Sylvia's Journal

We had a fascinating conversation this morning during the first half hour reflection with which we start each day. One of the participants said he was a bit disappointed that the group did not get more of my expertise. I told the group that my content expertise was in the book they have and in the facilitator notes they are using for their practice sessions, but that my real expertise was in creating an environment, a container, in which they can learn and through which they become better at leading and managing. My counterpart, Dr. Ali then completed my answer in Dari so I didn’t know exactly what he said. But I had an idea of what he was talking about. Yesterday afternoon we talked about how our work was always intense at the beginning of a workshop (and just before it) when we were creating the conditions for learning. As the workshop progresses the work shifts towards the participants as they begin to take responsibility for their own learning (‘enabling others…’). When I heard the word ‘enabling’ mixed in with the Dari I knew what he was saying without understanding his language.

There was a moment of silence, and then someone said, yes, this is our notion of learning and expertise: the expert talks and pours his or her knowledge into our heads. And when it does not happen people are disappointed because they think they are not learning. It is a pity that this paradigm is still so firmly established in people’s heads, not just in Afghanistan, but everywhere. The sad thing is that when the learning does not ‘take’ – as is so often the case – the learners are blamed, much like the patient who doesn’t get better because he doesn’t take his medicine. I am working with doctors so this traditional view on how people learn or heal is reinforced from all sides.

Since the participants and my co-facilitators are now running the feedback session I don’t know of course what feedback they are giving to each other and thus what they are learning. That this is sometimes a bit different from what I would have given as feedback is a risk that comes with the approach. I believe it is a risk worth taking. After one session one of the more accomplished facilitators came to me and asked me to defend him because the group had criticized him for doing something that I had earlier suggested he do. Could I please set the record straight? I told him that he should take the feedback for what it is. If feedback comes repeatedly from different people it should be taken more serious than if it comes from one person at one time. I did not exonerate him in public. Later I heard from Ali that taking the feedback is still hard for some. They are after all the country’s elite, doctors, and working at the senior levels in the government – they ought to be perfect by now.

Ali is doing a terrific job and has really taken over from me. We consult a lot and whatever he picks up from those conversations gets integrated into his facilitation. I am seeing the man rise as a facilitator before my eyes. And now I am also beginning to see his colleagues, who are participants, show their talents. It is truly very inspiring and encouraging.

Ali has his cellphone on all the time despite the agreed upon norm to turn it off. He cannot do that because his nephew has leukemia and is in a bad condition somewhere in India. He has just been released from one hospital in Tamil Nadu where the doctors advised the family to give up as his condition is hopeless. The only thing that may save him is a bone marrow transplant. The boy is 17. Ali is contacting every doctor and hospital he knows in England, Pakistan and India. He does this in the background of our workshop. I marvel at his ability to hold this much stress and function at a high level. My other counterpart, Ali’s boss, just lost his father and returned to Kabul the day I arrived. After work he goes home to feed and entertain a steady stream of visitors from all over. His wife cannot receive the male visitors, even though she is highly educated. This is our tradition, he says. And this is how complex the lives are of the people I work with and how remarkable it is to see them function at the high level they do and be so completely available to do the work.

Yesterday the participants were doing the work of teaching and learning by facilitating sessions we assigned to them in teams of three. They continue doing this today, our last day together. We define leading as ‘enabling others to face challenges and produce results in complex conditions.’ So that is what we are doing. Midway through the workshop our work was essentially done; we created the structure, introduced the concepts, laid out the processes and the rookie LDP facilitators are now doing the work. Each team is learning from the feedback given to the preceding team and so the quality of the sessions is steadily going up. This way we are accomplishing three things at once: the participants are learning the things they need to learn, the facilitators learn to be coaches and I am freed up to pay attention to prepare next week’s double workshop and be responsive to other requests from senior project staff. But one thing I have not delegated and that is turning my iPod on and off to play the Afghan music before and after sessions. It makes everyone smile, even the serious types.

The Kabul Chief Burger had to do without our business for lunch yesterday. My co-facilitator Ali felt that a change was needed. We were served Kabuli rice, kebabs and a large bone with chunks of meet that you had to hunt for, hard work but delicious, with some unidentifiable mush of spicy greens, also delicious. A small packet of plastic utensils, sugar, salt and pepper in cellophane was offered with the meal. On closer inspection this turned out to be US army issue. It appears there is a flourishing market of American army goods outside the American base in Bagram right under the nose of our men in uniform. There is also a bush (not Bush) market in Kabul where US army products of any kind are available for sale. Our caterer must be getting his take-out utensils there. We did not need the salt/pepper and sugar packets enclosed with the utensils. I really hope someone picks through the garbage and saves the sugar, at least.

The MSH project team is determined to use every second of my time and attention. They are right, since it took a lot of resources to get me here and the end of my trip is showing on the horizon, but it means there is never a dull moment. On Sunday we start another training of trainers for 60 people in two parallel rooms with occasional sessions together. And one piece of my original scope of work that was taken out is put back in again. A proposal has been sent to the ministry to hold a senior alignment meeting to support the scale up of the leadership program in the 13 provinces. It is an all time record for me: three 4-day workshops and one 4-hour alignment meeting all in two weeks time plus strengthening the local team of lead facilitators. The only reason that this is possible is that a good chunk of the work was done in the first few days when the design was tested and finetuned. All I do now is give feedback to the lead team of facilitators and make sure the design for next week will work. My Afghan colleagues will do the heavy lifting from now on, taking my place as a coach, while I sit back and watch them. My job is, in essence, to create the containers in which the learning is most likely to happen with the least effort on anyone’s part. In this way, hopefully, we are cascading the skills sets downward and expanding the pool of LDP facilitators in Afghanistan. Some good results from improved leadership in the provinces over the last year are already in. We are very encouraged. People like to be associated with success and it seems a critical mass is building!