What happens when one picks up a job which he doesn’t want to but manages to complete it with a victorious grin?? The job becomes the most cherished memory of life for that one.
So was the case for a rural volunteering project which was thrown at me in a remote location with limited hands, resources and budget. I had no intentions to execute this one, I did however because of having no choices but I can look back and see it to be the most enriching, cherished and happiest projects of my life… I have handled over 100 mass volunteering engagements and have been leading Pan India corporate volunteering projects for over 3 years now but this was the one which taught me the MOST!
I learnt many things but the ones which I will continue to groom are:
- How relationships develop from just a volunteer to a friend,
- How you can rely on your network and give them an unique experience which will keep them coming back to you,
- How you can groom a new joinee and
- How your so called office boy takes away the lions share in planning and execution.
- People management is my forte but managing people who have no accountability to you is something which I learnt in this project.
- Monitoring a project remotely and able to complete it within the time frame was another learning.
The real importance of team work, multiple sites at same location, adhering to the time-frame and ability to get attention of 250+ people at the same time was truely amazing. What takes to be my most memorable moment in the project was orienting 250+ people and never losing their attention to anything else in surrounding J I am getting better- Thanks Shalabh for pushing me in this and for giving me yet another opportunity to prove myself!!