Opportunity to do some voluntary consultancy

It was a great privilege for my wife (a TESOL teacher at a public university here in Australia) and I to spend June to August 2011 in Indonesia upgrading our language skills (http://realians.com/) and then spending two months using our professional skills in a voluntary capacity for an Indonesian NGO that is really making a positive impact in the lives of the community they are working amongst.

The two photos below are from Balanced Scorecard (BSC) workshops with some of the 55 Indonesian staff. The main aim was to review the organisational level BSC (including the organisations mission, vision, values and strategy map) and then to cascade it to the three main departments.

As part of the process, it was decided that all staff should have the opportunity for input into all steps. They grasped the concepts really well and at the end of our time there seemed to be strong ownership of the strategy and what was needed to be done to make sure it was executed well - at organisational, departmental and individual levels.

Sometimes, I think it is really good when as consultants we can go the extra mile and be involved with those who have a desire for excellence in all they do but who may lack the resources, management tools and approaches to help achieve all that they want. We really enjoyed our time and appreciated the wonderful opportunity to work in this different environment amongst some really great people who are committed to making a difference in their community. While there was a financial cost for us, we felt this was well worthwhile as we gained in so many other ways.

Bob
http://www.bmcdconsulting.com