In the NGO area
After a very fruitful 35.4 years in Corporate work, I transitioned into the NGO + space. I am in six areas for NGO's; an international school, two non-stock, , non-profit Foundations, an Industry association, a Retirees Club and a Christian church. The '+' part are a coaching role, two start-up companies, a micro-finance association, my wife's business and managing my retirement portfolio of condos, homes and investments giving fixed income. Being a retiree, the fixed income bit is very important. I did pretty well in retirement preparations. It was something I always told my people when they joined my organizations. My mantra then was: Prepare for your Retirement, Know your Tasks and Targets and TEAM - Together everybody achieves more!
It is now nearly 3 years since I did that step over and time to take stock of what has happened. One could argue that having 6+6 areas of activities isn't really retirement but then, this is 5 less roles that what I had when I was still in corporate life. It is not uncommon for Senior Management in Multi-nationals to do this so I am not the exception. The 5 less roles were the business side which paid my salary and that has effectively ended.
Being in the NGO space does not mean the total cessation of a compensatory income stream. I am now, an Independent Contractor as defined by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. VAT paying and still subject to income tax. I charge consulting fees. I will always give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and to God what is God's. I just pray all these taxes I pay be spent properly.
I now focus on using all the accumulated experience I have gathered in my corporate life in trying to 'pay back'. Having more flexible time also allows me to travel more often with my family and thus pick up more flavors of the countries we visit instead of airport to meeting to airport with emails and telecoms in-between. I particularly enjoy travelling with the whole family, including my grandchild who in has at age 3 has been to significantly more countries that the typical toddler.
Back to the sharing of experiences. The roles I entered into are all very challenging. Suffice to say, each has the full range of issues ; regulatory, legal, financial, relational and with heavy doses of stress. But to date, I am very proud to say, all are in a better state now than before. Why so? There is closure of legal cases, passage of laws; organizational through SEC and even national through Congress, changing of persons in key roles, attainment of regulatory requirements, agreements with funders on budgets and in general a better working environment in all the teams and organizations.
I teach aspiring people trying to land jobs to make a list of STARRs; Situations, Tasks, Analysis, Results and Relationships where the person can truly say he/she was in a lead role. I make it a point to review my STARRs as each new role has issues to resolve and you can pick up a lot of learnings from each. These STARRs are a compilation of over 38 years of work experience and at times, I feel I could actually contribute to a wider audience by writing them down. I'll be thinking this over and see what comes out from a first pass. If others feel, it is worthwhile, I can transition that into the formal form - a book.
Is it more fulfilling working in the NGO area? In the business world it is Return on Investment or ROI. In the NGO space it is Social Return on Investment, SROI. In the business one aims for value in monetary terms. It does include Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which the whole world aspire to reach by 2030 but the NGO space brings a different parameter in the picture. I call it the dedicated heart of the worker. I believe the Tagalog term captures it better - Puso! A worker in a business is expected to be loyal, diligent and disciplined. He/she is rewarded by a salary and bonuses. For a worker in NGO's, it is all of the above plus the heart of service. And the compensation is the smiles and tears of joy of the beneficiaries. The deliverables often are not clean cut, and the money flows in the opposite direction but the efforts are definitely worth it. So yes, it is more fulfilling working in the NGO area.
In my succeeding blogs, I'll select a few instances where we can learn from STARRs....
It is now nearly 3 years since I did that step over and time to take stock of what has happened. One could argue that having 6+6 areas of activities isn't really retirement but then, this is 5 less roles that what I had when I was still in corporate life. It is not uncommon for Senior Management in Multi-nationals to do this so I am not the exception. The 5 less roles were the business side which paid my salary and that has effectively ended.
Being in the NGO space does not mean the total cessation of a compensatory income stream. I am now, an Independent Contractor as defined by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. VAT paying and still subject to income tax. I charge consulting fees. I will always give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and to God what is God's. I just pray all these taxes I pay be spent properly.
I now focus on using all the accumulated experience I have gathered in my corporate life in trying to 'pay back'. Having more flexible time also allows me to travel more often with my family and thus pick up more flavors of the countries we visit instead of airport to meeting to airport with emails and telecoms in-between. I particularly enjoy travelling with the whole family, including my grandchild who in has at age 3 has been to significantly more countries that the typical toddler.
Back to the sharing of experiences. The roles I entered into are all very challenging. Suffice to say, each has the full range of issues ; regulatory, legal, financial, relational and with heavy doses of stress. But to date, I am very proud to say, all are in a better state now than before. Why so? There is closure of legal cases, passage of laws; organizational through SEC and even national through Congress, changing of persons in key roles, attainment of regulatory requirements, agreements with funders on budgets and in general a better working environment in all the teams and organizations.
I teach aspiring people trying to land jobs to make a list of STARRs; Situations, Tasks, Analysis, Results and Relationships where the person can truly say he/she was in a lead role. I make it a point to review my STARRs as each new role has issues to resolve and you can pick up a lot of learnings from each. These STARRs are a compilation of over 38 years of work experience and at times, I feel I could actually contribute to a wider audience by writing them down. I'll be thinking this over and see what comes out from a first pass. If others feel, it is worthwhile, I can transition that into the formal form - a book.
Is it more fulfilling working in the NGO area? In the business world it is Return on Investment or ROI. In the NGO space it is Social Return on Investment, SROI. In the business one aims for value in monetary terms. It does include Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which the whole world aspire to reach by 2030 but the NGO space brings a different parameter in the picture. I call it the dedicated heart of the worker. I believe the Tagalog term captures it better - Puso! A worker in a business is expected to be loyal, diligent and disciplined. He/she is rewarded by a salary and bonuses. For a worker in NGO's, it is all of the above plus the heart of service. And the compensation is the smiles and tears of joy of the beneficiaries. The deliverables often are not clean cut, and the money flows in the opposite direction but the efforts are definitely worth it. So yes, it is more fulfilling working in the NGO area.
In my succeeding blogs, I'll select a few instances where we can learn from STARRs....
Comments
Post a Comment