18 people’s client delegation.
The visit is planned in the sweltering heat of the mid-day, making any additional activities impossible.
The visit is planned for an hour.
My chest was thumping as if it was Sivamani’s drum set.
No pressure.
At around 10.30 am, I see a long ( and I mean longgggg, like they use for transporting football players) bus taking the dirt road leading towards my school.
No pressure. Breathe.
Ok. Before we move forward, a little context first for those newbies who are first-time visitors to my website. I volunteer at a disability school near Maan village, as a POC from the Infosys CSR team. Infosys has been associated with this school for more than 7 years now and has contributed to many of the school’s improvement projects.
Ok back to the client visit.
The bus stopped at the gate of my school and one by one our clients disembarked from the bus. There were few familiar faces and lots of unfamiliar faces. After exchanging pleasantries, we all moved into the school’s administrative office.
There, among the client stakeholders, there was one face that looked very familiar but I couldn’t recall why. I hate it when I can’t figure out why I found someone familiar. This thought was constantly running in the back of my head throughout the client visit.
Anyway, more about it later.
The main aim of our school’s client visit is always to share information (without boring the clients). We want to focus on showcasing the school’s phenomenal work rather than gaining monetary benefits. We want our visitors to remember our kids’ for their grit than for their disabilities. When the delegation is small, communication becomes easy. You can connect individually with each of the stakeholders and clarify doubts. In a large group, the main challenge was to how to ensure everyone is getting the right message.
In the administrative office of the school, I ensured the entire group of people got a proper introduction to the school’s staff and the history of the school. Principal sir spoke about the mission of the school – to promote the welfare of the handicapped and to help them towards their own integration into the normal stream of the community. Irrespective of their disability.
While I was the main POC who interacted with Addy and Jazz- the senior teammates from the ABN AMRO team, the Infosys team helped in pitching and resolving any queries from other client stakeholders. Slowly I saw how friendly the ABN AMRO team was and I relaxed ( a bit too much, I think).
After the introduction, we brought the client team into the classroom of our school. We showcased to the client how kids are learning mobile repairing, tailoring, and computers. The main aim is the ensure that once the kid completes his course from school, he should be able to earn his bread and butter (and some more). I had requested each one of the client team members to please interact with the kids and see how well they were speaking in English. I was pleasantly surprised that the clients were fairly impressed with English communication from kids. It was the direct validation of the school’s spoken English course teacher’s effort. Kids were not only just chatting with the clients, but they were also cracking jokes, posing to take pictures, and sharing their life stories. The kids were challenging the client’s team in a match of cricket but the client didn’t understand the sport so they passed. Well, if not cricket then how about badminton, carrom or even chess? The kids asked and the client team decided to unanimously shake hands with the kids as the champions. The client did promise to come back with a bit more practice next time around for the battle of sports.
When we were in the computer room, where we were all laughing and taking pictures with the school’s chess champion, there it was again. Why do I find Jazz so familiar? Where I have seen him? Damn, I am getting old!! I thought and paused this thought for a while.
Next, we moved to the finale of our visit, in the dining section, where we showcased how the kitchen is operated by disabled staff for disabled kids. There we talked about how the old dinner tables were replaced by Infosys last year and now we are looking for help from Infosys to replace the remaining set of old tables. After this, the client happily announced that they had collected some donations in euros which if converted into INR, would be more than enough to fulfill the needs of the school.
I was so delighted by this announcement that I clapped till my hands hurt.
And while I was clapping a name popped up in my head. –
Roger Federer!!
Damn it, that was it. Jazz looked like a spitting image of Roger Federer. Like an idiot, without thinking much, I immediately asked Addy’s opinion on it as well to which he wholeheartedly agreed. Jazz did look a lot like FedEx.
I felt relieved as if a bird was released from his cage.
While the client team was arranging itself for the tree plantation ceremony, the final customary picture with the entire batch, I couldn’t help but reflect on what the school earned from this visit –
- Now, kids have enormous confidence that they are no less than anyone in the world.
- ABN AMRO team’s enthusiasm was infectious. I have never seen so many happy faces after the visit.
- Heart connection – no matter where you are born, if you are sincere, you can form a connection to the hearts of any human. I feel that my school has formed a connection with the ABN AMRO team and whenever they are in India, I am sure they will take time out to visit my school again.
And we look forward to hosting them again.
A huge thank you goes out to the ABN AMRO leadership team, Infosys account team, Infosys CSR team, and MPAPK staff for a successful client visit.
Side note-
Jazz will not only remain in my memory due to his resemblance to Roger Federer but also due to his singing skills. He sang a beautiful song that his grandmother used to sing. It is about the mother’s love. If you can understand Dutch, make him famous.