Still Here & Saying Goodbye

18th May, 2020 – Delhi, India

Still here in Delhi. Lockdown is now version 4.0. Over two months. Things are opening up a bit. Many states in India were able to relax or completely lift lockdown. But of course there are not enough tests as they open up. So we probably aren’t getting to yellow zone anytime soon. Sadly the two worst cities in the country are Delhi and Mumbai.

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End of Prohibition

Liquor sales have reopened. The end of the temporary prohibition was a disaster. . People lost their shit.

Cities lost millions of dollars due to not having the taxes coming from liquor sales. Even with a “70% corona virus” tax on liquor sales demand has been record breaking and everyone is ignoring social distancing norms.

Here are people waiting in line for hours in a hailstorm to get liquor: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/nainital-liquor-buyers-refuse-to-budge-even-in-hailstorm-remain-standing-in-queues-at-shop/videoshow/75557909.cms

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Goodbye & Thank you: Reflections on Job

At the end of April I officially resigned from my position as Program Director at 321 Education Foundation. I worked there for a little over two years.

The last couple years in Chicago I had become a little cynical with the social development sector. It was hard to see anymore what was possible and WHY we were doing this work. It seemed like an endless cycle of selling new projects and meeting grant requirements.

My excitement about new ideas, the belief anything was possible was not there. I was not reading enough, my ideas had become stale and my commitment was waning. I was critiquing everything and lost my curiosity and thirst for great ideas and solutions. Often just going through the motions to be good enough to have a couple of feel good stories and keep things going.

Within two weeks of my arrival in India I started my new job. Cognitively juggling my first couple weeks in India was not easy. I couldn’t even cross the street. Didn’t know how to order food. Was a stranger in my own home. Didn’t understand how to use my kitchen. Going shopping was stressful and setting up a bank account took two months. I didn’t speak Hindi & for those that spoke English they couldn’t understand my accent. All my points of reference and friends were gone. Everything seemed so complicated. Nothing made sense. Plus had just moved in with Smritika and we were living together for the first time. My brain was on overload. Navigating India, Mumbai, a new social structure, transitioning from a long distance relationship to living together, new ways of doing things. Etc. My brain was in overload. Being good at my job was probably the last thing on the list.

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Back in Chicago I knew how most of the systems worked. I had built trust and solid relationships with people in different levels of govt, NGOs, academia and just life. I understood the psyche & socio-political context of Chicago. I knew how to get places without Google Maps. With a directional sense as horrid as mine that is a monumental accomplishment. I knew which levers to push and how to get things done. All of a sudden I’m in this new place and knew only one person in the entire country of 1.2 billion. So lots of new things to understand.

New Language, Acronyms & Systems

So I enter into my new job and couldn’t understand what was happening and what people were saying. New organisational terms, Ed sector language, British English & Indian English. Never before seen acronyms and different systems.

We had slack not gmail. Did all of our trainings remotely on zoom (a skill which is now useful in COVID times). New rules about which channels to communicate. The entire culture of the org was different. They moved fast and if something was not working would scrap it immediately. Right when I figured something out a new system would be introduced. Confusing.

Humbling Experience

You start to question yourself. Wonder what skills or knowledge do I really even have? I lacked so much knowledge.

I knew nothing about how schools worked in India. I didn’t speak any of the 5 languages our students and teachers spoke. I knew little about primary education. I knew nothing about the 3 cities where we worked. There was the internal stuff at 321. There was a million cultural things about India. People communicated differently and non-verbal communication was this whole new frontier. My tech skills needed a severe upgrade. You quickly understand how much of your success in the past is due to your social capital and understanding how systems work.

Unlearn, Relearn & Trusting Your Gut

So you get knocked on your ass a little. You have to unlearn a bunch of stuff and then relearn. During that process you confidence is taking a serious hit. You are questioning everything about the skill-set you thought you had. Eventually you start to understand how systems work and which buttons to push to make things happen. You start to get your confidence back and can start applying the past experiences and things you have learned because now you can see patterns, make connections, and think about the situation in a critical way.

Your “gut” feeling comes back. You can trust your intuition again. Decisions become easier to make. You can bring your personality into the mix at work. This took some time.

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Saving Grace: Connecting with People

There was a saving grace. Something that allowed me to not get fired and have some success from the start: Knowing how to connect with people

There is a certain universality about people who work in the social development sector. The team at 321 was easy to work with. It was like someone took all the motivated, kind, smart, compassionate and competitive individuals and put them together. People worked as a team. Spoke the same language and strived for the same goals. And best of all they accomplished the goals. Lofty ones. I learned a lot. There were of course things I would change and improvements to be made but all in all it was a very positive experience.

Some of my favorite things about the job.

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Genuine interactions: People mean what they say. No ulterior motives. People follow through and support others.

Evaluation & Assessment: This was one of my biggest takeaways of what you NEED to do to be effective. We did evaluation and assessment really good.We collected lots of data on a regular basis with simple evaluation tools. We built detailed dashboards from the ground up with diligent weekly data analysis. Systems were put in place to quickly fix any glitches in data. The team trusted and believed in the data. Data was integrated into every coaching conversation or team meeting to understand challenges, create solutions and make decisions.

Applied Research: A big part of the culture was reading best practices & research from across the globe. Learning from it and applying it it. We experimented with so many great ideas and made them our own.

Drive to be the best: They are fiercely competitive & relentless. Everyone is so kind and helpful and understanding. But you play any game of any kind with them (board game, sports, etc) everyone loses their minds with the sole focus is on their team winning. That was also how people approached their work.

Grace under Pressure: When things are on the line, high pressure situations is when people perform the best.

Always trying to get better: In two years the entire org impact model was changed. Text books were written from scratch and then a second version was created within 8 months. Program activities and implementation strategies have gone through hundreds of versions and improvements.

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Maturity: People handled conflict well. Disagreements, debates, decision making was done with maturity and poise.

Versioning: You create a version get feedback. Then make it better. Then get more feedback and then make it better. Seems a little “extra” but was a good way to work and can be done efficiently after some practice. You just kept making better stuff and getting smarter. Plus, people really valued feedback.

Nice People: People didn’t talk shit about each other behind their backs. If there was an issue it was brought forward and discussed. There were uncomfortable conversations and not all got resolved but you rarely heard people say mean things about others.

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Not Sheep: A common story from many on the team was: “My parents wanted me to become an engineer. I went to school. Got a job as an engineer and hated it. This is where my passion lies and I decided to do it.” In many cases people’s families were really displeased with their decision to go into the social sector and thought they were nuts to be doing something with such low pay. Everyone was a little quirky and silly because they were going against the grain, a little misfitty in a positive sense.

Impact: Not just cute stories or potential. Actual impact. In one year the student mastery of 10,000 primary students in reading and math increased by 40% to 50%, 3-4 times the national average.

My departure is a little bittersweet. The static and uncertain times of covid has given me a chance to reflect on this unique and humbling experience. It’s reopened my eyes to what is possible when you work as a team, set high standards, be nice, seek out new ideas and continue to experiment till you do it right. No matter where I end up in the world I hope to never forget the lessons learned working with this wonderful group of people. I am thankful.

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