March 15, 2010
Timeline.
Hello buddies and friends of the project,
We have set a timeline for the commencement of the construction of the school. We feel 21st of April is ideal when the rains would have said their goodbyes to us while leaving the ground soft for the digging of the foundation. We feel by this time the paperwork would have been done by the Local authority and approved.
The timeline in this project is the motivation for action. It enables us to develop meaningful plan, with mileposts along the way to chart our progress relative to a predetermined completion date in this case 30th of October 2010. In short, the difference between success and failure in this project will depend on timelines that work. An old English proverb states; “That which can be done anytime is never done at all.” But when a timeline is set in this case 21st of April for the
commencement of construction (Even if it is just digging the foundation for the wall fence, we do hoping that others will come through for us. This will give us the frame of reference we need too!
I write this because crisis do happen, they are a fact of life. I remember the Murphy’s law: let me quote them for you though I am fully aware you know them well.
1.“If anything can go wrong, it will.”
2.“Nothing is as easy as it looks.”
3.“Everything takes longer than you think.”
4.“Left to themselves things tend to go from bad to worse.”
5.“If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one that goes wrong.”
From these laws as I was taught them in school, I know that Murphy was an optimist. Every time I go through the Murphy’s Law, I can’t help but smile. They make me laugh. Probably because every one of them contains a substantial element of truth. Sure, in my view, they are exaggerated but we have all at one time experienced, in our respective projects, things similar enough to the situation they portray.
The fact is, everything won’t go according to plan. Sometimes the most unexpected event works its way into the project. And the best crisis prevention technique we have is to keep the wary eye out for one of Murphy’s laws to appear, and to knowingly smile when it does, because we are prepared for it. For example number two and three are very obvious for King World Missions, more so that the money for the construction of the school is not enough.
We learnt in the leadership seminar taught by Judith, last year, that we learn a lot more of what’s really inside of us when we look at how we respond (feedback) when the wheels fall off and everything goes wrong. In the seminar we were put in pairs and told to share dreams to our friend who will in turn discourages you by telling you “It is not possible, It has never been done, You are the wrong color for this task, or the task is too huge for you an African. Others go to the extent of asking,” Where are you going to get the money to finance your dream? Just call it quits, you are not fit for it… etc” (End of Thinking Capacity)
But what was more inspiring was Judy’s conclusion, that how you deal with it is often much more important than what actually happens to you. It is the consequences of how we manage the process that determines how effectively we use the energy stemming from crisis. We need to be ready and we are, as a team here, at King World Missionsand further we have the right attitude.
I thought I should share with you how far I have gone with one of my two dreams I shared with you in the seminar. Could one you care to share with me how far you have gone with yours? I am all ears.
Over to you,
I love you all and keep up your good works.
Dr. Ralph Sebente
NB,
Attached is the Map of Mutendere sent to me by Fred. And some photos of our children.