Like the Day after Christmas....CSCSlovenia2

So, it's been a little over a week since I returned from the opportunity of my career as part of IBM's Corporate Service Corp in Slovenia.  Like with Christmas, there is a tremendous amount of build-up, activities and then suddenly, it's OVER.  Like with Christmas, I don't want it to be over, I want the feeling, the friendships, the giving, the cooperation to continue.   I want to keep THIS--------->

A few of us at the IBM Slovenia office ready for our final presentation

First group out of Slovenia.

However, I did miss my family..........and it made my return all the more worth while.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

My return hasn't been without some difficulty.  It's back to the "day job" and the sights and sounds I'm all too familiar with.  I'm not trying to paint a grim picture here, I have a project and a client & team I enjoy working with.  It's just that during my 30-days away life and work continued without me and those who were ready to step in did just that.  Everyone was great and to boot, I've grown and learned from my experience away.  It's now time to fold ourselves back into a high-performing machine and see where else we can go and how much more VALUE we can deliver. It's time to bring the CSC attitude to my program and industry.

To my fellow CSCers; our mission must be expanded to include what we've learned and the attitudes that we've developed for giving even MORE as IBMers to our co-workers and clients.  It would be an injustice to who we now are if we didn't show off what we've learned to our current clients back in our "normal" job wherever we are in the world.  Our network has grown, our experience has grown, our knowledge has grown and I know our willingness to help wherever & whenever has grown.  WE are BETTER IBMers for this experience.  Let's prove it.

CEED-Slovenia I look forward to the great things you're gonna do

IBM CSC CEED Team..it's not goodbye, it's until next time.

CSCSlovenia2 in front of IBM-Slovenia

For my friend Angela.....1- GO!!!!!!
1- 1 week since CSC Slovenia
GO- Time to GO use what we learned.

{Yes, I feel better now.}

*Poof* It's week 4!!!

What hit us??  How is it Week 4?  Tell me it's not over soon, we have so much we want to do for our NGO! So much more we want to see of this city and country!

Week 4 started on our final Saturday tour in Slovenia (Karst country):  Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.

On the agenda was:

Lipica – both a natural and cultural monument - a stud farm with more than 400 Lipizzaner horses. We had a local guide to go around the property, then we watched a very interesting training session.

One end of the horse to the other.  😄😄

Born dark in color they grow into beautiful white horses.

All 4 up!

She'll be ready for the shows soon.

Štanjel – A beautiful fortified medieval village with castle and walls made entirely of stone and renowned garden with exceptional views. As a history buff I'm continually amazed by these old towns & fortresses.  To top of this portion of the tour, we had a wonderful lunch and can't beat having it with my #CSCSlovenia2 family.

This will be missed.

I will miss food like this

Rahul, Angela & I

Shebin & I (SELFIES)

I'll miss the castles and countryside.

You will never find this....Stone house....yes, those are stone gutters

 Finally we wrapped up Saturday with a visit to "another" cave, but SOO different than any I've ever seen or will see again.  Škocjan caves – A UNESCO listed natural site and the largest known underground canyon in the world. It is beautiful and breath taking. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside the cave, but to imagine a DEEP canyon inside a cave and being able to see some leftover structures from when the cave was first explored.  If you can't imagine it, I HIGHLY suggest visiting for yourself.  Slovenia is a hidden gem from sites to the people.  

The exit from the cave which is actually where the explorers discovered the cave.

Camera doesn't capture what the eye can see.

To help with the imagination.

 
Sunday our hosts made plans to take us for a Slovenian Lunch and boat ride down the Ljubljana river.  Our need CEED friends made us feel welcomed and again showed us a fantastic time, good food and the beauty of the city from a different perspective.  Fortunately, I used this experience to block out Sunday evening experience..... my fellow CEED CSC Team Member Angela and I hosted an American Football Watch Party in the work room.  She's from Chicago and I from Tampa, our teams happened to play each other on Sunday.  UNFORTUNATELY, the Buccanneers failed to show up at the game, but watching and explaining the game to our CSC Family was a highlight.

Beautiful handmade boat.  Andrej's son joined us as well.

A beautiful city from any perspective.

As in America, on Monday it was back to work and time to deliver on our SOW.  We buckled down and finalized our deliverables with ease since we maintained a regular review schedule over the 4 weeks.  Wednesday we had our final presentation with our client and they were THRILLED with the work we provided.  During our presentation we had the opportunity to reflect on how we got here and how it started 16 weeks ago with training, getting to know our fellow IBMers and the initial meetings with our client.  Personally it was an emotional & satisfying meeting to have accomplished so much in such a short period of time and the appreciation our CEED client expressed was overwhelming. 

A great TEAM!

The smile says it all.

Hard work in a Box (aka. CEED in a Box)

As we wrapped up our presentation we learned that they intend on using the CEED in a Box package we delivered as part of their upcoming Global Conference (October 18-19).  The satisfaction of knowing they would immediately use what we've delivered caused us all to swell with pride.

Finally, upon arrival 4-weeks ago, I discovered that the CEED Executive Director's husband is the President of the PMI-Slovenia Chapter.  After a brief conversation I was asked to be a speaker at their upcoming PM for Real meeting on October 3rd(yesterday) .  It became a combined CEED/PMI-Slovenia event as it was held in the CEED location and some of their members attended.  With the support of my CEED Sub-team (Lucy, Angela & Adriano) I was able to discuss with a group of 40 Project Managers, Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders for 2 hours about my experiences in Project Management, establishing a PMO, how to effectively run Projects, PM Methodologies and managing remote teams.  I'm so happy & humbled that the opportunity presented itself as I'm very passionate about Project Management and the conversations were really insightful and thought provoking. 

PM for Real

The meeting posting..translated by GOOGLE.

It's been a "Week" already and there's 2 more days to go, ONLY 2 more days.    I will miss this city, country, CEED and my CSCSlovenia2 family more than they'll ever know.  It's been the best adventure of my career and I've seen and done a lot of cool things in my time.  I will never forget it.

See you soon America, but I'll be back Slovenia.

~Chris

Transformation & Time

It's amazing 2 & 1/2 weeks ago we arrived in Slovenia from all over the world with bright-eyes, open-minds and unsure about what the next 30-days was to bring.

Wide-eyed & Open-minded.

By 7pm the first day we were exploring the city with a child's mind, open to experiences, a prejudice to what might hurt us, get us in trouble or at the very least yelled at by a local.  We moved about the town cautiously that weekend wanting to take in ALL of the sights of the city as if we wouldn't have a chance to see it again (phones snapping pictures of people and scenery non-stop).

1st Night Open Kitchen

1st weekend, Tour of the City

Imagine the 1st week, we were still so new and just meeting our client. Still bright-eyed and full of wonderment.  Who are these new people?  Who are these people really, whom I just met and now have to work with?  "Is this city safe?"  "How are we going to get to work?"  Quickly these concerns were eased as we met our client and got to know them and our individual sub-teams began to gel together as we now had a common cause and some real objectives.  Yet still we weren't quite sure what to make of our new surroundings and there was still so much to be seen.

Walks with new friends

Skeptical Clients & new methods

The 2nd week, the instant connections we initially felt, the bonds we developed over common experiences in a foreign land began to take shape and solidify into true friendships and care for each other.  Each morning or evening sharing the events of the day or the previous evening, even sharing a taste of a new food and ensuring no one missed out on what something tastes like or the "best of" in the area.  Whether it cake, wine, a new dish, there is never a shortage of offers, bites and sips of a new experience.  All along, we grow closer and our time here grows shorter.

Sharing an evening out

First adventure outside Ljubljana

Bled Castle

Here we are in the 3rd week also known as crunch week.  We've spent plenty of time listening, learning and discussing the client's pain points, how they perform their day-to-day functions and proposing solutions that will hopefully ease the burden and push them along the path of success.  This week it's been the execution of those proposed solutions that will culminate in implementation/deliverables as well as final presentations to the client as well as a much larger group next Friday.  While the work has picked up it has not softened our resolve to be together and experience new things. The people that arrived 3 weeks ago have become more of a family we continue to share this adventure of CSCSlovenia 2 and to a person believe we've all learned, taught and grown individually and together.  The wide-eyed wonderment hasn't changed, but our comfort level in our surrounding and with each other has grown substantially.  We no longer wonder how to get somewhere or communicate in this city, but pursue interactions and experiences with the community.  In 3 short weeks we've become a thriving part, while not quite locals we're a functioning part and will hopefully leave our mark on the 4 organizations we traveled to serve, each other and perhaps make a small difference.  After all, that's why 15 people traveled from 8 different countries to a small town in Europe.

Always time for a selfie

Quick pic with our Client

Community Service Project

Like life in our "regular" days jobs and lives, there are moments of hard work balanced with fun.  We share most of our good times within our blogs and there's a reason;  "there is always more good in the world than bad."  We just need to share more of it and I'm happy to share it with this family of 15 and here within my blog.

Ljubljana Castle & full moon (after celebrating the Full Moon Festival)

Bike riding with Rahul

National Gallery of Art- Slovenia

Parin

Postojna Caves

Celebrating Luana's (& Bill's) Birthday

Predjama Castle

~ Chris


PS. I've posted group pics from each week....note the distance between the members and the genuine growth in smiles.  We've grown closer daily and don't think the distances of our countries will change that.

Wooahh ooaah 1/2 way there......

I can't believe we're halfway through the assignment.  Our IBM CEED team (aka. CSC Sub-team) were just talking today about how we looked at the 30-day assignment as such a LOONG time to be away from our family, friends and home country and now here we are speeding through the month.  MAKE IT STOP!  There is still so much to do, so much to see and so much to experience.  Don't get me wrong, I miss my family, friends and co-workers but, this continues to be more than I could have ever expected.

A little Design Thinking empathy map (it's not all fun here)..

This week was a busy week.  The honeymoon is really over and it's down to work.  On top of our work with the CEED organization which was busy planning their fall kick-off event with a speaker from Australia we were busy preparing and presenting our PM Basics class to 16 energetic High Schoolers at Gimnazija Poljane.  Slovenia is in good hands with these students.

Gimnazija Poljane

PM presentation team.

In addition, we were invited to attend the CEED Fall Kick-Off event to observe how they ran their events, how their members, mentors and general attendees interacted.  We took this opportunity to converse with a few and see how they felt about CEED, how CEED helped the community and how entrepreneurship was progressing in Slovenia.  We discovered that CEED in fact does provide a tremendous service to their members and the entrepreneur community in general.  Their passion is infectious and it bleeds into the support and services they provide. 

CEED team+1 (all were invited, but there was another NGO event at the same time)

CEED-Slovenia

Andrej (CEED Sales Leader)

 The rest of the week we continued to host workshops and have discussions with our client.  We're so pleased with their willingness to believe in the process and embrace some ideas they've never experienced.  Our team continues to work as a single unit.  Often when we're in the larger group or waiting on others from the larger group to meet up and go for dinner....there's the "CEED Team" ready for the next step, on-time and ready.  The magic that's worked on putting the teams together and assign us to our NGO's really is "magic."

CEED-Team @ work & advertising

IBM CEED team & CEED-Slovenia

Finally we wrapped the week up with what they do in Ljubljana....OPEN KITCHEN.  Similar to the Friday when we arrived, we had an opportunity to taste some local cuisine and it was delicious.  After dinner we finished with movie night in the hotel workroom.  Imagine, 13 adults watching an animated movie (COCO) with popcorn (bought at the grocery) and sitting around conference tables in stiff chairs.  I wouldn't have changed a second of it.

Previews....bring on the movie!!

I wish I was a better writer and nearly as good as some of my fellow CSCers so, I could better describe this rich experience and country in the depths it's being experienced.  For the IBMers reading this...sign-up for CSC ASAP and best of luck.  For friends and family, book your trip and bring me back to this city and country.

It really is WOW!

Tomorrow we're off for more adventures and another wonderful tour.  Sights to be seen

• Predjama Cave
• Postojna Cave
• Piran (Slovenian Coast)

Stay tuned for pics and my next Blog post.

Bonus Pic.....  Milk is delivered to this machine daily for local townspeople to fill their jugs.  How cool!!