Tim Fenton, Zurich's UK Life Tax Director, is currently in Chennai on an India assignment as part of the Zurich Community Trust's India Programme. Tim is now based in Southern India for one month, working with the management team of The Banyan, a non governmental organisation specialising in the care of the destitute mentally ill. Here is Tim's blog from Week Two...
"Exploding electricity boxes, meetings in the dark, an awards ceremony, a walk down a catwalk in front of hundreds of people and the Indian media – a working week in India can throw a lot at you. Add in some oppressive heat and humidity, pretty much constant traffic noise and pollution, a good helping of crushing, mind-numbing poverty and a large dash of entrepreneurial spirit and you have just the very start of the incredible masala (mix) that makes up India.
So it’s the end of week 2 and the assignment is in full flight now, with activity going on around team performance and values, management styles, staff development and lots of other good stuff. I have also had a number of detailed discussions with David and these have acted as a catalyst for some of his thinking around the way forward for the organisation. One of the big challenges David faces is that whilst the organisation’s fundamental goals have not changed , the means by which it does so have – it started as an organisation whose raison d’etre was to actually deliver a service – rescuing and then looking after / rehabilitating mentally ill women off the streets. But now its service delivery is not an end in itself, but just a means to a much bigger end - that of developing effective models that can be delivered and replicated across India. This requires challenging some preconceptions and achieving something of a “paradigm shift” - a real mind set change, one that we are actively seeking to address during the next week or so.
What else happened in my second week in India?
• Monday was World Mental Health Day – and The Banyan marked this by holding their first Banyan Awards Ceremony to recognise residents, families, employees and supporters of The Banyan. Despite a lack of much advance planning (the event was pulled together over just 5 days) it all came good – with about 500 attendees, TV and press, a Tamil celebrity to present the awards, singing, dancing, lots of fun and loads of energy. What I certainly didn’t expect was to be dragged up onto the stage to take part in the both the presentations (as a faux celebrity) and the closing ceremony, which involved walking down a red carpeted, flower strewn catwalk in front of 500 excited clapping people - music, lights, the works. Definitely not a normal Monday!
• Due to power shortages there are rolling blackouts across Chennai, the power at The Banyan’s offices goes off 3-4pm every day. On Wednesday, David and I were having an intense meeting about how best to address certain challenges he faces. Like clockwork the power went off at 3pm but life, and work, goes on so we continued our meeting in this hot, airless room by the cold blue light of two Zurich laptops." Tim
If you missed it, here is Tim's blog from week one.
