can continue this now...
    * I got to see other people's perspectives - some for the first 
time - that is really useful
    * I think that, although it may be a bit late in the project, the 
coming together of design and construction folks has been very 
positive here today.
    * I'm going to spend a whole day next week riding in a truck 
(from a designer)
    * Let's acknowledge that this is a good project - we're on track 
for time and within budget...we are doing real well so far....and I 
was one of the ones on the management team who was very cynical about 
this meeting - I didn't think it could be worthwhile  - and I need to 
say that I got a couple of niggling issues sorted out here very 
quickly. I'm pleased I came.
    * I didn't think that all the right people were here as it says 
on the sign - some of those who came left pretty early - and its a 
pity they didn't stay to see how its ended up. They've missed out on 
something positive and its up to us to convey that to them. (started 
with 35 and ended with about 30)
    * There are so many points of view here - it was good to be able 
to hear them all without too much aggression
    * I really liked the way that people listened to each other 
respectfully and really heard what others were saying.
    * This was so much better than the previous meeting where we had 
to draw tortoises with bird's heads....we actually got something done here.
    * I got a chance to have my say - I feel better about that now.
    * It didn't solve all my problems with Main Roads dept but it 
gave me a good start on some of these.
    * I now really believe that we're all here because we want to do 
a good job and help each other the best way we can.

And so, the circle concluded with the sponsor thanking everyone for 
their contribution and saying that the time together had been 
productive and worthwhile for him - now have a beer!

One of my challenging decisions in preparing for this space was to 
leave out the 'butterflies and bees' sign - while still referring (in 
the opening) to the fluent and dynamic nature of behaviours (floating 
and buzzing around) that might be exhibited in the meeting....I also 
did bring and ring the temple-bells - with a little trepidation from 
the org psych - to his amazement, there was no adverse reaction from the mob!

And so another chapter in the experience of this OS practitioner....
there will be a scheduled debrief meeting with sponsor next week

Cheers
Brendan






*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20080316/64841cc1/attachment-0015.htm>