First visit to READ Center in Gurugram

Corporate Service Corps is an amazing opportunity to grow as a professional and as a person too. As any other professional or personal assignment, we need to learn how to be flexible for any challenges we may face during our experience and that is, I think, one of the most important lessons I will take from this journey. Yesterday we went for the first time to READ's office, in Gurugram and we found ourselves - my subgroup, Robert, Bernadette and I - in the first challenge of ours: Our READ leaders will be away for 3 days this week for the opening of a new center.

I set so many expectation for this week, I thought we could go towards our assignment goals and have all the scope of work - SOW - properly defined in the first days of this week so for the next week we would be able to focus on the work towards this scope to have enough time for the deliverables, but we may not be able to complete this goal this week. I have to confess that yesterday I felt frustrated for the news and of course happy to know that their goal to expand for new centers is being met. As a team, I think we were able to manage this first challenge well, even though we all felt exhausted. We re-planned this week's deadline and kept going.

We had some meetings yesterday with READ India leadership and Staff, READ Global leadership and staff and out of these, we were also able to gather and request additional information for our analysis. This is actually the first time I participate of a campus interview/consultancy so it took a while before I got started with the mood/skill of interviewing stakeholders, but when I started, I actually felt well! We were also able to understand more about the structure of READ India's centers structure as an overview. We talked to Springwood - the name given to the preschool organization/structure available in 12 out of 31 centers - leader so we could better understand how this component actually fits into the whole structure.

One interesting thing that I have been learning is that it is quite interesting how sometimes, when we interview different people, the information they provide may and will vary A LOT. And that is why consulting usually takes time as we have to complete the puzzle before being able to propose a solution. We talked to different people not only yesterday but also today and out of all these conversations, we are now better understanding what is actually the real scenario.

After all the conversations, we came back to hotel as all the leaders left for their travel to Chennai for their new center opening. When we arrived here, we had some chat for couple of hours in our Common Room. We tried to put all the information together so we can all be on the same page.

Today, everything was different and actually very interesting! Sumesh, our engaged driver took us 9am from hotel and took us to READ's main office in Gurugram. There, we met with Nimisha, one of the funders' centers leader - She presented the details of these centers: its structure, processes, staffing, challenges, opportunities for improvement and others. Which was actually really great because we had the opportunity to understand the differences between the centers from different funders. After that, we met with Mahipal, he actually has different responsibilities in READ, from coordinator for different READ's programs, to teacher and designer of center's structure. He presented some pictures and videos for all the READ's centers in India and also explained about multiple programs READ executed in the past or is executing in India. What is amazing about him is that he was so excited and proud of all the programs, that I could not keep my excitement away either!

After all that, we had a delicious - and SPICY - lunch.Extra-officialy after lunch we also talked to one of READ Global's staff, we discussed about READ Global's strategy, main goals, differences between global READ countries - India, Nepal, Buthan. And it was really good to have a different perspective of how READ India has been organized in the past few years. READ India is actually the most sustainable among the other countries.

And, FINALLY! We did our first center visit! We visited one here in Gurugram and it felt so GOOD! We were welcomed with flowers, big smiles and opened hearts - I could feel it. It was one of the newest centers opened by READ India. It is providing service for women empowerment and children and youth development. I could not hold myself and could not stop smiling because it just felt real that I was there and that I could actually help these centers somehow.

READ Centers in India

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Today was an amazing day, because I started feel the scope of our work start to take shape. We've interviewed 6 people already and the information they provided is already pointing some improvement opportunities. Even though not all people working for READ India are graduated or have any specialization on 3rd sector or entrepreneurship, I found myself among entrepeneurs, curious, flexible and creative people. All proud and focused on serving the community.

I'm so, so so glad to be here!

I learned a new word today for thank you: dhanyavaad. So,

Dhanyavaad and Namaste!

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