My most important “formal training” in preparing me to become an educator did not come from an intentional enrollment in a college or university program, but rather from an experience as a field systems engineering specialist many thousands of miles away in West Africa in 1992.
I was assigned to a team in 1991, which was responsible for a project, that was designed, developed over a period of eight (8) months, factory acceptance tested, and signed off by the client. It was an experience I tremendously enjoyed working with subject matter experts with many years of experiences, asking questions, being mentored, and watching this all come together. Unbelievably satisfying! The commissioning of the project was scheduled for onsite installation and commissioning (I&C) in 1992. What I did not know at the time was that I was to be assigned the task of being the systems engineering specialist in charge of the I&C.
Fast forward, I have mobilized to West Africa and made my way to site after three (3) days of traveling. Onsite I was introduced to the site commissioning manager, participated in regular top of the morning safety meeting and project briefs, then taken to the actual onsite location to inspect shipped equipment and meet with the local client’s indigenous representative that I would report to as per the project progress rubric, identify the team assigned to me for installation, and go over the delivery schedule. Except that the local indigenous representative was not immediately “on seat” (or in office), so far so good. Then the local representative showed up.
I was introduced to him as the vendor client there responsible for the identified project I&C. I stretched out my hand for the standard hospitable shake expecting his to meet mine in return. It did not. He scrutinized me from head to toe in silence for about 15 seconds (seems longer than that), and responded,
Representative: “You are from company X?”.
Me: “Yes sir”
Representative: “You are from company X?!”, he repeated with his voice audibly a few decibels raised in front of quite a few onlookers I had never met before in my life. Then he proceeded to walk away, leaving me with a bewildered look on my face and my hand still frozen in space (and time).
Me: “What just happened?”, the client’s reps who traveled from the US (who were showing me around) did not offer me any further clues, if they had any. Oh, did I forget to mention, this was my first international professional business trip for any company outside the United States. As I stood there for about a couple of minutes thinking through what are my next steps, the representative returned holding a stack of folders and paperwork about six (6) inches high. Came up to table in front of me and threw them down there.
Representative: “Look at them!” he bellowed. Then he pointed to quite a bit of equipment around the control room that had my company X’s branding on them. “Okay”, I thought. Then he further pointed out that they were all broken! Then I picked up the folders and quickly started going through the paperwork. It documented a trail of communications from local client to my employer, asking and in some instances pleading for help in servicing, repairing, maintenance, and support for the failed equipment, critical to such a huge operation at this facility. The responses were professionally less than desirable. It may have been colored by the fact that the country I was now in was under a military dictatorship and unrest, but a poor excuse nevertheless.
Not exactly how I envisioned my first I&C project trip getting started. My version of the events I relate are the sanitized version. Instinctively I was more than just “Homer” there for a project I&C, I just became the lightning rod taking the heat for a history of problems I did not contribute to, nor was responsible for, but because of the title I bore and the company caption on my hard hat, “TAG! I WAS IT!”. Somehow on adrenaline, I managed to formulate words of an apology for my company, made a promised to do all within my power to correct the negative perception of us as a company, and ensure that for as long as I was a part of this project, I guaranteed they would not only be expertly trained, but would be running this facility for which my company’s equipment was in play for. And a special request I made to the representative:
ME: “I have never met you before in my life. But sir I would ask you to kindly not swear at me as I don’t know such words, and for the dialect that you have uttered to me, sensing your anger, I would rather not know the translation”. He huffed deeply and walked off.
More than just relaying a personal story, this experience really made me incredibly angry. I was angry for being naïve and not asking more questions of my company as to what I was getting into. I was angry that someone cussed me out. I was angry because my company had done much better elsewhere in many other parts of the world. But I was here now. Couldn’t high tail it out of town, now could I? So, with just a day to reflect, I started to intentionally try to know my client’s service people. What were their other issues and, in the listening, seriously strategizing how do I fix this? I did not know it back then, but what was being birth in the crucible onsite, was an innovative plan. A revolution really now that I think about it in light of Sir Ken Robinson’s video. I was treading very lightly and thoughtfully on the client’s dreams in crafting a dynamic live responsive solution.
I spent an additional eight (8) months mobilizing and demobilizing from site, facilitating successful I&C, but the most satisfying achievement before my last demobilization for this project was witnessing the locals running this facility independent of any input from me. Beyond that they came up with ideas of how things could be improved and submitted them to my company for implementation. The condition was that “Homer would be the one to do them and return onsite for the implementation”.
The DLL program has made me dig deep, to reflect, and to contextualize my experiences as an educator. Such as this. What is my philosophy? What do I believe? What do I want to continue evolving to be? Just like other educators, I become frustrated, angry, disappointed, and I fail too. But for me, there is always that counter that helps me to timely react and become transformative in driving what I now properly identify and call feeding the growth mindset. They are manifested in my Passion for what I do. The Mastery I pursue is the dynamic sensing modus operandi of always introducing new stimuli for my learners and keenly watch for the responses I get back, good, and bad. Then adjust and make changes accordingly, appropriately. My transcendent Purpose simply finds release in, can I be overderteminstic in triggering my learners to become the best versions of themselves in reciprocating what I have sought to deposit in them. All being accomplished in a mode of autonomy and having fun doing it. How could I not be in love with that?
References
Robinson, Sir Ken, May 2010. Bring On the Learning Revolution! Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1257&v=r9LelXa3U_I&feature=emb_logo
Pink, D, April 2010.The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=emb_logo
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., Switzier, A. 2013. INFLUENCER: THE NEWSCIENCE OF LEADING CHANGE. New York: McGraw Hill Education
