Leadership
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. - Stephen Covey
Strategic Visioning/Planning
To do the impossible, you must even consider the improbable. ― Wissam Raji
Strategic visioning and planning are important in the pursuit of any venture. During my time working with World Vision in Matito Andei, Kenya, we worked to empower CBOs (Community Based Organizations) by helping them draft strategic plans. The first step to developing a solid plan is to lay out a vision that all members can buy into. My partner (Mark Mutai) and I worked with an up and coming womens group called Muuo Wa Sombe to develop their vision and strategic plan. We started with an organizational self-assessment (OSA), which then helped determine which areas to focus the trainings on. The CBOs self-identified needs were in the area of record keeping, proposal writing, strategic planning and financial management. We created a training plan to build up their capacity in these key areas over the course of several days. We integrated Strategic Visioning/Planning training into the proposal writing portion of the training because the two themes worked so well together. Here is a report from that training and some photos.
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Strategic Planning Notes (Photo)
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Strategic Planning Session (Photo)
When I first arrived at Walla Walla University (WWU) for my internship, I led the GHEE committee in a strategic visioning exercise using AI (Appreciative Inquiry). This session was very informative and helped me understand the history of the GHEE program and where the faculty/staff of WWU wanted to take the program. This helped us develop a detailed strategic plan using a modified version of the ADIP that I used during my time with World Vision Kenya. Here’s a link a version of that early Logical Framework (Logframe) + Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) – most of which has either been accomplished or changed significantly. I was responsible for completing nearly all of the activities listed.
The knowledge about how to conduct Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and other tools from these strategic planning sessions have helped to inform the development of many other academic programs on campus by other professors – especially EWB. I think leadership is about empowering other people to be successful in the pursuit of a common goal so I am grateful to have empowered other faculty and staff with these strategic planning tools and techniques.
HR Management
Although I am opposed to the term “Human Resources” (HR) because I don’t like the idea of treating people as just another (disposable) resource (as Dr. Oberholster pointed out), I do believe that learning to manage people is a crucial skill to master. Although my time as a project manager / estimator in the construction industry helped me in my leadership role at Walla Walla University (WWU), it did not prepare me for the challenges of managing a mostly volunteer force. Paid workers are much more responsive to the requests of a manager but I have enjoyed the unique opportunity to learn to motivate volunteers and in some ways it is more rewarding. As a leader in EWB’s Peru project(s) teams, I’ve had to find creative ways to incentivize students to finish project reports and other tasks. Helping EWB elected leaders make decision about project managers and other leadership roles has also been a significant aspect of my role with EWB.
As a graduate assistant and project manager, I had the privilege of managing a project team in ENGR-390 (Engineering in a Global Context - a core GHEE class) tasked with building a ram pump. I lead the team by dividing up tasks each week and organizing ram pump construction events. I delegated responsibilities to various team members to ensure we met project deadlines. The team and I built a strong rapport from working together and quickly went from forming, storming, norming to performing.
Volunteer Management
Managing volunteers is more challenging than managing paid employees but I have enjoyed the unique opportunity to learn to motivate volunteers and in some ways it is more rewarding. I was impressed with how little it would take to motivate volunteers in East Africa. There’s a stronger sense of community in other countries that makes them more resilient in some ways. During my time in Mtito Andei working with World Vision Kenya (WVK), we interacted with many community volunteers. I was impresses by how committed these volunteers were to challenging task such as looking after orphans in their community and the elderly. One event in particular, involved significant help from volunteers - Child Protection Rights Advocacy and Social Marketing Campaign. My partner, Mark Mutai, and I worked with WVK staff and local community leaders to mobilize the community for this event. As you can see from these youtube videos, we had significant turnout involving key stakeholders in the community and many children.
Throughout my time at Walla Walla University, I’ve worked with student volunteers on numerous project with EWB. As a leader in EWB’s Peru project(s) teams, I’ve had to find creative ways to incentivize student volunteers to finish project reports and other tasks. I encouraged project team leaders to be more firm with deadlines but also to plan more celebratory event at the end of each significant milestone to help motivate students.
Team Building
Team building is an important aspect of leadership. From my experience in the field, I’ve found that the most effective team building exercise is to endure struggles together. It’s also helpful to engage in formal team building exercises to get to know teammates better. At the end of my field rotation with World Vision Kenya (WVK), we were treated to an all-inclusive getaway on the Kenyan coast for some much needed rest and relaxation after a lot of hard work in the ADP (Area Development Programme). It wasn’t all leisure, however. We also had some trainings and I was asked to lead a team building exercise. Here is a video of me leading a team-building exercise that involved complex communication to complete a relatively simple task. A member of our cohort, Cody Robinson-Bullock - who has more extensive team building exercise experience, suggested this exercise idea to me.
This experience allowed me to offer informed suggestions to EWB leaders looking for team-building exercises for incoming officers.
Another excellent team-building event that helped the EWB Peru project team bond after a week of intense work during spring break 2017, was an excursion to Machu Picchu. Here are some photos from that experience.
I’ve also spoken with GHEE students in ENGR-390 about the 4 phases of team formation – forming, storming, norming and performing. I offer some tips to student teams about how to expedite the team-formation process with better communication.
Time Management and Work Organization
Time management skills and work organization are essential to success in any venture. During my time in Mtito Andei, working with World Vision Kenya (WVK), I had to be very strategic about how I used my limited time there to achieve all of my learning objectives. I worked with my partner, Mark Mutai, to develop an Academic Detailed Implementation Plan (ADIP). Throughout the program, we developed many detailed schedule to help us guide our trainings and stay focused on the objectives. Here are a few schedules we developed for various events.
Throughout my internship at Walla Walla University I learned to use Microsoft Outlook to organize my email communication and to arrange meetings with other personnel on campus. I laid out my schedule on the calendar and this helped me stay organized.
I also learned how to send out invitations through Outlook to students and faculty to large events such as GHEE brunches and EWB meetings. I’ve learned how to send out mass emails to people and how to import email lists from PeopleSoft to help manage my Math-105 class.
In addition, I’ve helped the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) club organize their online content in google docs. Having an organized record of EWB reports and design files has proved invaluable in the project planning and maintenance process. The engineering students at Walla Walla University have also introduced me to new and interesting productivity apps such as doodle.
Conflict Mediation
Learning to handle conflict is a life-long skill that needs constant revision, patience and wisdom. I had some experience with conflict mediation prior to entering the MGCD program, but the international aspect of the conflicts added a completely different dimension to the mix. I learned a little bit about how to handle such situations from World Vision’s Safety Training. This training along with cultural sensitivity training helped me to resolve a number of conflicts that arose throughout my time in East Africa.
I also learned about conflict of interest that can arise in the arena of academic research and how to deal with it from my CITI training. Throughout my time at Walla Walla University, I have witnessed several conflicts between students within EWB. I mentored the leaders in these circumstances on how to best handle the situation without escalating tensions. I’ve also had a few moments were I unintentionally rubbed people the wrong way and had to apologize personally to mend relationships. I’m learning more and more every day.
Ensuring Strategies for Empowering Vulnerable and Special Populations
During my time in Mtito Andei, Kenya I worked with World Vision on a number of advocacy campaigns to empower vulnerable and special populations. We gathered community leaders and local political members for a child rights advocacy and social marketing campaign. These events are important because children are particularly vulnerable within that community. Here are a few pieces of evidence from that campaign.
We also worked with a women’s group that supported many AIDs orphans and the elderly through their work. We helped them develop a strategic detailed implementation plan (DIP) as part of a grant proposal to expand the capacity of their income-generating activities.
The projects selected by EWB aim to specifically target vulnerable and special population. The community that EWB is working with in Japura, Peru was selected because they lived in a remote region largely neglected by the local municipality. In fall 2016, I wrote a grant proposal requesting funding for a project aimed at bringing light and solar electrical power to this community. A survey study conducted in 2014 revealed that children were unable to perform as well in school due to lack of lighting. Women also wanted electric power to help with the burdens of cooking, sowing and creating income-generating crafts without power. My grant proposal was accepted and Boeing donated $5000 to the cause. This summer, I will be leading an EWB project team to Japura, Peru to oversee completion of the project. I hope this project will empower them (pun intended).
Critical and Independent Thinking
Critical and independent thinking is at the heart of the MGCD program. I worked hard to analyze and try to understand difficult scenarios that were presented to us. I worked with a student in Tunisia (Feriel Bayoudh) to develop a proposal for research study aimed at reducing maternal mortality in a neglected region within Tanzania. During my time in Mtito Andei, Kenya I worked with World Vision on several proposal writing trainings that required a lot of critical and independent thinking and independent research. My partner, Mark Mutai, and I created the following technical guides to train local CBOs (Community Based Organizations) proposal writing skills. We tried to streamline the process for the CBOs as much as possible by leaving blank spaces where they could immediately begin filling in each section of the proposal.
My work at Walla Walla University as a teacher and graduate assistant has required a lot of critical and independent thinking. I’ve helped create the curriculum for the GHEE program and guided multiple EWB projects.