Week 4 – Character preparation coming in handy
Key Capacity areas: Process, Peformance
Key Character Values: Growth
Key OCP dimensions: transcendence, courage
I was able to get stuck into the actual modelling this week, generated lots of result data, and was able to format some of it into graphs, maps and real recommendations. I was really pleased to achieve the goal of the past two weeks of producing some tangible outputs, developing the capacity areas process and performance.
During the first half of the week, I faced a lot of setbacks: I would set up and run a few ‘Scenarios’, which would take half the day, and then realize that I had made some mistakes due to misunderstanding some element of the modelling process, and had to start all over again. Although this is part of the process of learning something new, having to alter and repeat my modelling did feel very demoralizing and like I was wasting time. I had to draw on the character dimensions transcendence to stay purposive and optimistic, and courage to stay resilient and determined.
During my Oxford Character Project reflections, I aimed to celebrate small wins more often to fuel my courage and transcendence into the next sprint of work. At the end of week 4, I took the time to relax and celebrate the successes I had achieved by the end of the week, and I think that this really helped my motivation and optimism in week 5.
By week 4 I was starting to feel lonely and homesick. However, before starting my LiA I had identified that this may be a threat during my SWOT analysis. The week before I travelled, I had researched different university & community events and reached out to different orchestras and choirs, that I could try out to reduce loneliness. Week 4 of my project aligned with the welcome week of Wageningen university – I attended some welcome week events and spoke to other young people, and went to their orchestra taster session. Speaking to people and doing something familiar like playing my clarinet was really helpful in reducing loneliness, and this experience showed me how important doing my SWOT analysis had been: any barriers to getting out and doing this had been removed because I had already researched what was available and when/where it would be happening.
Reflections on week 4 overall, aims for week 5:
This week I really felt supported by my previous preparation, my reflections from the Oxford Character project and the SWOT analysis I completed. I felt I understood fully for the first time the real benefits of reflecting on character, and actively used what I had learnt about myself to grow as a person and improve my project outcomes. My aims for week 5 are more process and output based than character based: to finish modelling, incorporate a cost-benefit analysis (which is only just started), and write a draft of my final report including the limitations of the model.
Week 5 – Final stretch begins!
Key Laidlaw Change-maker values developed: Fast, Determined
Key Laidlaw Capacity area developed: Process
Key Laidlaw Character value/dimensions developed: Wisdom, Judgement, Integrity, Drive
My aims for this week were to finish the modelling, add a cost-benefit analysis, and write a draft of my final report. I started on the cost-benefit analysis, but quickly realized it was a massive rabbit hole – the initial and maintenance costs of each intervention depend on so many different factors that predicting specific costs could have taken up all of my remaining time, without delivering any real impact in the time that I had. I decided to stop, and to state clearly in the report that detailed costing was beyond the scope of the project. It felt uncomfortable to drop one of my own week 4 aims, but this developed my character dimension Judgement and value Wisdom: being decisive about where my limited time would create the most value. Compared to week 3, when I found it really hard to know when to move on from a task, I made this call much more quickly – which I think shows real progress with the change-maker value ‘Fast’.
I also spent a lot of time this week considering the limitations of the model. It would have been easy to present my results as more certain than they are, but they may be used to inform decisions about where to put time and money into interventions, so it is important to be honest about where the model performs well and where the error may be large. This developed my character dimension Integrity, and the capacity area Process – leading ethically by reviewing my work critically throughout.
The main task for the second half of the week was writing up the report. Presenting a lot of information succinctly, and choosing which graphs and maps showed the results most clearly, was challenging. I also found it harder to stay motivated – after the discovery and problem-solving of weeks 1-4, writing up and visualizing data felt more repetitive, and I had settled into my ways. To keep going, I drew on what had worked in weeks 3 and 4: creating mini-deadlines for myself, and celebrating small wins. This developed the change-maker value ‘Determined’ and the character dimension Drive, and reminded me that motivation is something to create and plan for.
Week 6 – Presenting, communicating, wrapping up
Key Laidlaw Change-maker values developed: Brave, Good
Key Laidlaw Capacity areas developed: People, Performance
Key Laidlaw Character values/dimensions developed: Purpose, Humility, Courage, Integrity, Humanity
This week I continued editing my report and created my final presentation, which I gave to around 40 people, including the head of the Ethiopia Office and the head of the ‘Rivers and Lakes’ stream. Condensing the methods, results and limitations of my modelling into something engaging and accessible was difficult, as most of the audience were not hydrologists or data scientists. I had to decide what people needed to know to make decisions, rather than just present everything I found interesting! Explaining how the model worked to non-specialists also pushed my own understanding – it quickly showed up the parts I could do but not yet explain clearly, which developed my Humility. Adapting my communication to the audience developed the capacity area People and the character dimension Humanity.
My results were somewhat negative: most of the soil and water conservation strategies did reduce erosion in the areas where they were used, but had little impact on sedimentation in the lake itself. It was challenging to work out how to communicate this honestly, while still giving reason to keep working in the area and to seek funding, even when the problem seems massive. I felt a real tension between Integrity and wanting to give a positive message. Standing up in front of senior staff to present results that weren’t quite what we had hoped for took courage, and developed the change-maker value ‘Brave’. I think it also developed the capacity area Performance: meaningful and sustainable impact depends on recommendations being based on what the evidence actually shows, and this gave me a clearer sense of Purpose in my work.