Most people would think that a wise consultant would avoid the subject of 'discouraged' clients, groups, people, etc. But it's important to share how and why this phenomenon is experienced, because it happens to just about every group and every individual that has ever pursued the achievement of results - unless of course, they're very lucky to never run into obstacles.
Grenada has a lot of discouraged people right now, so this reflection might have value for some who work (or used to work, since unemployement is estimated near 30-40%) in office/team environments.
Signs of discouragement
1. Being discouraged is not the same as giving up, so you probably won't be hearing people say they're ready to thow in the towel just yet. What you will see is a drain on enthusiasm.
2. If your project involves group input, you will find people taking more time to respond to communication.
3. You will also find the use of sentences that begin with "I can't believe's" and "How could that" and a whole host of We/I "Should have's" or "Should we?" questions that indicate people's resolve is waining.
4. Meetings get harder to organize because the project/activity is coming second to other activities in people's lives.
5. Discouragement is also expressed with slipping deadlines. There are always people who don't make their deadlines, so they're not the ones to watch. Pay attention to the people who are usually the first to volunteer themselves for a task, and the first to get their work done.
6. Increasing signs of fatigue. Precious few things can make a person feel soul-drained tired than working hard for something that isn't generating a 'return'.
"What do you do?
Well achieving some results helps, but successes worth having aren't usually earned overnight so this is the time when creativity and patience have to find their way to the forefront.
1. Inject some humour in whatever you're doing. Humour is a really great way to strengthen interpersonal bonds, particularly among team members. Working through frustrations with humour also provides an opportunity for people to share their feelings of frustration and discouragement while avoiding the negative consequences of a 'complaining session'.
2. Avoid 'complaining'! Complaining only focuses more energy on the things that are not working in your favour and that's not going to keep you focused on your goal.
3. Acknowledge feelings. Even though there's still a lot of gender bias ascribed to 'feelings' (particularly in the professional context) if there's an elephant in the room it's better to acknowledge it's presence than to ignore it and hope it goes away. For example, if you're going to a meeting (board, planning, stakeholder, etc.) and you know the group/issue is facing a lot of problems it might be prudent to say so right up front. "I'm really frustrated by the all the walls we've encountered" might get a lot of nods of agreement from a discouraged group, which helps reinforce the shared bonds you have. However, if you're going to point out an elephant, you'll really be a hero if you've got some ideas about what to do about it.
4. Bring new ideas to the table. Sometimes, when progress with an idea/project starts to stagnate it's because the ideas aren't fresh anymore. Sometimes it's because the people you're trying to work with (partners, stakeholders) aren't invested, committed, sold on the idea or their competing interests are more important to them than your priorities are. If you're trying to partner with people who are difficult to work with, maybe it's time to rework the idea with new partners or on your own. Whatever the reason, it's always good to keep an eye on 'buy-in'.
5. Rage against the machine!...............As a last resort. This option is usually more appealing to younger generations who have less ties and responsibilities to sacrifice, but because of this, when an 'established group' of people say "enough"!! people do tend to pay attention. Good tactics to use for this option include - media campaigns, community meetings, speeches, press releases, protest marches, boycotts, etc.
The last thing I can offer up for anyone who's feeling disccouraged right now is to remember that even if you do everything right, and even if you try really hard....sometimes things don't go the way you expect/want them to. When that happens to me, I usually rely on faith, because I genuinely believe most things happen for a reason.
I'll give you an example. I was recently selling my old utility vehicle. I had an offer on it and was really excited about getting my brand new eco-car (low emmissions, high fuel economy). When the buyer pulled out the morning the sale was to take place I felt frustrated, angry and very dissapointed because I'd been looking forward to getting into my new car! I didn't let the feelings linger long because I reminded myself that things happen for a reason. Later that day we got a suprise call to say some sheep we'd planned on buying had been put on a boat and were on their way over from a nearby island. If I'd sold my car that morning as intended, I would not have had a suitable vehicle to transport the sheep to our land. Our car sold 4 days later to people far more deserving of our old reliable vehicle.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
GHTA Creates Energy Retrofit Lottery Project
As the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association (GHTA) continues to wait for the Government to give the nod to SIDSDock for our USD $500,000 proposal to cut energy consumption in half (The "GRRR" you think you read in that isn't subliminal, it's right there on the surface!) - the GHTA has turned its attention to other donors.
One of them comes via the National Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit, who contacted the GHTA recently to inform us that they had funding obtained through the Caribbean Development Bank(CDB) CARTFund (which is money given by the British Government via the CDB). It's a funding mechanism quite similar to SIDS in that the CARTFund requires government endorsment to obtain funds - but fortunately in this case the grant has already been awared to the EPA Unit and depending on the quality of our propsal, we may be beneficiaries of their efforts (I have a 100% approval rating on proposals I design, so if the offer is legit, I'm confident!).
The problem is it's only XCD $100,000 which isn't a lot of money when you consider that we intend to use it to procure internationally manufactured technology.
Somthing is better than nothing!
The up-side is that my clients are likely to be able to obtain the funds much more quickly than the traditional planning-proposal-approval-disbursement cycle (which is usually 2-3 years with most donors) and my clients have been given a lot of flexibility to chose how the funding will be spent.
The Board of Directors, at my advice, have chosen to use the funds to implement one of the four energy audits already done on hotels in Grenada. It's only enough to implement a portion of an audit so it'll probably be used for the biggest energy draw (air conditioning) and it will only reach one property.
Why use this money in one place instead of design a project that could do something else?
A few reasons:
1. Four energy audits have been done on hotels in Grenada. None have been implemented.
2. There are a lot of benefits to be derrived by 'proving' that implementing the audits work
3. Showcasing the results helps engage Members who will have to maintain a high level of committment for our larger project to succeed.
4. From a project management point of view, it's better to have a line up of hotels wanting audits and to implement than to chase to get things done.
5. Having an example of the complete audit-implement-record results cycle significantly strengthens our fundraising capacity.
6. No matter which property in Grenada, energy cost savings are urgently needed so it will be money well spent.
Since the purpose of using these funds is to demonstrate the value of implementing the audits, there are only four properties who will be eligible for the funding. Added to this, if any of those four properties want this funding, they will have to be willing to be transparent enough to be used as a case study. It is possible some will be more willing than others. So - once those criteria are met, the properties names will go into a glass/jar/box (whatever) at the AGM and the name will be pulled.
It seems like a very fair and very effective way to approach things. We probably won't know for sure that the funding will be awarded until a week or two after the AGM so it'll be a bit of a muted celebration for the awardee until then, but Executive Director, Pancy Cross thought this was the most democratic way to proceeed and I whole-heartedly agree with her.
One of them comes via the National Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit, who contacted the GHTA recently to inform us that they had funding obtained through the Caribbean Development Bank(CDB) CARTFund (which is money given by the British Government via the CDB). It's a funding mechanism quite similar to SIDS in that the CARTFund requires government endorsment to obtain funds - but fortunately in this case the grant has already been awared to the EPA Unit and depending on the quality of our propsal, we may be beneficiaries of their efforts (I have a 100% approval rating on proposals I design, so if the offer is legit, I'm confident!).
The problem is it's only XCD $100,000 which isn't a lot of money when you consider that we intend to use it to procure internationally manufactured technology.
Somthing is better than nothing!
The up-side is that my clients are likely to be able to obtain the funds much more quickly than the traditional planning-proposal-approval-disbursement cycle (which is usually 2-3 years with most donors) and my clients have been given a lot of flexibility to chose how the funding will be spent.
The Board of Directors, at my advice, have chosen to use the funds to implement one of the four energy audits already done on hotels in Grenada. It's only enough to implement a portion of an audit so it'll probably be used for the biggest energy draw (air conditioning) and it will only reach one property.
Why use this money in one place instead of design a project that could do something else?
A few reasons:
1. Four energy audits have been done on hotels in Grenada. None have been implemented.
2. There are a lot of benefits to be derrived by 'proving' that implementing the audits work
3. Showcasing the results helps engage Members who will have to maintain a high level of committment for our larger project to succeed.
4. From a project management point of view, it's better to have a line up of hotels wanting audits and to implement than to chase to get things done.
5. Having an example of the complete audit-implement-record results cycle significantly strengthens our fundraising capacity.
6. No matter which property in Grenada, energy cost savings are urgently needed so it will be money well spent.
Since the purpose of using these funds is to demonstrate the value of implementing the audits, there are only four properties who will be eligible for the funding. Added to this, if any of those four properties want this funding, they will have to be willing to be transparent enough to be used as a case study. It is possible some will be more willing than others. So - once those criteria are met, the properties names will go into a glass/jar/box (whatever) at the AGM and the name will be pulled.
It seems like a very fair and very effective way to approach things. We probably won't know for sure that the funding will be awarded until a week or two after the AGM so it'll be a bit of a muted celebration for the awardee until then, but Executive Director, Pancy Cross thought this was the most democratic way to proceeed and I whole-heartedly agree with her.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Hotel Sector Waits for Government to Submit SIDS Dock Proposal
When the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association began the journey to become the first Zero Carbon Hotel Sector in the region, a mechanism called 'SIDSdock' had been identified as a possible funding source.
The term SIDS refers to small island developing states, and if you live on one, it's a term you hear a lot. If you don't live on one, chances are it's a term you've never heard of before. The SIDS grouping blossumed as a leading advocacy grouping of countries who would be most affected by climate change. Grenada is a small island developing state that will be profoundly affected by climate change, but thanks to our mountains we'll still have an island(s) as sea levels rise - other flat, low lying islands might not be so lucky as to look forward to a continued existence.
How is this related to the Hotels waiting for the government to submit their proposal? Well, SIDS Dock was a funding mechanism developed specifically for financing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and the hotels zero carbon goal fits in quite nicely with that. The problem is that there are limited funds that all the SIDS are competing for (or at least those who are efficient enough to get projects designed and proposals put together) and Grenada's already got a proposal in queue! Not submitted by us, but by government. And not surprisingly, the first version of the Hotels SIDS proposal given to government to submit to SIDSDock in mid-July hasn't gone anywhere.
Is there enough money for the government and the private sector of one country to have their proposals financed? I don't know. Should a funding mechanism like this evolve into government and non-governmental streams? Probably.
In the meantime however, I took out the solar farm component of our project at the end of August because it was a) the most expensive part and b) required more negotiations with the local utility (I will blog about this another time). So the USD $2 million request was reduced to USD $500,000 and solar farm (Community energy) component that would have required Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements with the Government and GRENLEC were removed.
The project is now a 100% self contained project that doesn't require agreements, MOU's, partnerships or anything else that could hold things up. It's a simple project involving Energy Audits and Energy Conservation/Efficiency retrofits that could reduce electricity consumption by as much as half (OMG - that's a lot!).
There's an approximate deadline of 'September' to get that proposal officially submitted. I don't know if our proposal made it to Cabinet for review yesterday, but since the government decided to prorogue government yesterday - I doubt it. So it's pretty safe to assume the proposal won't be going anywhere this week. Next week maybe?
The term SIDS refers to small island developing states, and if you live on one, it's a term you hear a lot. If you don't live on one, chances are it's a term you've never heard of before. The SIDS grouping blossumed as a leading advocacy grouping of countries who would be most affected by climate change. Grenada is a small island developing state that will be profoundly affected by climate change, but thanks to our mountains we'll still have an island(s) as sea levels rise - other flat, low lying islands might not be so lucky as to look forward to a continued existence.
How is this related to the Hotels waiting for the government to submit their proposal? Well, SIDS Dock was a funding mechanism developed specifically for financing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and the hotels zero carbon goal fits in quite nicely with that. The problem is that there are limited funds that all the SIDS are competing for (or at least those who are efficient enough to get projects designed and proposals put together) and Grenada's already got a proposal in queue! Not submitted by us, but by government. And not surprisingly, the first version of the Hotels SIDS proposal given to government to submit to SIDSDock in mid-July hasn't gone anywhere.
Is there enough money for the government and the private sector of one country to have their proposals financed? I don't know. Should a funding mechanism like this evolve into government and non-governmental streams? Probably.
In the meantime however, I took out the solar farm component of our project at the end of August because it was a) the most expensive part and b) required more negotiations with the local utility (I will blog about this another time). So the USD $2 million request was reduced to USD $500,000 and solar farm (Community energy) component that would have required Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements with the Government and GRENLEC were removed.
The project is now a 100% self contained project that doesn't require agreements, MOU's, partnerships or anything else that could hold things up. It's a simple project involving Energy Audits and Energy Conservation/Efficiency retrofits that could reduce electricity consumption by as much as half (OMG - that's a lot!).
There's an approximate deadline of 'September' to get that proposal officially submitted. I don't know if our proposal made it to Cabinet for review yesterday, but since the government decided to prorogue government yesterday - I doubt it. So it's pretty safe to assume the proposal won't be going anywhere this week. Next week maybe?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Carriacou Launches Project to Convert 40-60% Diesel Electricity to Renewable Wind Energy
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA Monday, September 10, 2012: In keeping with the pronouncement in the 2012 Budget, the Government of Grenada in partnership with the European Union and GRENLEC will launch the Carriacou Wind Energy Project. The Financing Agreement was approved in February 2012 at a cost of EUR 3.9 million with a EUR 2.5 million Grant from the European Union to the Government of Grenada and at least EUR 1.4 million counterpart funding from GRENLEC.
The project seeks to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuel for electricity generation. This is a momentous step towards stabilising electricity prices in Grenada and reducing our carbon footprint. Carriacou’s relative size in relation to the rest of the electricity grid in Grenada means that the effect on the overall grid will be small. Nonetheless, the project is important to the overarching strategy for renewable energy development in the State of Grenada.
This project will include a wind farm and energy storage system, with an intelligent control system. This configuration of state-of-the art technology will allow production of about 1-2 megawatts of wind energy or between 40-60 percent wind energy penetration in Carriacou, placing it among commercial hybrid systems delivering the highest penetrations of wind energy. Such systems integrate renewable energy technology with traditional fossil fuel generation. The Carriacou project is intended to reduce diesel consumption in Carriacou by 40-60 percent.
The Carriacou Wind Farm is the first of two that GRENLEC plans on constructing in Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique. Significantly, the part-funding from the European Union, through the Government of Grenada, makes the project feasible for GRENLEC. The other major area of interest is geothermal energy, for which consultations with key stakeholders are ongoing, in addition to work on draft legislation to manage exploration of Grenada’s resources.
The launch will be comprised of a Signing Ceremony at the National Stadium on Tuesday 11th September at 11:00 a.m and a Sod Turning Ceremony at Top Hill, Carriacou on Wednesday 12th September commencing at 1:00 p.m. The events will be jointly hosted by representatives from the European Commission’s Regional Office, The Ministry of Finance, The Ministry of Carriacou and Petit Martinique Affairs and GRENLEC.
This pilot project is novel and will provide useful lessons as Grenada pursues it “GREENADA” vision and the targets in the National Energy Policy.
All members of the media are invitetd to the Signing Ceremony at the Grenada National Stadium tomorrow Tuesday 11th September at 11:00 a.m
By: Ministry of Finance and GRENLEC
The project seeks to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuel for electricity generation. This is a momentous step towards stabilising electricity prices in Grenada and reducing our carbon footprint. Carriacou’s relative size in relation to the rest of the electricity grid in Grenada means that the effect on the overall grid will be small. Nonetheless, the project is important to the overarching strategy for renewable energy development in the State of Grenada.
This project will include a wind farm and energy storage system, with an intelligent control system. This configuration of state-of-the art technology will allow production of about 1-2 megawatts of wind energy or between 40-60 percent wind energy penetration in Carriacou, placing it among commercial hybrid systems delivering the highest penetrations of wind energy. Such systems integrate renewable energy technology with traditional fossil fuel generation. The Carriacou project is intended to reduce diesel consumption in Carriacou by 40-60 percent.
The Carriacou Wind Farm is the first of two that GRENLEC plans on constructing in Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique. Significantly, the part-funding from the European Union, through the Government of Grenada, makes the project feasible for GRENLEC. The other major area of interest is geothermal energy, for which consultations with key stakeholders are ongoing, in addition to work on draft legislation to manage exploration of Grenada’s resources.
The launch will be comprised of a Signing Ceremony at the National Stadium on Tuesday 11th September at 11:00 a.m and a Sod Turning Ceremony at Top Hill, Carriacou on Wednesday 12th September commencing at 1:00 p.m. The events will be jointly hosted by representatives from the European Commission’s Regional Office, The Ministry of Finance, The Ministry of Carriacou and Petit Martinique Affairs and GRENLEC.
This pilot project is novel and will provide useful lessons as Grenada pursues it “GREENADA” vision and the targets in the National Energy Policy.
All members of the media are invitetd to the Signing Ceremony at the Grenada National Stadium tomorrow Tuesday 11th September at 11:00 a.m
By: Ministry of Finance and GRENLEC
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Posting Comments on this blog
I have been told that there are people who wish to post comments on this blog. The comment feature has been on it since I created the blog some years ago, but I haven't figured out how to make the placement more obvious. Usually, because comments aren't frequent, you can click "No comments" at the bottom of the post. I presume when comments are put up, the button will appear differently, but in the same place. Perhaps it'll say, "Add a comment"....not sure. I will ask someone who's more technically minding to help me make the feature more user friendly, but until then - post your comments!! Please note however, comments are moderated to ensure that nothing offensive or inappropriate is posted here.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
BBC Fast:Track Highlights Grenada's Chelsea Flower Show Winners
Grenada is more than Sea, Sun and Sand....we have the Chelsea Champion Flowers too...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/9747156.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/9747156.stm
Friday, August 17, 2012
Patience, Patience
We've moved mountains since Grenada's hotels declared their zero carbon goals with the 2012 Earth Day Declaration. Since then, there's been a rigourous effort to:
1. Research the best way to achieve that goal
2. Consult with all the Hoteliers who will be impacted by the project
3. Determine needs (something the policy industry would call a 'needs assessment')
4. Determine the recpients willingness to invest themselves in the effort
5. Shortlist preferred techological solutions & identify costs
6. Consult with donors, and international agencies involved in combatting climate change as well as promoting development
7. Consult with stakeholders outside the immediate project group who may also be impacted by or interested in the project
8. Draft a project outline
9. Negotiate terms with the local utility
10. Negotiate terms with the local government
11. Draft another project outline (based on negotiation results)
12. Submit the proposal to the donor......
No wait!~ We can't submit the proposal to the donor directly, we have to submit to the government to obtain their approval and THEN they can submit to the donor.
In our case, as is often the case - when pursuing funding envelopes that are substantial in size (over say, $500,000 USD) the donors usually require the country government to indicate their support for the project. Makes sense on a diplomatic, economic, and practical front for the donors, but it sure presents a challenge at times 'on the ground'!
Why?
Because the one thing that policy and paper shufflers often fail to include in their systems development is a good look at local, practical, operating conditions. Most developing country governments suffering from tremendous capacity strain - as a few gifted individuals (who have not succumbed to brain drain - leaving for higher paid jobs elsewhere) carry more than their share of workload burden. The rest of the public service 'bulk' is at it is in most countries - costly deadweight.
The result?
Things move slowly. Sometimes slower than backwards it seems. The Government of India has some creative ways of addressing the problem of efficiency in a sprawling bureaucracy by embedding accountability measures at all levels. I haven't been on the ground there to see whether or not it works, but in our case - something like that would benefit us.
As we wait for the government machinery to re-start it's engines after 3.5 public holiday days in 2 weeks - I can't help but lament about the time lost while the government moves at its own speed exercising its own internal due diligence before the project I designed can 'officially' move forward to the donor.
It's not the fault of the individuals responsible for getting our proposals and requests through the government system. I know well enough from my own days working in the Prime Minister's Office that no ammount of desire or will can change some elements of how fast things move in government. But gosh....from a private sector point of view where needs are seen and attended to swiftly for the benefit of good business, it's hard to be patient and wait knowing what is at stake.
And so we nudge, and encourage, and try to get things moving along.......while I work hard in the background trying to keep my clients looking credible with stakeholders in countries that move quite a lot faster than the Caribbean.
1. Research the best way to achieve that goal
2. Consult with all the Hoteliers who will be impacted by the project
3. Determine needs (something the policy industry would call a 'needs assessment')
4. Determine the recpients willingness to invest themselves in the effort
5. Shortlist preferred techological solutions & identify costs
6. Consult with donors, and international agencies involved in combatting climate change as well as promoting development
7. Consult with stakeholders outside the immediate project group who may also be impacted by or interested in the project
8. Draft a project outline
9. Negotiate terms with the local utility
10. Negotiate terms with the local government
11. Draft another project outline (based on negotiation results)
12. Submit the proposal to the donor......
No wait!~ We can't submit the proposal to the donor directly, we have to submit to the government to obtain their approval and THEN they can submit to the donor.
In our case, as is often the case - when pursuing funding envelopes that are substantial in size (over say, $500,000 USD) the donors usually require the country government to indicate their support for the project. Makes sense on a diplomatic, economic, and practical front for the donors, but it sure presents a challenge at times 'on the ground'!
Why?
Because the one thing that policy and paper shufflers often fail to include in their systems development is a good look at local, practical, operating conditions. Most developing country governments suffering from tremendous capacity strain - as a few gifted individuals (who have not succumbed to brain drain - leaving for higher paid jobs elsewhere) carry more than their share of workload burden. The rest of the public service 'bulk' is at it is in most countries - costly deadweight.
The result?
Things move slowly. Sometimes slower than backwards it seems. The Government of India has some creative ways of addressing the problem of efficiency in a sprawling bureaucracy by embedding accountability measures at all levels. I haven't been on the ground there to see whether or not it works, but in our case - something like that would benefit us.
As we wait for the government machinery to re-start it's engines after 3.5 public holiday days in 2 weeks - I can't help but lament about the time lost while the government moves at its own speed exercising its own internal due diligence before the project I designed can 'officially' move forward to the donor.
It's not the fault of the individuals responsible for getting our proposals and requests through the government system. I know well enough from my own days working in the Prime Minister's Office that no ammount of desire or will can change some elements of how fast things move in government. But gosh....from a private sector point of view where needs are seen and attended to swiftly for the benefit of good business, it's hard to be patient and wait knowing what is at stake.
And so we nudge, and encourage, and try to get things moving along.......while I work hard in the background trying to keep my clients looking credible with stakeholders in countries that move quite a lot faster than the Caribbean.
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