PreWork: June, July, August 2013

PreWork: June, July, August 2013

As we collectively make progress towards our actual in-country assignments, IBM’s CSC presents us with activities which reinforce the why and how there is a triple benefit to this program:

• Communities have their problems solved.
• IBMers receive leadership training and development.
• IBM develops new markets and global leaders.

Pre-work encompasses the gamut from understanding team building to learning leadership styles to creating a “Code of Conduct” (for all team members to follow) to reading multiple Harvard Business Review (HBR) papers to establishing a social media presence; and the list goes on.   The education we have been asked to complete has increased in volume from month 1 to month 2 to month 3.  

Once we arrive in Brazil during early September, our “book” learning will be replaced by “experiential” learning.   Even though I haven’t attended my first client meeting, I am sure my 30+ years of corporate and volunteer experience, along with the 3 months of CSC pre-work, will be used heavily and leveraged regularly.    

When colleagues, clients, friends, and family have asked me about the CSC, I usually start by explaining that the CSC is analogous to a corporate version of the Peace Corps.   (Our focus areas are cited earlier in this blog entry.)  Here is an external link which provides more information to anyone who is interested in learning more about the CSC program:    

IBM - Corporate Service Corps 

Time is passing more quickly and I am getting closer to being on the ground in Uberlandia, Brazil.  Stay tuned...

#ibmcsc brazil

PROLOGUE:

PROLOGUE:

June 26, 2012…   That date seems so long ago!  On this day, I received an e-mail notification from IBM’s Vice President, Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs notifying me, “We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program.”  My emotions were off the charts that day.   After 4 years of applying for the IBM’s Corporate Service Corps, my persistence paid off.  I, along with hundreds of my fellow global IBMers who were also selected that year, would be assigned projects.  We would be sent to remote (and not-so-remote parts) of South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

What an honor to be selected.  After receiving the e-mail, it was just a matter of waiting for my assignment to appear in my IBM InBox.  The months rolled by, people periodically asked me if I knew were I was going, and at one point, I thought my CSC assignment would be pushed out to 2014. 

Finally, in late May 2013, 15 fellow IBMers (including me) were notified of our impending CSC assignment.   For the 3 month pre-work period, we would be known as IBM CSC team “Brazil 14”.   Brazil 14’s members will meet in a little more than 3 months, in southern Brazil (Uberlandia), and fly in from 11 different countries:  Ireland, Australia, Viet Nam, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Poland, Japan China, Netherlands, United States, New Zealand, and Germany. 

And now, the work begins… 

#ibmcsc brazil