Technically trained professionals often focus on processes and outcomes without acknowledging the influence of human aspects – gender, race, experiences and personality.

This can lead to team misunderstandings, conflict, poor communication, low morale, high turnover and dysfunctional ways of working, which can significantly impact on the successful delivery of a project.

Establishing shared values and behaviours to enable effective communication and interaction is helpful.

Applying lessons learned, using a ‘narrative therapy framework’, in which stories are used to outline the issue, understand the meaning of what is being said and construct a way forward, can achieve significant outcomes. A mediation and conflict resolution approach is the most effective way to conduct this process.

The Mediator’s Role

A facilitator/mediator is the key to the mediation process and does not maintain a neutral position, but expresses a clear commitment to a fair hearing for all, protects those without a clear power base and ensures equity in outcomes. Essentially, the mediator promotes a sense of social justice within the team.

The Mediation Process

Most work in organisations and teams requires coordinated action amongst multiple individuals. To be successful, groups must access knowledge, develop a shared understanding of how best to apply it, and act in a coordinated manner, that reflects new knowledge and insights.

Such behaviour requires a willingness to take on risks and discuss mistakes, in an environment conducive to learning (Edmonson, 2003b). Learning in teams has the potential to enhance continuous improvement of quality, innovation and customer satisfaction (Boyett & Conn, 1991), improve employee satisfaction (Cohen & Ledford, 1994) and reduce operating costs and response to technical change (Wellins, Byhan & Wilson, 1991).

Mediation enables an alternative understanding of events and behaviours. The mediator can change team dynamics by facilitating new insights into one another’s beliefs, feelings and behaviours. A key outcome is to diminish the negative motivations that individuals attribute to each other’s actions. This is done by building trust in the person and the process, using language that externalises the issues, outlining the effects, deconstructing the negative connotations and developing strategies to show meaning and solutions to the problem.

A narrative approach to mediation utilises the following strategies:

• Listening to stories – this involves the group listening to the stories of the dispute. The mediator is not so concerned with the facts, positions or interests, but more with the meaning of what is being said. This is a problematic process, as some stories reflect a bias of gender, class, race or experience. This is an opportunity to correct misunderstandings and clear the way for dealing with the issues
• Deconstructive inquiry – this involves taking the issue outside the team or individual so that blame is not attributed in any way
• Searching for unique outcomes – by deconstructing the issue, new ways of looking at the actions and intentions of those involved, can produce different outcomes
• Building a counterplot – these unique outcomes act as building blocks for a new approach which involves agreement and cooperation
• Generating options – as the issue reaches a degree of accord, those involved can make a commitment to agreements to resolve the dispute
• Documenting change - the new solution is then documented in an agreement, action plan or letters to participants
• Reviewing a new history – later, a review is held of how the understandings and agreements reached in the mediation evolved in practice

Story-telling, listening, psychological safety, reflection, cooperation and strategy development are key principles in the learning and mediation/resolution process.

Example Case Study

A project team, consisting of personnel from a variety of organisational cultures encompassing consultants, contractors and client companies, was experiencing conflict, due to the differing values and histories of the individuals in the team.

Using a process of mediation and conflict resolution enabled the conflict issues to be overcome and the project to be delivered ahead of time and below budget.

The veracity of the mediation and conflict resolution approach was fully realised in the project, with 55,000 design hours producing all deliverables ahead of schedule, saving more than 10% on the project budget; all in an accelerated market suffering high personnel turnover. Much of this project success was attributed to the process of developing a Project Values and Behaviour Charter. This helped resolve disputes, build relations and define behaviours.

Recognising that project management is complex, and subject to many factors –vendor, technical, commercial and social influences –an opportunity was identified for all participants to actively contribute in a review process – particularly given the technical environment, in which there was a strong reliance on data-driven problem solving and quantitative analysis.

The ‘lessons learned’ process was designed to include all members of the project team. This process needed to have mediation as well as learning outcomes to resolve personal and technical disputes. In a safe environment, issues could be externalised and meaning to and resolution of conflict could be shared and resolved in a group context.

Many of the items on the project charter focussed on how project team members dealt with each other.

A lessons learned workshop was conducted with the entire team. The process reminded the group that all human interactions are strongly influenced and frequently determined by the patterns of multiple experiences, through the direct influence of personal experience and through collective experience expressed as stories.

Each participant told his/her story or account, prompting all involved to reflect on what was being explained and how to improve the compound elements of the next project. The stories focused on the individual’s effects and behaviours without referring to the effect of other parties. The mediator’s ability to maintain justice and equity in the process promoted trust, although there was obviously significant distrust amongst certain individuals.

The mediator then reframed the issues through inquiry, establishing key points and detoxifying and de-personalising them where necessary. This also offered a point of reflection for the group in regards to each individual’s story. The group was broken into sub-groups which then developed strategies and outcomes, and a representative presented back to the group. Each sub-group worked together and cooperated and agreed on the future. The actions were documented and presented corporately, as some strategies were beyond the control of the group. 

Figure 1 - This figure represents the mix of listening, counter plot inquiry, reflection, option and strategy development that links the mediation and narrative process.

Issues raised from the workshop were recorded and grouped into:

• People
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Inter-discipline Review (IDR)
• Engineering Management Application (EMA)
• Standards
• Offshore Fabrication
• Project Controls
• Email
• Vendor Communication

This process of reflection and integration of workplace lessons into our existing belief system is a key element of learning. The orientation is intended to be future-oriented and hopeful. While knowledge is promoted by processing information gleaned from observation we ultimately learn by doing.

After investigating the issues, it became clear that one of the recurring dynamics was a deficiency in how team members related to each other.

In the typical project environment, success is often impacted by conflict between disciplines, due to a lack of respect and understanding of each others’ roles. This is problematic in that it generates a barrier to productive interaction that balances concern for the person with concern for the task.

These suggestions were directly taken from team members’ experiences and narratives to help identify improved interactions. It was then agreed that it would be most appropriate to develop a values statement for the project. This would help develop a supportive project culture in which respect and cooperation would rate highly.

The Project Values Charter was signed by all team members and displayed alongside project photos. This was referred to regularly and placed in all official documentation to allow for regular reflection of the new history. A list of behavioural proposals was also developed as part of the lessons learned process.

Conclusions

Leadership is vital to establishing a healthy and safe project culture. Understanding the importance of team dynamics and using mediation and conflict resolution is necessary to ensure positive project outcomes.

If project managers can understand the mechanics of human drivers, they are well equipped to manage varied conduct and draw together teams of individuals to fully realise shared goals. Lessons learned should be carried forward to optimise the continuous improvement process. These lessons are usually mostly behavioural, and centre around respect, attitude and manner. The issues and challenges facing our projects today, are primarily embedded in the behaviours and interactions of our project teams. Project management is the profession that sets the standard for strategic business delivery and must continue to evolve as a discipline that attains team unity by promoting the highest levels of professionalism and interpersonal behaviours.

The benefit of storytelling is that it is open, ongoing and changing, just as is the need for learning and new knowledge. As the workplace culture changes, so do the stories and individuals. The connection between narrative therapy and learning is clear, however, the connection cannot be used without values centred leadership. The desire for order can even lead people to accept completely abhorrent working conditions and political structure simply to avoid chaos. Management needs to focus on nurturing a climate of psychological safety and to promote inquiry. Leadership needs to foster the mindset, group behaviours, and organisational investments needed to promote today’s learning and decision making and invest in tomorrow’s performance and well being.

© Sinclair Knight Merz
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