Farewell is bittersweet
Relief, exhaustion, joy, sadness… it is hard to describe exactly what’s flowing through my mind and body right now. Yesterday afternoon was our final presentation to the Dean, Vice Dean, and Deputy Party Secretary of the College of Economics and Management at Yunnan Agricultural University, and today we wrapped up our final deliverables. Li and Yoyo, our project assistants, took us out for a final lunch… and now here I am, for the first time in 32 days, sitting in this hotel room with no further tasks swirling around in my head. It’s bittersweet.
The last 2 weeks were intense. Jp, Rosi and I have worked nonstop since last Monday (so, 11 days in a row now, through the Chinese holiday and long weekend) to complete our final work for CEM. We interviewed faculty, including the department heads for IT and E-Commerce, professors, directors of employment and recruitment, the dean and vice dean; we conducted workshops to get direct and interactive feedback from CEM related to our objectives; we surveyed students to get their perspective on the programs; we conducted research around the industries both globally and in China, as well as gathered information from other universities locally and abroad.
With that information, we ultimately put together a package of recommendations for CEM to work through to improve their E-Commerce and IT majors. Their concerns were around the curriculum and career planning, and during our research we dug pretty deep to find out why they felt graduates of these programs were not pursuing careers in their field of study. Our deliverables turned out to be 1) a framework and recommendations for a comprehensive orientation package; 2) recommendations for incorporating practical application in their technical courses.
To be honest, we didn’t get a lot of feedback about our work along the way; at times, we felt like we were going through our work blindly and we weren’t sure if what we were producing was going to meet their expectations. But, after yesterday’s meeting, a weight was lifted off our shoulders after our presentation. The dean specifically said that he did not realize we would come in and try to tackle the problems with such a deep understanding of the university, culture, region, and students. We got the impression that they expected we’d come in with our knowledge and experience from SAP and simply tell them what to do. What they didn’t realize was that the knowledge and experience we’ve gained as employees at SAP enabled us to identify that what works well for us in our daily jobs would not necessarily work well here. We had to dig deep and look at all the angles to make recommendations that would benefit the faculty and students here at CEM in Yunnan.
The Deputy Party Secretary also said she did not realize we would work so hard in this way, and that we brought to light a lot of ideas and information they had not thought about before. This comment alone made all the effort worth it, to me at least. Even if they decide not to implement our recommendations to a T, knowing we inspired ideas of change and new ways of thinking is still a success. We really focused on student feedback and a human-centered approach to making improvements, and I think these ideas have helped them shift from a “regulations-focused” mindset to a more “student-focused” mindset.
Lori (our team mentor) was so right when she said that at times, this project will feel like it is flying by… and others you feel like time is moving like molasses in wintertime (well, that’s my southern interpretation of her meaning) :) A few times over the last 11 days, I thought we would never get through the tasks we had set for ourselves. And somehow, now I am packing my bags and will be home in 5 days.
Tomorrow we have one final presentation — where all 4 groups will come together and present on our work over the last 4 weeks. It will be interesting to see the perspectives and outcomes from their experiences, as all projects have been completely different.
This program has truly been a gift — for the beneficiaries of our work on the Social Sabbatical, of course, but just as much so for ourselves. It is amazing that SAP invests in its employees in this way and I am so thankful to have been a part of this journey. More to come with final thoughts and observations after our final event tomorrow, and a team bonding and farewell that should include karaoke, massage, and much more interesting pictures ;)
