Working in WWF Part 2

Adjusting to KKP has been quite a challenge indeed. The biggest difference compared to my past corporate life is the amount of thinking and planning that is brought to fore when we do our work. Everytime we get into something, careful planning, consultation and strategic brainstorming is done. As a result, our project work is usually well thought-out and documented. There is always a view of the long-term and a careful analysis of how the work benefits the communities.

Unfortunately, this also means things move slowly (but surely). Quite different from the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants style of my past corporate life. Can't really take a lot of risks in NGOs. Firstly, it's not really the org's money. Donors who give the millions can be very particular on where the money goes. Most of the time they restrict the spending to purely project related expenses. Only a small percentage can go to paying office overhead. That's really tough when the projects are few and far between.

Secondly there's really not enough money to start with, so careful planning is needed to avoid squandering it. In the corporate world often times you'll hear some bosses willng to take risks with the attitude of, "Well there's only one way to find out if this idea will work, let's try it out." A lot of times in business, we take risks because time is valuable. Pussy foot around and your competitor beats you to it.

Not to say that I never did feasibility studies or strategy documents, but nothing like the volumes that I've seen in WWF. I'm not saying it's wrong. Just that it takes a lot of getting used to.

I've moved around companies enough over the years and I don't recall ever having much difficulty adjusting to a new job. Well maybe I did. Moving from marketing into human resources management was a bit hard. I recall having a so-so performance evaluation during my first year. But after that, I hit my stride.

Shifting into the NGO world though is a different story. I had to dig hard into my data bank to bring up past learnings and experiences that I could apply to the new challenges that I was facing. It didn't help any that due to the lack of financial resources, much of the usual solutions just seemed out of reach. Nope, you can't just hire an extra hand to fix this or that problem. Everything is DO IT YOURSELF, or PUEDE NA YANG PAGTIYAGAAN (just grin and bear it).

Some of my friends who have seen me at PDI are shocked when they visit me at KKP. I used to have a big room, a huge desk, a big sofa with a coffee table at PDI. Now I have a low partitioned cubicle which I share with my assistant. From my vantage point I can see almost everyone in the office (and I can hear them too). No such thing as privacy. I've gotta make an effort to keep my temper and speak in a low voice when I have one on one meetings. He he he... there goes the old "Ballistic Dave".

Frankly, looking back at the last 10 months, I'm very lucky that I got this job at this part of my life. It has shaken me out of my comfort zone and it has forced me to stop being complacent. Perhaps 12 years of PDI work has dulled the edges. After a while it became routine and I stopped learning. At KKP, my brain is beginning to wake up and I'm starting to learn once again.

Next blog... traveling. The best part of this job.