The Bridge
on Margaret Campbell's Rambles (India), 30/Jun/2009 20:01, 34 days ago
 "The Bridge" June, 2009 When you get a task like  "You have 10 minutes and 60 pieces to build a model of a bridge" what do you do? We recently returned from a 4-day training in international development that was eye-opening. For an exercise called"The Bridge" we got a script instructing us to play the role of volunteers in an NGO that was involved in repairing a bridge near some indigenous villages. We got Lego pieces to build a model of the bridge and a detailed roster of the pieces provided and the prices for each. And we were told that a member of the village would be available for a short talk. Being bright and enthusiastic newbies in international development we knew we had to get information from the villager before we built the model. Thus, we used our planning time to up with a list of detailed questions about how the bridge was to be used, what the history of the bridge was and other customer requirements. But… when she arrived, the village representative was having none of it. Bearing fruits for us, she wanted to know how old we all were and whether we were married. The women, that is… she wouldn't talk to the men at all. We quickly changed gears and tried to elicit information about the bridge indirectly by asking about her family (she had two sons, didtheyuse the bridge?)This approach yielded only minimal bridge data and we did not get far in our quest for input. We did manage to get invited to a festival at the village with plans to discuss the bridge afterwards so all was not lost, but we did not achieve the best outcome. The villager's script was to refuse to engage unless and until our social relationships were well-established, and not to speak to the men at all. The facilitators told us that some groups do get all the information they need to plan the bridge project but those are the people who invest in building a relationship bridge before building the physical bridge. As an English major I should have seen the metaphor. Most groups are pretty pathetic, as we were, even after we realized what the sub-text was! I already know that I have the tendency to jump to the solution without adequate reflection: giving me a 10 minute time limit is like waving a red flag at a bull. What was fascinating to me was how the way in which the task was written affected how we approached it. If it had been defined as an effort to gain trust and then subsequently to get the village perspective on the bridge, we would have been more successful. But the task description played to our North American proclivity for results within timelines.  I will LOVE working on relationships in preparation to working on deliverables - I just need to downshift when I see those timelines…... In very short time we will depart for Delhi for a month's in-country training. We are planning side trips to Agra, Himal Pradesh and perhaps Mumbai on weekends. Then off to Koraput in monsoon season. I am planning to"tweet" our journey so will send out an email with instructions on how to follow me on Twitter for those of you who are interested. Stay tuned!