The "A Team", Part II

The thing I will miss most about the CSC Experience is the people I met.  Professionally and personally, these are individuals I respect & admire, people whose skills in the workplace are exceptional and whose perspectives on living and working I value.  They are also funny and friendly.  Some are silly and some are serious; some are musical and some are athletic; some are pragmatists and others are dreamers.  

Before I left, I wrote a post on my anticipation for how great this experience would be by drawing what I hoped were humorous parallels to the “A” Team series.  Afterwards I worried that I might have been tempting fate with that post, but fortune was more than kind.  Everyone on this team was different but contributed something important and unique to the successful group dynamic.  

Meet this “A” Team (in alphabetical order), and what I'll miss most about them from our short time together:

Jane Antova was the first IBMer I met from the CSC team; we flew in, bought strawberries, and got lost twice in the Casablanca Medina before most of the team even arrived.  She is full of fun and takes every experience to its fullest; this is what I will miss most, and this is why I will be calling her when I take my family to Ireland in August.

Edwin Baby is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met.  Despite my giving him a hard time for wandering off a few times early in the trip (yes, Edwin is Waldo), I am so glad he got put on my team.

What I will miss most about Fabian Bourdin is his sense of humor.  A lot of people on this team had a great sense of humor, but no one made me laugh as hard as Fabian.  His humor permeates his professionalism and makes him a wonderful teammate.

What I will miss most about Kavya Gowda is the way she balances her creativity and humor with a sense of urgency in her work.  This woman, who I had the privilege of working closely with every day, is a creative soul who only accepts greatness in her work.

Jette Gustaffson might be the coolest person from the Morocco 6 crew.  She has seen much of the world and you can sense that in her demeanor and her sense of humor; nothing too much seems to ruffle her but she finds fun everywhere.  She’s also incredibly tech-savvy.  If you don’t believe me, check out these amazing videos she made of our trip:  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkRiX3jiWz4; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IaaDyWoE-8; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMICYu-Cu4) 

Although it would be a stretch to say I’ll “miss” Jordan Heichel (he and I work in the same business unit in Washington DC and I will most certainly see him again soon), I have great respect for his professionalism.  He’s one of those rare “up and coming” types who facilitates participation from all corners of the group.

Sarah Power is a confident and capable professional with a deep interest in the world around her.  I will miss her sharp humor and her willingness to debate.  The world needs more people like her who think hard about important issues.

What I will miss most about Tania Garcia Rueda is her laugh.  She is an incredibly warm and friendly person, and when she laughs she GOES for it.  No matter how poor the joke, or mundane the situation, Tani found every inch of joy in everything and laughed a laugh that no one could ignore.

Masafumi Takahashi is about as down to earth as it gets.  What I will miss most about him is that he was consistently a realist but that he always found the good in and around the grit.  No matter how irritating the situation, no matter how exhausted we all were, Masa was right there agreeing with us but able to find light and humor.

Samantha Milena Novaes Tomeotti (or Sami, as we called her) is just a delight.  A delight to talk to, a delight to joke with, a delight to work with, a delight to simply be around.  There is no other way to describe her on paper, because to truly pay her tribute I’d have to use my hands in describing her to you.

And last but never least, the man we affectionately nicknamed “Scrooge” for much of the trip.  Although Juani Espinosa Torroija is quiet and measured by nature, he is precise and thorough in his work.  And his sense of humor is as dry and sharp as they come.  Scrooge made me laugh every day in the office.  It’s a rare thing to find someone who takes their work seriously even when they see irony in task, and that it what I will miss most about him.

Hopefully, Morocco will be better for having this team’s professional focus for the month – but regardless, I can say definitively that I am better professionally for having been one of this group in Morocco.  

Thank you all.  And (really and truly!) come and visit if you ever find yourselves stateside.   

Next post - pictures of #ibmcsc morocco6

The Last Hurrahs

Written 28 March, 2015

It is very, very hard to believe that I’m writing this blog post as the last IBM CSC member left at the hotel in Casablanca.  Four weeks seems like a long time in terms of missed work, missed family and friends, missed time in the comfort of home.  It’s just enough time to get immersed in the life of the project and the needs of the client and make a dozen close friends.  It’s not enough time to get tired of your new friends or to anticipate the end of the project.  

Despite some concerns early in the effort, my team finished up our work at ANAPEC to our own satisfaction early this week and presented on our results in a few different meetings to a few different groups of people.  What we were able to accomplish was well received, but the reception by our clients was muted by the recognition that there is still so much more to do.  We had good discussions about how to use the work we did in the future; the work we did on the organization’s Job Seeker services is a first step that must be followed up on, and which must be repeated for Employers and Entrepreneurs.  Hopefully we gave them a blueprint that will facilitate all of that down the road.

Thursday was spent working with university students at all levels exploring the idea of innovation.  I always enjoy working with large groups of students at universities- I also enjoyed being a student participant in this type of event not so very long ago.  Despite some communication barriers in terms of language, the students were interested and engaging.  We asked them to consider the possibilities in redesigning a shopping cart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66ZU2PCIcM) – and their ideas were very good, despite the fact that few of them actually use a shopping cart on a regular basis.  After the challenge, the students wanted to talk about our jobs, our lives at IBM, and of course, internship opportunities none of us really know anything about.  It was an exhausting but also surprisingly fun and refreshing day in the suburbs of Casa.  

Friday morning we all returned to the IBM Morocco offices for the second and final time in our CSC experience here.  We discussed our work with regional executives and collectively considered what we had learned about life, markets, and the nature of the company’s work in the region.  We talked for a little bit with Baba Zoumanigui, who is a VP for sales and distribution in the region and one of the most engaging IBM executives I’ve met.  He talked about a concept of two Africas – the one we outsiders are used to seeing on the news and the one that supports the same types of banking, social, and wireless technology business similar to any global market.  This is something we all found relevant to the work we were doing.  Our projects realistically support that “second” Africa in the hopes that it matters for the markets as a whole.  If we’re doing this CSC thing right, the work we do will have ripple impacts throughout the economy.

But it’s hard to know; four weeks is such a short time.  And four weeks is over for #ibmcsc morocco6.

We’re going back to our families and our day jobs, happy for the time we had to work together and learn together.   I’ll have to write again – at least once – because there’s so much more to say, but now my computer battery is dying and a week with my family along the Moroccan coast is calling my name.

Speaking in Tongues

Juani gets a tutorial from a client

Let me be very clear up front:  I am one of the most fortunate people on the Morocco 6 team.  I am one of four people on the time whose first language is English, and English is the official language of the project.  I am also one of four people on the team with a working understanding of French, which is the primary language our clients use in the office.   I’ve also been doing strategy consulting as my day job, which means I’m used to sitting down with clients, investigating their objectives, and working with them to come up with strategies.  This means I have twice the opportunity to understand and reflect on what is being said (once in French and once in English) in a addition to background in working on this type of environment, which almost no one else has.

And still, this work is hard.

Consulting is almost never straightforward; it takes a long time to properly understand a client, their mission, their needs, their strengths and their weaknesses.  But for me, the path that leads from discovery to solution is what makes it interesting and worth doing.  Nearly 75% of the way through this CSC assignment, I find myself reflecting on how many things I take for granted when I start new projects at home.  Everyone speaks English.  We’ve all been working in the world of Defense for several years.  Usually, we have a common understanding of the overarching mission of the leadership above us before we even get started.   Things that are confusing can be clarified with little to no trouble.

This project is just 4 weeks long, we had almost no background on the project going in, and our client is ambitious and focused, which is good – but it means they expect a lot.  We’re also juggling 3-4 languages (English, French, Spanish, and Arabic).  None of us have a shared understanding of the operating environment, but everyone has great ideas.  Things that are confusing need time to unravel, because we need to translate from one language to another, and even the same word translated directly holds different meaning for people who come from different corners of the world.  I have tremendous respect for the incredible professionals on this team who have none of the advantages I have but are still providing great value to their clients.  Honestly I don't know how they are all doing it (to those of you reading the blog, hats off to you ;).

Kavya Listening Intently

Our work is also based on improving methods of communication.  Our client, ANAPEC, is a public organization charged with bringing job offerers and job seekers together more effectively – and we’ve been asked to help them understand how they communicate and provide support to thousands of Moroccan job seekers who can’t sit down face to face with an ANAPEC job counselor either because of proximity or their schedule.  Technology makes this possible, but the introduction of new methods can also cause confusion and decrease understanding.  The parallels and ironies of working on a communications project in an environment where communication is difficult are never far from my mind during the workday.

The good news is that this difficulty is making me listen more, think harder, and reflect more before I react.  Because it’s so difficult to clarify a misunderstanding, choosing my words wisely – and choosing when to speak at all – has become much more important.  We’re getting better at it every day.  We’re also making good use of our sense of humor to diffuse tension and our hands to make ourselves understood.  I found myself thinking today as I watched my English speaking teammate communicate pretty effectively with a French-speaking client that the true sign of being in an international work environment is that our arms and our smiles speak more clearly than our tongues.

#ibmcsc morocco6

"Where's Waldo?" and other Vignettes

Tea

Tea at the Riyadh in Chefchaouen

It’s approaching the wee hours of a new morning when you and 11 other people spill out of a cramped minivan into the cold night air.  After 7.5 hours in the car, your knees are a little sore and the chill permeates you almost instantly, but you’re determined that the trip will be worth the travel so you ignore the discomfort for the time being.  Instead, you concentrate on seeing the blue walls of the town through the darkness while you wait for directions to the guesthouse from the square.  When he finally appears to collect the group, the slight Moroccan man who owns the Riyadh the group has booked out for the weekend is a bit too cheerful for your mood, especially as the path to the guesthouse is spotted with trash and a smattering of dirty wild dogs nipping your toes.  It’s clear through the dim lights that the walls have a blueish hue, but nothing that inspires cheerfulness in your mind.   The Riyadh is also painted blue and once inside, you spend 20 minutes with the group navigating the tight winding stairwells and tiny guestrooms to lay out sleeping arrangements and lay your things down on the freezing brick floors.  The moment when you realize that the guesthouse has no central heat and no ceiling over the courtyard where all the guestroom "doors" face is the final straw and a moment of near meltdown; it’s just 4 degrees Celsius, maybe 8 in the room, and no amount of northern upbringing can make sleeping in those elements pleasant.  But just as you return downstairs thinking that this whole idea was a huge mistake, you realize that the mysteriously cheerful Riyadh owner is passing around tiny cups of steaming Moroccan Mint tea and shouting for blankets from the store rooms.  The tea, normally too sweet for your taste, is perfect and perfectly hot in your belly.  Your hands start to thaw with the tiny cup nestled between them.  And you notice something you hadn’t before; there are spots of sunny red and orange and yellow decorating the cold blue walls of the guesthouse, and everyone around you is laughing.  You find yourself starting to laugh too, even though you missed the joke.

“Where’s Waldo?”

Music and Dance crowds outside the Kasalabah

Saturday Morning in Chefchaouen dawned sunny and cold, and most of the team stayed under the covers well after they awoke enjoying the warm pressure of the rough thick blankets.  But eventually the promise of coffee and breakfast was enough to lure everyone into action and the sun was creeping over the walls of the courtyard, surprisingly hot and bright compared to the chilly shadows in the morning.   After a carb-laden breakfast, we set out into the “hidden” blue city of northern Morocco, where we explored alleys and doors packed with spices and carpets and jewelry.  We lingered over shawls and posed for photos.  Eventually we

The least crowded alley

stumbled on a group of young people spanning a wide range of the stages of dress and undress dancing and singing in the middle of the central market square outside the Kasbah.  After some furtive dancing on the edges of the crowd, we took a short break over tea and made our way once more into the alleys.  Suddenly, someone asks, “Where’s Waldo”?  Of course, I'm changing the name to avoid poking my friend too much in the eye on the internet, but actually its a very apt comparison that amidst the crush of people and colors in the close quarters of the Medina at midday. All at once, 10 of IBM's finest go into crisis-management mode as we try to determine where we lost him.  Scouts are dispatched and calls are made, until Waldo comes around the corner smiling and holding a gift they had just purchased for a loved one.  Lesson learned:  you’re never too old or too professional for the buddy system in a Moroccan Medina.

Shades of Blue

One of the things that amazes me about Morocco in general and really struck me this weekend in Chefchaouen is the seemingly clashing coexistence of old and new.  The withered man in his pointed wicker hat and wool robe is a pro at taking selfies with tourists in Casablanca.  The woman in a traditional hood is leading a donkey packed with Fanta down the street while talking on a cell phone in Chefchaouen.  Vendors dressed in skinny jeans and pointy leather shoes will explain in detail the process of traditional Berber carpet making.  Older vendors slinging herbs and spices in the street will shoo photographers away angrily or duck into doorways to avoid a camera, while young girls and boys do whatever they can to photobomb our group photos and peek out at our lenses while we shoot.   It’s also something we’re finding on our assignment.  Our client provides a marketplace for Moroccan job seekers to develop and find jobs in this crazy market, and miraculously do it pretty well by my estimation.  Targeting employment services to a population as diverse and technically polarized as Morocco is one of the finest challenges I can think of for a company like IBM.  How do we deliver remote services to a population where mobile phones outnumber people but there are some job seekers without internet access?  It’s a reality that defines the Moroccan emergence into the 21^st century and - I've seen from other experiences - is also present in so many emerging markets around the world as technology becomes a global economic “flattener”.    As my client told Kavya, Juani and I this afternoon, nothing is static and innovation is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

“Where’s Waldo?” Part II

Selfie break overlooking the Pont de Dieu

“No one tell Boutaina” (our fabulous coordinator), we all joked as we emerged at top of a craggy mountainside and hauled ourselves onto the path before climbing on spiky rocks near the edge to take selfies.  The “Pont de Dieu”, or “Bridge of God”, was by all accounts to be a relatively straightforward 45 minute hike into the mountains to look at one of the most lovely and enormous natural bridges on the planet.  The bridge was indeed magnificent, enormous and glowing red as the clay gleamed from the light reflecting off the water rushing below.  The way up was not as straightforward as we had hoped, partially because of some navigational errors on our part – rather than a path, we took a more direct and less traveled route.  We were sweaty and exhausted but exhilarated when we finally made it to the top, saw the bridge across the valley, and paused for selfies on the rocks.  But our selfies were missing one hiker.  “Where’s Waldo?” I asked after counting heads returning to the path to finish the hike.   This time, Waldo may have had the right of it. They had decided to skip selfies in favor of relaxing with a mint tea and the company of a charming old man in a wooden hut at the entrance to the Pont de Dieu itself.  Waldo was sitting not 50 yards ahead on the path with the tea when we found him, and probably watching the selfies unfold in real time from across the gorge.  We celebrated with a bollywood-inspired dance and descended, via the actual path this time, to our waiting car and the trip home.

#ibmcsc morocco6 

Chefchaouen at night