On August 27, 2009 I wrote this post at the very beginning of my Peace Corps adventure. Sitting here now, I can still remember the idealism, optimism, energy, and confidence I had in my purpose for Kazakhstan, something which quickly turned out to be un-plannable, uncontrollable, and entirely different from how I imagined it (go fig, right?).
And I see that now. When I said I was "rhapsodizing about changing the world", I really had no conceptual basis for defining what that really meant or how I would go about creating said change. In the past 2 years, I have had many, many successes (and an equal amount of failures), but this one stands out to me today, and I wanted to share it with you.
One of the first changes I tried to instigate at Credo when I arrived in 2009, was the adoption of a monthly staff meeting, where the 3 branches of the organization could sit together and review past projects while planning for future ones. It was self-evident to me that miscommunication between stakeholders caused unnecessary inefficiency and deviation from any sort of strategic plan (which at that time didn't exist either). However, for a year and a half I was the only one who thought a regular staff meeting was useful, despite several attempts and demonstrations of how it could function within the office.
For the past 2 months, my coworkers have held office meetings entirely on their own accord, and have even been taking minutes. On top of that, for the past 3 months we have had a comprehensive work calendar on the wall that chronicles all of our tasks and obligations (another suggestion that was initially shot down), and the result of these two, very, very small alterations, is already visible on an organizational level.
I just wanted it to be known that I am equally as proud of the staff meetings as I am of the 6-figure European Commission grant on the development of health services in prisons. What hindsight tells me now, is that 2 years ago I had precious little appreciation for both ends of the change spectrum. That is, I wasn't looking for the basic, obvious, small solutions to fundamental problems because on a rhetorical level "changing the world" is presented as a grand gesture of epic proportions.
Hardly ever does someone "rhapsodize" about making a wall calendar. Perhaps development aid programs would be more effective if we did, though. But that's another topic for another day.
And I see that now. When I said I was "rhapsodizing about changing the world", I really had no conceptual basis for defining what that really meant or how I would go about creating said change. In the past 2 years, I have had many, many successes (and an equal amount of failures), but this one stands out to me today, and I wanted to share it with you.
One of the first changes I tried to instigate at Credo when I arrived in 2009, was the adoption of a monthly staff meeting, where the 3 branches of the organization could sit together and review past projects while planning for future ones. It was self-evident to me that miscommunication between stakeholders caused unnecessary inefficiency and deviation from any sort of strategic plan (which at that time didn't exist either). However, for a year and a half I was the only one who thought a regular staff meeting was useful, despite several attempts and demonstrations of how it could function within the office.
For the past 2 months, my coworkers have held office meetings entirely on their own accord, and have even been taking minutes. On top of that, for the past 3 months we have had a comprehensive work calendar on the wall that chronicles all of our tasks and obligations (another suggestion that was initially shot down), and the result of these two, very, very small alterations, is already visible on an organizational level.
I just wanted it to be known that I am equally as proud of the staff meetings as I am of the 6-figure European Commission grant on the development of health services in prisons. What hindsight tells me now, is that 2 years ago I had precious little appreciation for both ends of the change spectrum. That is, I wasn't looking for the basic, obvious, small solutions to fundamental problems because on a rhetorical level "changing the world" is presented as a grand gesture of epic proportions.
Hardly ever does someone "rhapsodize" about making a wall calendar. Perhaps development aid programs would be more effective if we did, though. But that's another topic for another day.
Remember this one? Ha! It's like a trip down memory lane!
(photo- Timertau, Abai, and Karaganda leaders with my director and our accountant at a monthly staff meeting).
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