A Tale of Two Cities

We have written extensively about the challenges that have been faced over the past 2+ years working on Project Sammaan. Whether it’s managing the efforts and interests of multiple stakeholders, revising architectural drawings based on ground realities, navigating the complexities of working with urban local bodies in India, or “simply” keeping the initiative within its budget, the hurdles have been many, and significant.

One additional challenge that we’ve been remiss in discussing, though, involves accounting for the different working styles and protocols of the partners based in the pilot cities and those based elsewhere. As one of the only foreigners working on the project, and in the Indian context for the first time, adjusting to different working styles was a given. However, I was largely unprepared for just how divergent, even seemingly antithetical, the office dynamics can be from one city to the next.

The Sammaan facilities will be built in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, in the cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, and the municipal corporations in each are integral partners in the initiative. As such, several teams are either based in Bhubaneswar or have representatives working out of a field office there. These include the interface management, community engagement, research, and technical teams, along with the government counterparts. Additionally, though, are the architectural design, branding and communications, and project management teams based in the Delhi area.

The physical distance, along with the sheer number of stakeholders working on the project, necessitates communications protocols and practices that provide an easy, and cheap, bridge to this divide. After all, working within tight budgetary constraints comes with it limitations to getting the entire team physically together. Conference calls, this blog, the monthly newsletter, Skype sessions, collaborative online documents (i.e. Google Docs), and even simply emails are all employed to facilitate information-sharing to ensure deadlines are adhered to and progress continues. While all of these communication modes are in line with how the partners in the Delhi area typically work, and closely mirrors my previous professional experiences outside of India, it became clear that the teams in Bhubaneswar operate differently.

Interactions with our colleagues in Odisha, especially the government, have the tendency towards formality. To effectively work together, there was a need to build relationships, which in turn meant that information-sharing needed to be done in face-to-face interactions, ideally, or at the very worst via one-to-one telephone conversations. Further to this, any decisions or requests made during these in-person meetings need to be documented in letters, with copies delivered to all concerned parties, to become part of the formal record for the project.

This need for a more intimate working approach can add challenges as oftentimes it can be difficult to navigate and accommodate the many schedules of project partners, but it also fosters a greater sense of team through working closely (literally) together and increasing the sense of accountability and transparency that other forms of communication can eschew.

This is not to suggest that one method is better than the other, nor that modern technologies need take the forefront in day-to-day operations, and the differences certainly don’t warrant the Dickensian intonation that the title of this post intimates. If anything, it’s been a refreshing experience to get out from behind the computer screen and directly collaborate and interact with partners. This is a long-term engagement so it’s imperative that healthy working relationships are established, and maintained; Relationship-building is far easier when done face-to-face as opposed to over emails and the like.

Learnings abound on Project Sammaan, and this is but one small example of how understanding nuances and idiosyncrasies, and adjusting approaches to accommodate them, can streamline efforts and, consequently, ensure that progress can continue unabated.