The key to social impact measurement is nothing but professionalism.
Breakdown
This is my first update in about half a year.
This past March, I had to leave the career design NGO that I had been involved with for about a year. It is a pretty big breakdown for me.
For the past eight years since I started working as a volunteer manager at the aquarium, the 3Q and 4Q of the fiscal year have always been heated up with (1) the annual festival in October, (2) the recruitment in the winter, and (3) the general meeting in March.
This year, although I had been initially relieved of heavy workloads when I went on to MBA studies, I released (1) and (2) due to Corona. On the other hand, I had the first holding with the online session of (3) and a project in a field that I had no experience in at my main job, making the 4Q about 2.0 times more exciting than usual.
On the other hand, the reason for my resignation from the Career Design NGO was that we had a rather significant problem in the 3rd quarter due solely to my appalling inexperience. The other members were not at all to blame, and I feel really sorry for them, especially the vice president and representative and the management’s younger members. In addition to that, it is simply difficult in principle to balance work and study, and if communication is no longer possible, it would be nothing but harm to get involved any further.
As a result of the above factors, the research I want to do is fatally lacking in progress, and I am being forced to prepare myself for the hell of the new fiscal year. Still, now that I finally have enough psychological space to write this article, I would like to put into words what I am thinking as of today.
Professionalism
At the company I joined after graduating, my boss drilled into me two things: “Be professional” and “Think by myself.” I do not think it is necessary to follow them, but I think they are correct and quite essential in my experience.
To put it bluntly, we can make numbers that show our achievements in any way we want. In fact, it is easy to get ahead, go public, or receive a huge investment. The better we are, the more we can do it. The more expertise we have, not only in finance, accounting, and bookkeeping but also in soil science, veterinary medicine, etc., the more we will be able to see if the numbers of profit and valuation have substance and blood in them.
When you are the only one who realize that things will definitely turn out badly if left unchecked, it can be not easy to decide whether to report it or pretend it never happened. In most such cases, either choice is a thorny one. I think we will understand the meaning of this when we actually get a job and move a lot of money, and we realize firsthand the responsibility that our work has on people’s lives and livelihoods.
It is true that the NGO I joined is also a very responsible job that goes into the realm of education. Environmental conservation and education projects are significant, but at the same time, the effects can be faked very easily. It is a business where you can “create” as a logic model as much as you want and say, “We are doing so well!” So, for example, if members do not get the job they want, we can still say, “It is just that they did not work hard enough. It is none of my business. It is not my problem.” I realized that if we do not engage in the management with that kind of determination, we will not be able to notice anything. It was a test for me not to underestimate or overestimate my abilities and to face facts that I do not want to see objectively.
Encouragement for my colleagues
I do not believe for a minute that my approach was right, but at least until the end, I tried to convey various things with pride and dignity and with expectations for the future work of my boss and staff.
In my humble opinion, it will be challenging to achieve the milestones of the NGO’s business goals set for June 2022, and even if they do accomplish the numerical goals, it will not be easy to be genuinely convinced that they have reached their goals. I can say it because I have lived with the difficulty of 150 for about a decade. As an organization, they are still in the start-up phase and have many challenges to face. When I first arrived at NGO, I was expected to be a great asset for them, but now that I have left, I regret my inability to do anything about it, and I feel very sorry and acutely aware of my responsibility.
By the way, why am I writing this article now? It is natural for you to want to kick away my words. It would be much better if I did not make such harsh remarks that would upset the staff so that they could send me with a brighter outlook. The staff’s impression for me would not get any worse. Yes, I know it, and still write about it, because I am sure that I have such confidence in your potential. If I were to leave the NGO with only a few words that sounded good to them, it would only prove that I do not care about them.
What is the meaning of “coexistence” that our boss and ourselves want to realize even at the cost of our lives? If we can think through how we can do it with blood in our veins, if we can gather all our wisdom if we do not run away from the fear of being confronted with our true feelings by the other party, and if we face each other with all our might, with the determination to bear each other’s scars, then perhaps there are potentialities.
Correspondence
This article is mainly for NGO members, but I believe that the aquarium industry is basically homeomorphic.
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