Venkat wanted to find out what motivates Isha Education employees. Read his Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat. story to see how he’s using structured interviews to help the organization become more effective.
Venkat wanted to learn more about the team leads at Isha Education, to understand their long-term plans for their work and to figure out what motivates them to support the organization’s mission of educating children in rural India.
Venkat used the Question Ladder tool to develop an interview guide, getting the answers he sought in what he called “a non-intrusive way.” He then sat down for conversations with Isha Vidhya staff, which flowed nicely and helped him accomplish his goals.
Venkat learned that just holding the conversation helped motivate his colleagues and remind them about why they do their work. He also found that they were mostly self-motivated: “We found that all leads can think on their own on how to take their functional areas forward even without much guidance. Generally, they all require very little supervision and have plans for their units,” he said.
“Expanding roles and responsibilities while maintaining a healthy work-life balance keeps our team engaged and interested.”
— Venkat, Isha Vidhya Project Leader
Venkat told GlobalGiving: “Overall, we found Question Ladder to be a very engaging tool to talk to and break ice with various functional unit leads. We got to know their personal lives and their preferences, too, which will give us significant inputs on how to satisfy their career aspirations while making sure that they lead a healthy lifestyle and be happy with their families and personal responsibilities.” He says it’s a tool he’ll use again to initiate conversations, because “it became an opportunity for them to speak out the ideas that they always had in mind, but never got the chance to express because of the daily run-of-the-mill.” Kavita, GlobalGiving’s India Partnerships Consultant, visited Isha Vidhya and was impressed. “Isha Vidhya understands that the major gap between a rural and urban student is the exposure to English and computer education. Their work to address that gap through a unique curriculum is really commendable,” she said.
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Featured Photo: The Isha Education team celebrates. Photo by Isha Education.
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