SAP Social Sabbatical is a portfolio of pro bono volunteering program designed for high performing employees to solve business challenges of nonprofit organizations along with developing leaders within SAP.

I was selected for the April 2019 Cohort along with 11 other SAP employees a.k.a ‘The Durban Dozen’ from across the globe to work for nonprofit organizations in Durban, South Africa.

Based on my application, I was chosen to work for MIET-AFRICA along with 2 other colleagues from SAP Brazil and SAP Thailand. Team MIET, as we like to call ourselves, delivered what was expected and went beyond the scope of work in offering an overall improvement to the organization.

Following are the lessons I learnt during my Social Sabbatical:

1. Follow the Process: To understand the problems of our client better, we decided to conduct a Design thinking workshop. Considering middle-aged participants, I thought it would be a good idea to modify the standard Design Thinking process. However, my teammates were of the opinion that following the full-blown process would be better, which is what we finally went ahead with. The workshop gained a lot of positive feedback and was an enjoyable experience for the participants. This taught me that researchers over the years have spent a lot of time and effort in building and fool-proofing processes. Sometimes following the process as is, can reap better results than modifying it.

2. Team Work: When people from different backgrounds, ethnicity and cultures come together, difference in opinion is inevitable. Each of us in our team had our own working style, strengths and weaknesses but we were all open to constructive criticism and believed in having an honest dialogue with each other. We wanted to work as a team along with giving each other space and freedom to execute their work. We achieved this by dividing our tasks and responsibilities, making sure that there is an individual accountability. We discussed our individual tasks daily to understand how it will culminate to our final deliverable.

3. Appreciation is better than recognition: Appreciation for others doesn’t come naturally to me. In my cohort there was a team lead who was extremely appreciative of others and encouraging them with genuine compliments. Sometime back there was a quote shared on LinkedIn which read “Good Leaders Recognize People; Great Leaders Appreciate Them”. A good word of appreciation can bring out the best in people.

4. Resolving Conflicts: SAP Social Sabbatical is work + Fun. During our month long stay in Durban, we did a lot of weekend outdoor activities, from hiking the Drakensberg mountain to game drives in Hluhluwe safari reserve. Planning and organizing a trip for a group of 12 considering individual preferences is a task unto itself which initially didn’t go smoothly in our group. Individual likes and dislikes gave way to conflicts during the planning process. Two members in the group were calm and composed as opposed to most of us and helped in resolving these conflicts by letting go off what had happened which ensured that we had some good and memorable trips then onward. Sometimes being calm and moving on might be the secret ingredient to resolving conflicts.

5. Adaptability: During our stint in Durban, there was a major reorganization within MIET. One week into the program, there was a reshuffle within the management with whom we had closely worked. We were disheartened to learn that our initial efforts would go in vain. However, we decided to adapt to this situation and focus on what we could do from then on. We reached out to everyone we could within the organization from senior managers to the acting CEO and the board, to execute our work. At the end of the program, there was a task force inducted to get our ideas and deliverable implemented. In today’s corporate world, every company-big or small goes through change and reorganization. The faster you adapt to changing situations, the better it is for you.

6. Get a Mentor: I have always believed that having a mentor can be a huge value add. SAP Social Sabbatical helped me experience it. Our mentor gave us valuable lessons from his experience which was very helpful. His regular feedback was instrumental in shaping our work. A mentor can aid in identifying your goals and help you achieve them faster.

7. Stop Procrastinating: My wisdom tooth has been erupting and giving me intermittent bouts of toothache since the past 7 years. My dentist had advised me on multiple occasions to get it extracted, which I had been postponing since then. Three days into the program, I started experiencing unbearable pain. I had to take temporary medication while I was at Durban to subside the pain. The first thing I did when I returned home was book an appointment with the dentist for a tooth extraction. Your procrastination can build up over the years and land you in trouble when you least expect it. Stop procrastinating and get things done, right away.

8. Impossible is nothing: When we initially saw our scope of work, we thought it would be a daunting task to achieve it within a month. But what started off as an impossible task, turned out to be one of the most productive and rewarding short-term projects that I have undertaken. At the end of the program, we as a team had exceeded expectations and delivered within a short period. This has made me confident that no matter how difficult the job seems in the beginning, if you have the will power and determination, nothing is impossible.