Escaping the Major Projects Echo Chamber

Major Projects Association

Every major project encourages an unwavering focus on successful delivery. Whilst this has the advantage of generating continual forward momentum and progress, it carries with it a real risk: the creation of an echo chamber.

In an echo chamber we remain fixed in our own limited bubble, unhearing or sceptical of any voices from 'outside our group' who may be advocating a different approach, questioning elements of our model or our delivery plan and playing the critical role of Devil's Advocate.

The Major Projects Association annual conference in January 2023 explored the phenomenon of the 'echo chamber':

• defining the concept and its impact on project delivery organisations
• exploring how the echo chamber manifests itself and the behaviours it engenders
• looking at the antidote to echo chambers - encouraging diversity and inclusion, making time for reflection, listening to sceptical voices, tackling confirmation bias and 'not invented here' syndrome
• discussing the skills and new behaviours needed by everyone from the lowliest member of the team to the leader
• reflecting on the case example of Sellafield and how a historically risk-averse organisation worked to build a new model and a new culture to embrace change and innovation.

The podcast episode, the first of two, features Andy Murray, Executive Director of the Association, interviewing Professor Harvey Maylor of Oxford Said Business School; Andrea Powell of EY; Lauralee Doughty of Sellafield; and Richard Corderoy of the Oakland Group.

In the second episode, Andy interviews our keynote speaker from the conference to pick up and explore the ideas of the echo chamber in the context of the work of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.