The Power of Language – Producing Big Breakthroughs in Construction Projects

The Power of Language – Producing Big Breakthroughs in Construction Projects

VISION Consulting has been working with water and construction companies to unlock projects getting to Site in Half the Time. We have expanded this challenge to deliver 20% faster project completion once on site, freeing up teams to begin work on new projects earlier than planned.

So how have these results been achieved? Conversation is unlikely to be the first subject you would think of to create change in an engineering and construction project, and yet it has been a key success factor. The teams we work with operate in the middle of a highly complex network of relationships. Externally, they must manage conversations with the public, media, government, and other stakeholders. Internally, these projects are typically within a partnership model, meaning that in addition to the levels or relationship you would expect to see in any large company they must also navigate collaborating with other organisations as part of one team. In such an environment, miscoordination can have a ripple effect resulting in months’ worth of delays and significant breakdowns in trust.

Coordination is not a typical engineering discipline, but today we are seeing that a standard quality of coordination is no longer good enough for these projects – teams must develop a new level of expertise.

What Conversation are we in?

We start by drawing attention to three kinds of conversation that are key to collaboration on any project:

Conversations for Possibilities

A discussion to reveal potential new futures for a project. In construction, these are frequently conversations about optioneering and various technical solutions by specialist engineers. The style is one of enthusiastic exploration – pushing each other to find creative solutions to pragmatic problems. Individuals need to be clear on the parameters for success and be given the space to challenge convention. The goal is to design a path or set of paths for success that will deliver on the goals of the project.

Conversations for Action

Used by the delivery team to agree commitments and actions on a project. These have the short, sharp style of a well-run huddle practice. For these conversations to work individuals need to be very clear on what they are responsible for delivering and when. The goal is to determine whether or not delivery is on track, what risks and blockers need to be addressed, and where people may need help.

Conversations for Resolution

Projects inevitably encounter times of uncertainty or disagreement. Until the uncertainty is addressed, projects will “spin”, unable to make real progress. Leaders must be able to recognise these moments and step up to bring together the people needed to agree a path forward. These conversations require an additional level of choreography to ensure they are successful. They may also require more senior level stakeholders, especially where there is a financial or political implication.

Notice how each of the conversations has its own distinct style and structure. We often find when we first work with teams their meetings can appear to be a mixture of all three kinds of conversation. This mixing of the conversation types typically fails to produce results. Conversations that were intended to achieve a specific outcome get sidetracked by an enthusiastic conversation about engineering possibilities.

However, once teams become aware and can observe the conversation they are in, we typically observe a light bulb breakthrough moment. We see managers putting more thought into choreographing their teams, thinking about what kind of conversation is needed for that moment in the meeting. Meetings can appear shorter yet more is achieved.  Work appears easier yet more is completed. Teams on the ground are ambitious about a new way of working that they can see is more effective than their previous approach, and leadership can see new commercial possibilities for their organisation with the increased capacity being created.