A lesson in commitment

I got another breakthrough this week. Another defining moment that has quickly shaped my first week of school.

In our haste to go to visit Global Village, Kirsty and I decided on Wednesday to buy our bus tickets to KL that will leave on Friday night and return on Sunday. We were intending to skip half of the Corps Retreat over the weekend, and only attend the Sunday half of the Retreat. So happily, I bought the tickets that afternoon. Little did we know that my encounter and subsequent conversation with Shawn and Jasper would change our weekend plans drastically, and offer a lesson in commitment.

I have never seen both of them so troubled and engrossed in Ambassadorial planning work so intently before. So I offered to sit down with them and contribute to the thinking process. And surprise, surprise, did they mention about the idea of introducing (and implementing) corporate values for the Corps, including KPIs that will operationalize and measure how each Corp member display these values in their work.

You know, I so wanted to raise this idea at the upcoming Corps meeting as I strongly believed that as much as we had a solid external branding, we lacked the internal identity that was necessary to gel the Corps together, and get members to genuinely see themselves as an integral part of a well-oiled machine striving for a common vision. In short, our skills as Ambassadors provided the organisation with the "hardware", but our values and corporate belief should provide the "heartware" as well. Putting the discussion of our values as a priority for the Retreat was a God-sent surprise to me.

That is the answer to issues of morale and member commitment within the Corps. This is the smoking gun, that if properly implemented, will be the model for other student organisations to follow. This will be an experiment in organisational culture-creation, and a crucial one that was far too delayed and important to ignore.

And what touched me even more was that Shawn and Jasper offered to reinburse us out of their own pockets for our tickets to KL just so that we change our minds and stay for the Retreat. Their commitment was for all members to be present, so that everyone will be on the same page on such developments.

Well, I was speechless and really wanted to go to Global Village but I realised that as a relatively seasoned project manager and trainer on organisational culture, I could not walk away from what I preach. I have made a commitment to be part of the Corps, and I cannot walk away when my President and Vice-President have offered to go all out to make me attend the Retreat. They needed people to fight for what is right, and make a stand to introduce some bitter but much-needed medicine for the Corps to function at our 110% . We ended up debating the idea and discussing until 2 am in school. But did they win me over.

So I did the right (and some say, foolish) thing to do: I decided to skip KL, called up Kirsty to convince her to go for the Retreat, and found replacements for both of us. We decided to stay, and carry out our commitment as pledged members of the Corps.

Best thing of all? We chose to stay, not out of obligation or peer pressure, but because we chose to stay to make a difference and stay commited to a pledge we made more than a year ago, and carry out for every second we hold our appointments as members of the Corps.

Now, if only we can bring this lesson forward, make a strong case at the Retreat and Corps meeting, and deliver a powerful wake-up call to the rest of the Corps.