How working in the social sector changed my life

Have you ever felt you have everything in your life and yet something is amiss? Are Monday mornings your least favourite part of the week? Are you wondering what are you truly contributing through your work? A midlife crisis is something we all go through at some stage in our career.

For me, it started with the 26/11 attacks. Seeing Kasab’s face flash on news channels made me wonder what drove a boy as young as him towards blatant violence.

I was tired of being a passive commentator. I wanted to do something that would give youngsters from at-risk communities a chance to contribute to creating a better world for themselves and their family. After dabbling in management education and working with an FMCG company over the next five years, I still did not fully understand the art of self-fulfilment.

While I was working, I met a friend who was then working as a Teach For India Fellow. I visited his classroom and was fascinated to see the way students were learning. If I had to help young people make the right choices, starting when their beliefs are pliable seemed like a good idea. Understanding the grassroot reality could allow me to better define my role.

I knew moving to the non-profit sector would come with a huge opportunity cost - especially in terms of compensation. However, I also knew these costs would only increase as I move ahead in my career. 

I spoke to a few more people in the fellowship to realise that it was only a two-year full-time commitment. Alumni from the program were starting up their own organisations, consulting with large firms, working at grassroots level and large education-focused non-profits or for-profit set ups, among others.

I could always go back to the corporate or start-up sector. I asked myself: “If not now, then when?” I decided to join the fellowship, fully committed to the two years but open to exploring other avenues later.

I began working with a group of 70 students in Jafari English High School as a Teach For India Fellow. The school was located within a few 100 metres of India’s largest landfill in a community with conditions that compared to sub-Saharan Africa (HDR, 2009). Violence, insecurity, and poverty were a part and parcel of my children’s life.

Their achievement gap and our resilience gap

Some of my children in Class 6 couldn’t differentiate the words "sat" and "cat" and assumed the number 1010 came after 99. Beyond these groups with high academic gaps, there were individual stories – a child living under a constant threat of near homelessness, another on the brink of joining a local gang, a few struggling with learning disabilities. Yet, every day, I would see them be strong, laugh and pursue life with renewed zest.

While I had always known about the state of our education, I realised the comfort that my upbringing and economic background had given me. I failed and failed miserably in the class the first few months. If stepped into my children’s shoes, I wondered how long I would last.

While my kids were facing a huge academic achievement gap, I was facing an even bigger resilience gap.

I realised how little my world had prepared me to truly fail and step up again. The resource crunched, context-dependent environment of social change allowed me to test my stamina like never before.

My real strengths and weaknesses

I leveraged my strengths - setting ambitious goals; creating a strategy; meticulously planning my months, weeks and days; executing relentlessly to plan and constantly reflecting on my practice to improve my effectiveness. Nothing I did translated into my students’ learning outcomes.

At my lowest, I became aware of the need to step out from my comfort zone. My children deserved nothing less than my best self. I pushed myself to seek perspectives and empathise with the different stakeholders’ reality. I built authentic relationships with my school team members and worked with them towards our vision. I practiced gratitude, seeing what was going well before what wasn’t.

As these values became a deliberate practice, I saw a turnaround in my classroom. Looking back at every past instance where I had not succeeded, I saw how overcoming my limiting beliefs and mindsets could have pushed me towards better outcomes.

What you create must be a reflection of the world you want to see

The definition of outcomes went way beyond academics in my classroom. My students were driving each other’s learning. They started demonstrating the values they saw me practice. The classroom became that one place where my kids could see how their own choices could impact their outcomes, no matter what the circumstances in their community.

They had begun to believe in the power of "everyday leadership". It was a microcosm that brought alive my vision for my world - where people were aware and empowered to make choices towards a better future for all.

Adversity brings out your true self

The Fellowship gave me a lot of clarity about "Who I was?" and "What is my role?" by allowing me to see myself as a reflection of my students’ and my own actions and outcomes. Autonomy, purpose and continuous learning were key drivers in my career choice.

I wanted to continue using my experience in management and strategy to support students. After the Fellowship, I found the opportunity to work with Teach For India to set up and run their operations in Bangalore. From 70 students, I have now moved to impacting over 2,800 through our 88 Fellows and 14 staff members.

Many others from my cohort found their own pathway. Many colleagues had joined large and small non-profits focusing on different pieces in education. Some pursued higher studies in policy and education - both in India and abroad. Others worked with corporates or for-profit start-ups. Regardless of where they worked, more than three out of five continued to support the cause of our children.

While our traditional pathways give us knowledge and skill sets, social sector avenues like the Fellowship develop your leadership abilities and values. Experiencing the set of intricately linked and reinforcing forces that work in complex social systems is both humbling and eye opening.

Once you work here, the problem is no longer a statistic. It becomes a personal narrative, involving your stakeholders and your own journey. In this story, feeling helpless or empowered is not a question of circumstance, but a choice.

(Applications for Teach for India Fellowship are open till  February 7, 2017.)