1.1 Opinions as to whether the Fountain creates an appropriate atmosphere for a memorial are divided in the team. Some think that it is a beautiful and engaging construction that invites further exploration and contemplation. Others think that it is rather gutter-like, sits awkwardly in the space and does not encourage one to linger.
1.5 What worked: A Memorial Fountain has been built which has become a controversial talking point much as Diana’s life had been.
It is beautiful and accessible. It is more engaging than a traditional fountain or a fountain sited in the Serpentine would have been.
The way the stone has been cut to shape the water is very effective.
Surprises: That such experienced and high-calibre people could get the project management so wrong. There seems to have been an expectation that emotion, good will and good intention would get the job done when, in fact, those are not enough and may even be obstacles.
3.5.3 Carolyn’s lessons learnt
I can’t recall working in an artificially created team before. Where I have worked with others, it has been a self-selected group seeking to achieve a commonly desired goal. In this case, I think we made progress once we had clarified the outcome we were pursuing. Establishing a clear set of ground rules and expectations at the start would have made the early meetings more productive. In order to assign roles to team members who you don’t know well it is necessary to do, at least, some type of ‘get to know you’ process or a more formal team profiling.
4 References
Belbin, R.M. (1981) Management Teams: Why they succeed or fail. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann
ECHarris (2006)A report on the delivery of the project to construct the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. London: ECHarris
City of Westminster (2010) Statues and Monument in Westminster. Available at: http://www.westminster.gov.uk (accessed 3/2/11)
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