Learnings and Whom have we been aligned to?

#IBMCSCUSA2 This week was another big week!  A few things were achieved or discovered.  If nothing else, learning does not stop at High School or University.  If you are open to improving your skills, there is so much out there.  You are the only person that can make that decision as to whether you want to grow and learn.  Any decision you make about your life is perfect, there is no right or wrong!  You are in control always, and there are no mistakes or wrongs, only flearning (failure from learning), growth, improvements of me, myself and I!  If an opportunity is presented, then take a leap of faith, and go for it!

So my learning this week …

• Topics I learned was on Theory of Change / Project Impact Analysis (understand the input, output, outcome and impact) and being an Effective Consultant (trust being key).  All great skills to learn, to refresh on some that I do today, others I can implement in my day-to-day work and life in general.
• IBM has a variety of courses we can select from, so additional learning for me was attending a Balancing Time and Energy course which I thought sounded interesting and relevant as I balance my work life with preparing for CSC.  I wondered what additional tips I could learn, or be reminded of, so out of curiosity I attended this one during the week, and found it to be a refresher and learned additional tips on
  • how to stay focused even through those challenging tasks and how to deal with procrastination.
  • meditation and breathing techniques to help quieten and de-clutter the mind – this i found interesting listening and learning from someone how you can bring this topic into a course.  Meditation and Breathing techniques I have taken the time to do as self development courses outside of IBM over the years, so it was great to see how this is brought into the corporate world!
  • listening to music can help with completion of tasks – regardless of the type of music, people do well when we listen to the music, it triggers a part of the brain for concentration.
  • time management and blocking time on your calendar, using your email tool to effectively add tasks and reviewing our email more effectively, and were given tools/methods on how to prioritize requests and work ensuring that we are doing the right things at the right time, that they are relevant, and on time and with quality.
  • how eating right and exercising should be considered high on your priority to be more effective in balancing your time and energy.
  • … and so much more.  Anyone from IBM reading this blog, highly recommend that you take the time to attend this course, worth taking a couple of afternoons out of your week!

And the BIG news for this week …. We found out whom we have been aligned to, whom the 4 organizations are that benefit from this extraordinary process.  So let me introduce

Firstly, I am very excited to share that I have been aligned to UWBA – United Way Bay Area with 3 other CSC team members and a Fellow.  UWBA has been around since 1922 helping to unite individuals, nonprofits, businesses, and government partners to fight for the education, basic needs, and financial stability of each and every person in the San Francisco Bay Area focusing on Youth Development, Adult Empowerment, Community Development and Basic Needs. They are an incubator of innovative programs to improve and provide educational opportunities such as Youth Jobs Plus where they have connected nearly 8K youths  with jobs, internships, and job training.  Other core programs they have are Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, SparkPoint Centers, 211 Bay Area call centers, Emergency Food and Shelter Program, Labor Community Services, and Rise Together Bay Area.

The other 3 organizations where the rest of my CSC teams have been aligned to are:

• Women’s Alliance for Knowledge Exchange (WAKE) – They work closely with their partners to provide women’s rights leaders tools, products, advisors and resources such as one of their main programs – Tech2Empower.  Over the past 3 years alone, WAKE has trained 700+ leaders from 135 organizations in 10 countries.  Activists and their organizations are leading change for their communities. With the latest tech tools and expertise they are able to scale and accelerate their work.
• San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium (SFCCC) –  formed in 1982, they form partnerships of non-profit health centers which promote and improve quality community health for under served people in the San Francisco area.  With 27 Partner Clinics sites they provide care for over 112K patients being around 13% of the San Francisco population.
• Mission Economic Development Agency – MEDA – With over 45 years of experience, MEDA’s mission is to strengthen low-and moderate-income Latino families by promoting economic equity and social justice through asset building and community development.  They provide and serve over 7K people annually providing services such as financial capability/education, business technical assistance, affordable housing counseling, to name just a couple of what they do for people.

So all in all, this week was huge.  Who am I kidding, every week is huge!  But you know what, no regrets!  Only surprise, excitement, and lots and lots of learning!  Next week tune in to find out what our SoW (Statement of Work) will be, how we will be supporting these organizations, what do they need our help with to grow their organization; and what learning I have completed that I can share and hope inspire you with!  If you have any comments, then I would really appreciate your sharing, love to hear from you!  Until next week’s blog, have a truly magic week yourself!