Last Friday, during the crazy rain/wind storm, Chris, Lauren, and I had a follow up meeting with the manager (J.V) of the organization we've been observing. Again I was apprehensive about going in, not wanting to impose on his time or make him feel uncomfortable in anyway. Once again my apprehensions were put to rest within 5 minutes of being there as J.V. and his staff welcomed us into the building and out of the weather.
Chris had arranged a meeting with J.V. weeks in advance and we had plenty to talk with him about after our tour at the beginning of the month and after hearing from our insightful instructors in the last few class sessions about how to go into these kinds of meetings.
I was thankful when we met with J.V., that we had heeded the advice of Patrick, Terry & Kate and ditched the formal questions and moved to a more conceptual framework. I don't think we got as many questions answered as we may have if the meeting had been more interview style. But I do believe that we would not have had the opportunity to hear the detail that J.V. shared with us in his response to the "questions" we did ask, and we certainly wouldn't have experienced as much of the emotion behind the work he does with his organization. And while the former would probably make for easier paper writing, the latter has given me a lot to think about regarding organizations and the kind of leader I hope to be someday.
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