Montebello or bust

Before we start the project in Ghana, we started the programme with a foundation course in Montebello in Quebec, Canada.

I'll talk about the course in a second, but the 'hotel' is very strange. Here are the facts:

1. It is the largest log cabin in the world.

2. It was built in 1930 or so - in 90 days.

3. It is dark inside, and reminds me of the haunted houses in Scooby Doo...



The programme here has been fantastic, and has been focused on the theme of Responsible Leadership. To try to cover in a blog what we have discussed over a week would be doing it an injustice, but the highlights have been:

• getting to know the other Ulysses team: we started with 24 participants, but now have (I think) 22 because a couple dropped out. The thing that stands out, after five days with these fellow partners is the openness, honesty and sense of common purpose - we are all on a similar journey here;
  
• we have had a number of people talk about leadership from different perspectives, but the common theme has been leading from the heart - what are one's core values and how do they guide you;
  
• sense of reflection: one concept which made particular sense to many of us was that we operate in an action-decision-action-decision etc environment, whereas the best decisions also often involve self-reflection as part of this process. This reflection has involved many things, if you want to know more email me.

The other highlight has been meeting my fellow project team, Jose-Luis who is a partner from Mexico and Robbie who is a partner from New Zealand. I'm not going to use surnames on this blog as google will just pick them up and may use them inappropriately.

Here's the three of us outside the Scooby Doo log cabin:

Jose-Luis on the left, me in the middle, Robbie on the right

In the past few days we've had discussions and over-dinner conversations with a number of interesting people: the Managing Partners of the Canadian Firm, the head of Canadian HC, the head of Advisory HC and a couple of partners who have done the Ulysses programme in the past. On the left is a picture of one of the discussion groups we had with previous Ulysses participants, on the right is a pic of a dinner we had by a lake in the middle of the wilderness - perfect venue for having a great time and an interesting conversation.

Today we finally met Lance, the head of the BasicNeeds operation in Ghana. Here's a pic of the team, including Lisa who is our team coach:

Left to right: Robbie, Lisa, me, Lance, Jose-Luis

Speaking to Lance during the day and over dinner, it is clear we have to steel ourselves for what we see in the mental hospitals in Ghana. It's now starting to become clear what we have let ourselves in for - particularly in working with a project such as mental health in a developing country. Some of the stories he has told us are quite horrific. Whilst we were the only team that selected this project, we are going into it with enthusiasm, an open mind and a great will. I am beginning to sense,though, how tough it will be.

Before I go I have to include a pic of my leaving present from the team back home. I thought I was going into town with Jo for dinner a couple of weeks ago, but when I got to the restaurant I had a surprise dinner organised by Heather with a load of friends.

It was a great evening, and they presented me with this picture which I think is great. It really touched me, and thank you to all of those actors who couldn't make it to the dinner - especially Steve with his silly hat...!