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Week 4 …

Month 1 tick

Wow, Month 1 – tick!  It was a huge week in all aspects of my life.  Taking a few moments of quiet time in between all the craziness has been needed to keep the sanity in check.

I look back on what I have achieved so far, and it was a big fist in the air as I just finished tonight the prep activities as part of the first 4 weeks.  Not sure about everyone else, but for me, it was a mammoth effort as I have

  • read lots
  • listened and watched many interesting videos
  • finished the last of meeting my team members
  • networked with different people from past CSC assignments

This week I met the last of my team mates – Yen from Vietnam.  When I saw Yen’s introduction profile I knew that her and I would hit it off and was looking forward to the chat.  Not only very similar passions such as photography, loves to travel, music and yoga, but also in our spirituality and way  of life in thinking.  Sure enough, an hour went by very quickly as we compared stories, beliefs, and experiences, and I was fascinated to listen to her stories about her belly dancing competition days, and her love of cats.

Highlights of Week 4:

  • my new passport arrived and that certainly made it all real.
  • began to learn about media and communications, the do’s and don’ts, and understanding what our key messages are about this wonderful CSC experience; how we can effectively blog and use social media.
  • read about photography tips that made me smile such as this article “Your Camera doesn’t matter” to which I agree with the points that were made.  How many times people say to me “wow, you must have a great camera” and 9 times out of 10 I have taken that great pic using my phone.  Like any artist, there are many tools you can use, but at the end of the day, it’s all about what is in your head and what you are seeing that you capture, all about the composition, having that eye for it.
  • I created a group chat which has provided an opportunity to talk to my CSC family on a regular basis, and to share pics as we build on that teaming which is a critical part of any project.  There is no “I” in “Team”!  So with that, you need to know whom you are working with.  So what better way, but to bring everyone together in a group chat, and to just “chit chat”!
  • getting on good old Google to begin exploring places around San Fran that we as a team can explore while in the area.  Through my interactions with the team, I have discovered a lot of us like the outdoors, adventure, travel and photography amongst the many talents and skills of each person.  We have a long list which will require some voting on.

More sharing:

One of the TED videos I listened to this week was on “A Danger of a Single Story“.  A fascinating talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  A great speaker, and such a good topic that Chimamanda spoke of, that I thought I would share with you all.

Although I personally am aware that a person has many elements, often we hear one thing, and make up our mind that they fit into a certain mold.  I, myself, am guilty of this.  However, to change, it’s having knowledge, it’s having awareness of ourselves and our thinking, that we can, in turn, change!

One example of “a single story” that happened today … I heard someone say, “that little boy was not even Australian”.  I enquired as to how they came to that conclusion when they didn’t even know the little boy.  For them, it was looks and their accent sounding different.  But by broadening that person’s mind, I simply said that being young, yes;  whilst from a different family background, they may speak that language at home with their family and loved ones; but all this does not mean that little boy may not have been  born in Australia, or maybe he has been here a while, and is now an Australian citizen.

So never assume anything, and do not box or label something or someone.  It takes work, it takes awareness of our own thoughts, and what we are saying, but it can be done.  Learn all you can, and if you are not able to, then try not to make a single story and make assumptions, keep an open mind!

Do you have any examples of a single story that you can share?

 

Week 3 …

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#IBMCSCUSA2 – This photo cracks me up … meet one of my fellow CTC team members – Valentin from Romania.  More about that later … first, sharing more on things I have learned as I continue to work through the preparation tasks, one that I revisited and explored in more detail, was on the topic of Emotional Intelligence (EI), and it was interesting how it set me down a path or 2 …

So in the spirit of one thing I learned from our CEO is that when starting something share a story, that’s how most remember what you are saying.  So here are my stories:

After reading this paragraph in some of the activities I had to work on …

Be mindful of your body language. Just the simple act of pulling your shoulders back gives others the impression that you are a confident person. Smiling will not only make you feel better, but will make others feel more comfortable around you. Don’t forget to look at the person you are speaking to and speak slowly.

… it reminded me of the skills that I have picked up over the past year on this very topic.  Did you know that up to 93% of what we say is through our body language … yes pretty high, but true.  So what is Valentin saying in the photo above? Provide your thoughts in the comments below.

Body Language is thought provoking, and something that everyone should think about.  When I switch into the Body Language Detective it is amazing what I “hear” when someone is talking!  My question to you is how come we focus so much on our words, and no thought to our body signals when we are delivering the messages?  Understanding body language can be a powerful tool to have.   Here is a one minute video that shows how to use different body language movements in a job interview … how would you go?

So in my last blog I spoke of meeting of fellow team members, this week i had the privilege of meeting 5 more of them.  Here is what I learned:

  • Valentin … travels a lot, and was in Germany when we spoke.  He was quite a happy person, loves to have a laugh, he is pretty flexible and loves snowboarding.  In fact, he told of a story how snowboarding was a great way to break down the barriers of a team that he worked with, where they had traveled to Austria for a weekend together and just did snowboarding.  The following week they were able to work together so much better after the teaming exercise which was an eye opener for Valentin after all the other teaming exercises that were done in the office, the snowboarding was the thing that broke down the barriers.
  • Lung .. lives in Malaysia.  What I learned of Lung is he is the quiet one.  His social presence I enquired about, and with a smile, his response was “I am not a social kind of guy” … I laughed, and said that CSC will certainly help change that with a little bit of encouragement from his fellow team members I am sure (namely me 🙂 ).  Lung likes to go and explore archaeological sites, and would definitely give shopping a miss!
  • Abhay (a fellow Aussie), born in India, and has lived in Australia for the past 12 years.  He works in Canberra and commutes between Adelaide and Canberra each week.  He has been to Dubai and been in a Ferrari and got up to 180 km with a driver, his dream is to drive a high performance car like a Lamborghini and drive the Autobahn.  That was when I was able to share with Abhay that I had driven on the autobahn last year getting up to speeds of 220km which was a phenomenal experience and a must if you like driving quick, with focus!
  • Benedicte is from Denmark and was an interesting person to listen too.  She spoke about her travels to different locations around the world that were not of the most common of places you would think of.  She has a background as a Journalist and Economist. Sometimes she is able to bring them together. Benedicte was a Journalist on national television channel .. news journalist and anchor woman presenting sporting activities such as the Olympics games in Atlantis in 1996 being the biggest highlight of her career.  Benedicte shared that if she had a day to do anything she wanted, that would be to spend a few hours on her new paddle board learning how to use it.
  • Madlen, based in Switzerland, but was in Germany when we spoke.  Having grown up in Germany, spent time in Ireland and is now based in Switzerland.  One thing that stood out for me is that if Madlen could do something for one day, was to go to a country where things are not so easy, where food is hard to come by, water not easy to get, things are just that, things that we take for granted.  She felt that by living somewhere like this for a period of time, that she would learn to appreciate things more so, life in general, instead of taking things for granted.  Being a different person in a different country would expand and change outlook in life!

So to finish up, I have one last question to you which highlights another topic I covered on EI … how present were you reading this blog?  Did you get distracted?  Or did you get through it all and not multi-task?  I know that I am one of those people that does a lot in a day, multi-task in fact, whether it is effective working, that is another story.  So another skill I plan to work on is practicing doing nothing for 10 minutes, to give my mind a break; to practice mindfulness and being present.  I will leave you with an interesting TEDtalk on this very topic that you might enjoy!

 

The Second Week …

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#CSCIBMUSA2 .. settling into the activities of Week 2.. I took time to reflect back and oh what a week it had been. So much goes through the mind with such a productive week on so many levels, so much happened, that it can be a challenge to pick out what would be interesting to read about.

Firstly, for those new to my blog .. what is CSC .. Corporate Service Corps (CSC) has provided pro bono consulting teams to communities worldwide since 2008. Inspired by the Peace Corps, CSC offers IBMers an immersive experience designed to benefit communities, enrich its participants culturally and professionally, and support IBM’s global leadership development.

The program deploys teams of 12–15 to work with governmental, not-for-profit and social organizations, healthcare providers and other civic leaders to help address high-priority issues in education, health, economic development and community resiliency no matter where in the world!

So a lot of preparation goes into it for people whom have been selected like me. There is 3 months of activities, the first 2 is understanding yourself and others, prep for travel, skills building, etc, the 3rd month you receive your assignment and you begin preparing.

So here goes what happened for this past week …

  • I met with an additional 7 team mates on an individual basis whom are on this journey with me, which now takes me up to 11 wonderful individuals over the past couple of weeks. I will elaborate on what I have learned about these fine people a little later.
  • I completed a skills assessment which was done in my weekly CSC catchups with my Manager whom very kindly worked with me as we went through the details.
  • I learnt about the importance of Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity. And that there is some interesting reading. I discovered a few things about myself on what I am doing naturally, and areas I need to work on.
  • I completed a cultural profile another interesting exercise which highlighted to me my strengths and weaknesses and how I measure up with other people from different countries. This started me on the path of researching into the different countries my fellow team mates live in and their cultural differences. One thing out of many that stood out for me is that if i learn the following phrase “jeitinho” that people in Brazil will understand that I am flexible, and that I occasionally “wing it”.

Relationship Building and Teaming … an important factor to success

  1. IBM is not just a company and work to me … it is friendship, it’s opportunity, it is trust, it is respect, it is knowing whom you are working with on both a professional and personal level which has provided amazing results in projects over the years.
  2. being a part of a team, it is so important to form more than just a working relationship, finding out what makes people tick, what are their passions, what do they like or don’t like
  3. Relationship building breaks down the barriers
  4. understanding personalities, getting to know a person, helps to build a strong team working to the strengths of everyone, understanding the weaknesses and using opportunities to build them up.

So what did I learn from those I have met with so far …with the diversity of locations that we are all from, I been to Brazil, UK, India, Japan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Adelaide, Denmark as I got a snap shot of each person’s profile

  • Romano supports IBM communities and would love to race F1 Formula Race Car for a day
  • Suzannah does design thinking and working with clients to solve problems.  She also is a very active woman, enjoying the outdoors, and loves food.  One of her desires would be to go the Virgin Islands and lie on a beach with her bestie.
  • Tanujha works with technical professionals helping them to come up with new ideas that can help to grow the IBM business.  She introduced me to her gorgeous dog Jazz, and I found her to be a very smiling and colourful person, speaking of her love for her plants, love of her family and spoke about her love for ghazals which sounded fascinating.
  • Noemi is a gentle soul, whom works with external clients.  She has volunteered for kids with disabilities, and loves to travel and told me stories about losing her luggage which was often (hopefully not in San Francisco)
  • Hong has a passion for helping potential leaders to grow their skills and would love to watch a play in National Theatre in London
  • Alona loves being the cool Mum, figures if she gets it right at home with her own children, she has a better chance with the young talent coming through IBM that she helps to grow their skills
  • Suwidhi interacts with external clients, helps to design and build, disaster recoveries for many companies in his country.  He has a passion for helping the local communities in things like building houses for the under privileged.  He loves soccer, keen on the World Cup, and would love to play alongside Renaldo in the World Cup
  • Claudio works with some pretty diverse teams from hard core scientists to Designers to Domain Experts whom all have different values in research for AI and Conversations.  He also spoke of his interactive art with one of his projects in one of the country’s museums on 19th Century characters, which sounded absolutely fascinating.
  • Abhay is living between 2 cities Adelaide and Canberra.  Originally from India, been in Australia for 11-12 years.  He works closely with the Government, and was excited about one of his projects he is on now.  His dream is to drive a high performance car such as Lamborghini on the Autobahn.
  • Lung was the quiet one of the team, and admitted that he was not so social.  So one of the things I encouraged him on was that maybe this was an area that he could  work on as part of his learning experience and leadership skills that he was keen to learn that he spoke of.  Lung has a love of exploring archaeological sites.
  • Benedicte was an interesting woman to speak with listening to her stories of the countries she had visited from Nairobi and Kenya to other equally as interesting countries.  She spoke about the 6 months of helping the local people to present innovative ideas, and discovered how similar humor was between her country and these countries.  She is very experienced in communications for her country and enjoys her role.  If she could do one thing for a day, it was to take out her new paddle board out onto the water for a few hours to learn how to use it effectively.

This coming week, I have 3 more to get to know.  These sessions have been great, and do look forward to the coming weeks as we get to learn more and more about each other as we interact over the different exercises coming up as part of this journey.

Yesterday I was talking to a young man from the US and was explaining about CSC and how I was going to San Francisco. Two things that struck me that he said .. “would you call US a developed country as it is not being perceived as that from people he knows whom have visited the country with the amount of social challenges with San Francisco being one of the top cities with many issues around homelessness.” Wow, certainly thought provoking. He went on to mention about a program that was going on in Texas that was providing jobs for the homeless to help them to get ahead that was also cleaning up the rubbish around the city. It was proving a success being a double edge sword, but still they required assistance. The other thing he said was “thank you for helping my country” which I was taken back by but also felt proud to be a part of something that potentially could make a difference somewhere for something in San Fran.

What a week! Stay tuned for Week 3 … and feel free to leave a comment, ask questions, or any feedback.

 

The first week …

Last week we all got to meet each other via Webex for our first #CSCIBMUSA2 get together, seeing each other for the first time. It was super exciting. There is 15 of us from all parts of the World taking the same journey, but each journey will be different, each experience will be unique for each of us!
As I reviewed the schedule of the weeks ahead and what we have to do to prepare, I had mixed emotions. Among the excitement, and the good feel emotions, there were also hesitations, fear of the unknown, and then that old fear within asking myself “Am I good enough? Will I be able to contribute and be worthy of this experience?”
And then I am reminded by something that I wrote a while back that crossed my path.

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do, it comes from overcoming things you once thought you couldn’t.
Everything worth fighting for may seem hard, even difficult at the time … but changing that mindset, my thought patterns, looking at things and experiences differently, even seeking guidance and support from those around me, that once thought of whether I can do it, takes a different turn.
I can become a special kind of person whom now can overcome these obstacles, breaking them down! Taking a breath, smiling, stepping forward and taking one step at a time, and watch as the magic appears!
So as I am reminded by Universe by way of different messages, I know that I am going to be OK!
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Why San Francisco?

I had an interesting question posed of me the other day of my CSC assignment … Why San Francisco?  What sort of issues does San Francisco have?

I listened to the question, and was interested in why they were asking … it was a very  valid question … in my world no question is a silly question!

My response to this question was that every country in the world has social challenges.  Every country has their challenges such as homeless, people battling depression, education systems that need improving, health systems that need support, elderly, disasters and so on.  There are many Not For Profit Organisations all over the world doing fantastic work.  Even here in Australia, and in NZ.  When I put the answer in that context, it was understood!

Never limit your thinking on the good you can do in someone’s life no matter where they are in the World as there is always someone or something that needs your help!

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Adding Purpose to Each Day!

Whilst I continue to wait for more details on my CSC assignment, I prepare!

Since I was accepted into the program last year, I have been preparing myself mentally, physically, and spiritually to ensure that I am at my optimum.  For the last 4 months, to help with this, I have taken up Yoga and Pilates 3 nights a week, and go to a meditation group one night a week.  This commitment to myself has been wonderful so far.  Changes are occurring, differences being made.

So what’s next, what can I do more to prepare I ask myself …

Today I saw this as it caught my eye .. a picture of Benjamin Franklin, with the words from one of our company leaders “Benjamin Franklin’s schedule. I think we should all think about addressing Powerful Goodness every day. “.  Curiosity got the better of me and i clicked on the link … I read and I listened.  It all made sense!  So what will I take from this …

  • Add purpose to my day … so making what i do more accountable and real.  So in a journal, upon rising, write what good shall i do today .. how do i improve the world by me being a better person.  Think on it, meditate on it, and jot down whatever springs to mind.
  • Evaluate throughout the day, journal it.
  • At the end of each day, ask myself, what good have I done today, did I accomplish everything that I set out to do .. what didn’t I accomplish, why not, and what can be done the next day.  If I have accomplished something, what impact did that have on me, and on the World!

Will you join me in adding purpose to your day?
Would love to hear your feedback in the comments section on how you went.  I will share with you how I go!

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Just in … I have news on my destination!

Finally in, on 22 May I was sent an email with the title “CSC Assignment: Congratulations – You have been invited to …”.  Needless to say, when i saw that email highlighted in Red to ensure that I did not miss the email in my busy inbox, my heart did a little skip, and a smile that grew as I saw the title.  Talk about timing … I was having a conversation only the day before about another colleague had received her assignment, and I wondered when I might hear about mine before the year was out.

Can you guess where I am going?  So whilst I have the dates, and the destination, I am still awaiting details on what my assignment will be and whom my team members are.  So there is still more to come to keep the journey exciting, that unknown element still there!

The reason why I mentioned the date of 22 May .. as soon as I realised the date, I knew that there was an extra special meaning behind this particular date of 22 … Angel number 22 is a powerful sign from your angels that you are on purpose in life and about to turn your dreams into reality.   How true could that be!

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Woohoo .. I’ve been picked!

My first blog for what is expected to be an amazing experience!

Thursday, 12 October .. a significant day in an already amazing magical life that I have had to-date.  I was told that I had been selected for the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) for 2018-19.  This global program is an extremely tough program to get into with year on year many people within IBM applying .. this year no different with around 1200 applicants from around the world, only 12% got through, so to be told I had been accepted, was one of those pinnacle personal moments.  This program has been on my life list for many years as an IBMer, long story short, this year was the year to try out.  To read about this amazing program, click here.  So with the light shining, I am but one of many waves in this big ocean of possibilities.  Follow my journey from whoa to go, as I prepare mentally, physically, and spirituality for the opportunity of a lifetime. post