1. 1 NEW SHOES TODAY • ROAD TO CREATION, INNOVATION AND CHANGE
ABOUT AFRICAN DANCE AND
TRAVELLING IN THE HEART
HEEREMA MARINE CONTRACTORS
Leaving Comfort Zones when You Are Succesful
‘I’m a senior marine engineer and what I’ve experienced the last 24
hours is hard to describe.
Yesterday evening I made music and danced to African rhythms with
about 40 of my new colleagues, most of them male.
Before that we were talking about brain-dominant thinking styles and
I came to understand that my thinking preference is rather rational and
that I seek “control”. I know now that I need to be offered more logical
arguments in order to accept and go along with the new way of engi-
neering we are opting for. I further understand that I want to see proof
of those arguments in concrete plans, procedures and ways of working.
Last night I also talked to my colleagues about my car keys, which are
very precious to me because they symbolise the fact that wherever I
go I can enter my car and feel free to leave. I can deal with a lot of
different situations but I always need to have something trustworthy
with me in order to feel comfortable and secure. I never thought I
was going to talk about my car keys and that they would tell so much
about me. What is happening?
I am attending the “value starter” session of my Product Group. This
morning I awoke at 6 am, after hardly four hours of sleep. We were
asked not to speak to each other and to reflect on how we feel about
the reorganisation: What are our worries and dreams? It is strange not
to talk to each other and I wonder why this is so difficult? I never dream
about my work. However I feel now that it is in my interest to get a
better understanding of myself and how I respond to the changes.
After a silent breakfast we alI walked outside towards a pedestrian ferry
that brought us to a small island. I heard a beating rhythm and after
a short walk I saw a large tepee, smoke coming out of its open roof.
I thought: “A tepee? What are we going to do?”
I entered the tepee with my whole team. We started working together
a month ago after a reorganisation of our department. Now we were
all sitting on a sheepskin around a fire in the middle of this tepee.
WWW.NEWSHOESTODAY.COM

2. 2 NEW SHOES TODAY • ROAD TO CREATION, INNOVATION AND CHANGE
There was a kind of Indonesian priest who played a didgeridoo. For
one hour we lay down to meditate to strange sounds and listened to
a guided fantasy. At first I resisted and I saw that some of my colleagues
felt very uncomfortable and others almost fell asleep.
Then I drifted away and wondered why we are doing this. Why are
we invited to tell our worries and dreams? Why are we invited to help
translate this vision about New Engineering into concrete solutions?
Isn’t this the task of management? Are they going to listen to my ideas?
Will it be possible to implement the system I developed for myself
within the whole department?
Then our Engineering Manager started to speak. It surprised me that
he also expressed his doubts and is not sure about how to accomplish
all the innovations within the organisation. He invited others to speak
up and was not challenging their opinions. Then more people began to
speak. I still hesitate and don’t speak out yet, but I feel this is a dialogue
I have never experienced before within our technology department.’
Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) operates in the offshore oil and gas industry.
HMC is one of the world’s leading marine contractors in transporting, install-
ing and removing all types of offshore facilities. HMC’s services encompass
overall management, including that of subcontractors, all logistics, planning,
engineering and work preparation.
HMC is very successful and we know the old saying, ‘Never change a winning
team.’ Despite their success they decided to fundamentally reconsider the way
they worked and their organisational set-up.
Maarten Swinkels (new shoes today): ‘We were invited by the Technology
Department of HMC to help them in realising five fundamental organisational
innovations. They have offices in Leiden (the Netherlands) and Houston
(USA). With about 250 people they do the engineering for all transport,
installation and removal projects and tenders.
Together with HMC we took up the challenge to implement the following
changes:
1. Transition from an organisation set up for seven technical disciplines
towards a department with five product groups who carry out dedi-
cated work for specific markets
2. Introduction of value-based engineering
3. Introduction of core competence leadership
4. Standardisation of engineering processes
5. Off-shoring the engineering
WWW.NEWSHOESTODAY.COM

3. 3 NEW SHOES TODAY • ROAD TO CREATION, INNOVATION AND CHANGE
Taking Responsibility
These innovations were defined at a very conceptual level but now they had
to be translated into concrete organisational structures and habits.
Traditionally there is a strong hierarchy within this company. Engineers are
mainly challenged for complex technical matters and are not bothered with
organisational issues beyond the scope of their project. We decided to act
differently and ask all employees to take responsibility for introducing inno-
vations in the organisation and finding workable solutions for improving
their engineering processes.
The existing mindset required a paradoxical approach that made people
want to develop their own answers. There was a need for an approach that
broke old patterns and was opposite to existing management practise and
expectations, i.e. management with strong leadership that provides all the
organisational answers.
The HMC Technology Department had asked me to organise a large-scale
event in which the vision for the five changes mentioned above would be
shared with all 250 engineers. I questioned this idea and proposed to make
the ‘design for change’ a shared issue with the newly appointed department
management. I also suggested making use of the new structure of product
groups and organising team meetings in these product groups to create the
new way of engineering together. This breaks the ‘old’ pattern in which
(only) a special assigned project team dealt with the change and came out
with their solutions.
Value Starters
In our opinion there is strong hidden thinking potential within the group of
engineers. That’s why we want to offer them a structure that provides a basis
for the process of co-creation. The discussions with the engineering managers
led to the idea of developing value starter sessions within each product
group. At the start of the project all teams try to capture the value issues rel-
evant to the change in their product group. We organised five value starters
in the Netherlands and one in Houston. The value starter programme made
it possible to recognise and explore issues on two axes:
1. With the ‘IT’ axis we can handle all ‘tangible and rational’ issue
linked to the new organisation and the new way of engineering
2. The ‘WE’ axis help us to tackle all ‘interaction and non logical’ issues
connected with working together in new teams and defining new inter-
action patterns and breaking with old routines.
WWW.NEWSHOESTODAY.COM

4. 4 NEW SHOES TODAY • ROAD TO CREATION, INNOVATION AND CHANGE
‘To travel is to live
Some travel in their car,
Some travel in their mind
What about travelling in the heart?’
Martinez
These were the words inviting all engineers to their specific value starter, a
24-hour programme. We spent the first 16 hours on understanding the
‘change’ and developing more awareness of what it means for each individ-
ual. During the next 8 hours we worked on self-identified and relevant
issues. We organised the value starters in such a way that the engineers had
to consider everything from a fresh point of view. Getting the participants
out of their comfort zone is a symbol for the changes in working habits and
structures. Co-creation was the central issue, reinventing together and
experimenting with the new ideas. After the 24-hour meeting concluded,
draft plans were processed in small teams, resulting in a Product Group plan
on how to realise the changes.
Co-creation at Work
Now all kinds of initiatives are taken up in various teams. A recruitment group
developed 60 ideas for HRM on how to improve the recruitment process; an
initiative for predefined technical knowledge communities was launched; engi-
neering scopes are standardised and a Shared Interest Network has started
(an open, self-supporting network consisting of groups of people who share
a common interest around technical and non-technical issues).
By sharing the responsibility of this innovation programme with all the engi-
neers, the management of the Technology Department is breaking with the
old culture. The sustainability of this approach will have to overcome the
doubts, resistance and questions as to what this implies for the heavy project
workload. It may take 2 years before management is able to fully harvest all
of the productivity benefits from giving people room and responsibility
beyond participation in technical projects. Management also has to gain
faith in this new approach and has to refrain from too easily taking the lead
again and thus hindering initiatives from engineers.
WWW.NEWSHOESTODAY.COM