Relationships, relationships, relationships...

I write today whilst enjoying a peanut butter and mango sandwich – my own hillbilly / tropical fusion dish.  It’s Sunday and one of my drivers took me to Mass at a local Catholic Church, a minimum two hour time commitment as opposed to the 45-60 minute standard in the U.S.  This driver is planning my Sunday tour of local Catholic Churches for the next several weeks.  He felt today’s group did not dance and clap nearly enough and believes Ghana can offer me better.

Yesterday a different driver took me to the Volta River Authority where I toured Ghana’s large hydro-electric dam.  He just phoned to thank me for my business.

I am learning the importance of relationships whether with the hotel restaurant wait staff, the housekeeping staff or the drivers who cart me around Ghana.  Everyone is looking out for me and also observing me in ways I never expected.  This light brightly illuminated for me Friday when the hotel driver told me he knows my mood by how I hold my head or my posture when walking.  Though this was our first interaction, I realize he’s been observing me and forming opinions about me since my arrival.

Moving from culture to work, my “Ghana: Week 2” is now in the history books.  With Peace Corps training and swearing-in ceremony behind me, it was a week to focus on the IBM Corporate Services Corps (CSC) “partners”…more relationships.

I probably should offer some background for those unfamiliar with IBM’s CSC and/or its new partnership with the Peace Corps.  IBM employees from around the world apply for and a small percentage of very high performing ones are selected to serve on a CSC team of 10-15 people.  I am an exception in that I was invited to join the team, but that is a pesky detail not worth expanding upon quite yet.  Team members spend a few months preparing for their month in-country: reading, doing homework exercises and holding weekly conference calls.  IBM then sends these teams to a country where they tackle strategic infrastructure projects with in-country “partners.”  These can be non-profits, social enterprises or governmental agencies.

This particular CSC team has two-or-so partners: A social enterprise and a Ministry (and quite possibly a second Ministry…hence the “or-so” element).  In addition to impact analysis of existing programs, the Ghanaian government desires analysis to better understand the most effective ways to encourage girls to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.  This all leads towards an ultimate goal of inspiring more Ghanaian girls to enter the workforce as STEM trained problem-solvers.  This is driven by simple research which indicates, in general, boys and girls / men and women approach problem solving differently and when both problem-solving approaches are used, stronger solutions result.

The social enterprise partner exclusively works on projects to improve societal infrastructure, specifically providing educational technology in rural areas…where there might be little to no electricity in the school, and where poverty is typically high.  His clients are often rural, economically challenged schools which must secure funding via non-profit grants.  The hope is to expand his work so as to bring educational technology to more rural students and also to use technology to increase general accessibility to school as well as help empower girls.

This past week involved understanding the partners’ context and business model.   Many organizations are involved – all with similar interests but with different cultures, efforts and approaches.  Reaching mutually agreed upon Statements of Work required building more relationships, a pre-requisite for sincere partnering.

O.K., now it’s probably worth mentioning why I’m an exception to the CSC application process.  Among other objectives, IBM’s CSC provides leadership development opportunities for team members.  Normally, executives are excluded from CSC teams to ensure team members’ leadership development experiences are not diminished.  Instead, executives usually travel in their own herd under a different, similar program. 

So, why the exception for this team?  The Peace Corps / IBM Corporate Services Corps partnership was established to leverage IBM’s strategy and planning capabilities along with the Peace Corps grassroots implementation capabilities.  The hope is that through partnering, the two groups’ efforts will result in impact greater than the sum of the individual parts.  The partnership involves an IBM CSC member actually joining the Peace Corps as a volunteer.  Instead of the typical one month CSC assignment, I am in Ghana for three months ensuring that the IBM CSC strategy and planning work connects soundly with the Peace Corps’ grassroots programs.  Hence, I am both an IBM employee and a Peace Corps Response volunteer.  And, hence, I am building relationships with Peace Corps Ghana staff as this hybrid IBM CSC/Peace Corps Response volunteer.

I was asked to fill this role partially because of my previous relationship with Peace Corps Rwanda collaborating to run technology camps for girls; I already have experience blending the two cultures.  But the other reason ties to the significant investment IBM makes in sending IBM CSC employees on extended assignments in the Peace Corps.  I can look at the role from the eyes of CSC team members but also from the eyes of IBM executives who have to make their numbers.  How do you shape the assignment so that executives will say, “yes” to having one of their top employees unavailable to the team for three months to a year?  This involves growing relationships with IBM and Peace Corps headquarters staffs.

The IBM/Peace Corps partnership focuses on a few categories of projects, one of which involves girls’ education and empowerment.  In the U.S. this is affiliated with Michelle Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative.  Approximately 62 million girls in the world lack access to school and “Let Girls Learn” provides visibility and resources to assist in removing barriers to girls’ education.  Despite needing to build relationships with what feels like a zillion different people, I am doubtful the honor of building a relationship with Mrs. Obama will be part of this job, but who knows.   

Anyway, back to the CSC and girls’ empowerment.  Family economics and attitudes, religious beliefs, and access to bathrooms are just a few reasons girls can’t attend school.  To learn the specific current barriers to Ghanaian girls’ education, the CSC team needs to learn from a whole lot of groups: girls, parents, community leaders, government officials, etc…  We have many relationships to build before people will trust us enough to share with us and to listen to our ideas.

There are many reasons the IBM/Peace Corps partnership pilot is happening in Ghana, not the least of which is the fact that Ghana’s government has already invested over 25 years’ efforts on empowering girls through education.  However, they desire partners to help them do more.  The Peace Corps and IBM have long-standing partnerships in Ghana with both organizations sending their first volunteer teams to Ghana, the Peace Corps in 1961 and IBM in 2008.  It’s a great place to try something new. 

But relationships are built person-to person, not institution to institution.  Therefore, off I go to prep for Week Three, building relationships with everyone from government officials and business leaders to the person who brings me juice every morning at breakfast…but most likely not with Michelle.  So to all my friends asking me to get her autograph, I again tell you, “probably not gonna happen…”  But if you’d like my driver’s autograph, I have high confidence that can be arranged.