Communicating value management workshop outcomes for better teamwork and collaboration

It is proven that value management workshops provide an opportunity for the key stakeholders of any given project to meet together, share information, create synergy and generate new knowledge. At the concept/inception stage of a project this results in a shared understanding and mental model of the project's raison d'être and a consensus decision on the direction it will ultimately take. Further down the line, this shared knowledge is invaluable; especially when tough or sometimes controversial decisions need to be made regarding changes to designs, materials or even as personnel come and go. What is not clear is how this knowledge (and the decision making process used to reach it) is formally shared, if at all, with the other project stakeholders not participating in the workshop, stakeholders whose contribution may be paramount to the project's success. This issue is highlighted on large, multi-stakeholder projects which require end user or community consultation and projects which have a long lead-in and delivery programme, often resulting in changes in personnel amongst the key stakeholders. In this paper the authors examine the knowledge acquisition and transfer processes that take place during a value management workshop and looks at the sharing of implicit, explicit and cultural knowledge by workshop participants; fundamental to the workshop approach. Suggestions on how this information can be captured and presented to the wider project team and additional stakeholders following a value management study are made. It is demonstrated that by recognising the value of and need for these formalised knowledge management processes, the benefit of using value management will further increase.