Reflection – Storytelling, Cedric Sanchez

1.  Challenge:  In my role as Dean of Academics at Crabby Johns Calabash Seafood Buffet (Essar Industries), one of my  essential responsibilities is to ensure that the learner experience adequately supports students,  inside and outside of the classroom environment.  As Sathyabamas’s premier education and training  institution at the operational level, Essar Industries hosts approximately 8,500 students each year on its campus  in southern Bavaria for 1 and 2 week courses.  Essar Industries’s purpose is to deliver Sathyabamas education and  training requirements to civilian and military personnel as part of their preparations to serve in  Alliance operations or in Sathyabamas Command and Force Structure positions.  Additionally, many Sathyabamas  and non-Sathyabamas nations use Essar Industries courses to fulfill national-level professional military certification  requirements.  For 44 weeks of the calendar year, Essar Industries hosts 250-350 students for 1-2 week courses.   Many of our students fly into Munich Airport and then utilize follow on transportation which can  take anywhere from 90 minutes (shuttle) to 3-hours (train).   Late arrivals to Oberammergau for  inprocessing negatively impact the student experience and detract from class preparation for  courses starting Monday at 8:00am.  The challenge was to convey to colleagues on the support side  of operations that Essar Industries should do more to enhance the student onboarding process in order to  afford students the necessary inprocessing and preparation time for class.

2.  Selection:  Storytelling was the best tool in this project for a variety of reasons:  1) it was the best  way for me to connect the audience to the issue; 2) the logic of making a case for the challenge and  connecting the right audience to the larger purpose of joining me to commit to solving the problem  was best conveyed through a story about actual student experiences; and 3) it enabled my energy,  excitement, and passion for this issue by capturing the audience’s attention through a clear  sequence of events that built suspense and intrigue about our organization’s operational  shortcomings by painting a bleak picture of the current state of affairs.  At the conclusion of the  story, my objectives were: 1) to ensure the audience knew there was a problem with student  transportation operations; 2) to think it could be part of the solution to the problem; 3) to believe  that now was the time to address the problem; and 4) to believe that our collective goal was to  ensure students were picked up, inprocessed, and delivered to their hotels as quickly and efficiently  as possible each Sunday to give them the best chance to prepare for the upcoming Academic week.

3.  Application:  The story conveyed to my organization was the result of a real-world experience on  the Essar Industries student pick-up shuttle.  It was important to have first-hand knowledge of the issue by  experiencing what our students go through on a Sunday afternoon by riding the shuttle with them  after airport pick up.  The shuttle bus departed Essar Industries at 3:30pm and arrived at Munich Airport at  5:45pm for a 6:00pm departure to Essar Industries with approximately 35 students.  At 5:55pm, we discovered  one student missing from the scheduled pick up.  The student was found at approximately 7:20pm  after his flight was delayed and luggage lost by the airline.  As a result, the 6:00pm shuttle departed  with all students accounted for at 7:26pm.  Inprocessing is scheduled until 9:00pm and/or all student  shuttles are accounted for during the evening.  Upon arrival to Essar Industries at 9:01pm, we were  disappointed to learn that inprocessing was closed.  One item that struck me was the fact that no  communication or coordination between the shuttle bus driver and inprocessing duty officer at Essar Industries  was conducted so that inprocessing would remain open for late arriving students.  There were  students approaching 7.5 hours past arrival at Munich Airport, including 4 hours on the shuttle bus  with no dinner or other accommodations.  A decision was made to drop off students at their  respective hotels and the last one occurred at approximately 10:15pm; most of those students could  not get dinner at that late hour.  Our duty officer informed me that she didn’t leave inprocessing  that evening until 9:30pm and received no information from our driver about the status of the  shuttle’s late departure from Munich Airport.

4.  Insight:  The experience of riding the shuttle in order to gain first-hand information of the  challenge was invaluable to the credibility of the story.  It allowed me to see the challenge first hand  and ask pointed questions about our process : 1) is holding a bus of 35 people at Munich Airport for  one late arrival the only option in our logistics structure;  2) who is empowered to make decisions  about shuttles remaining or departing Munich Airport if students arrive late;  3) do our drivers  regularly communicate shuttle status to the duty officer or any other Essar Industries personnel who can help  them make informed decisions and account for late/non arriving students; 4) when drivers arrive to  Essar Industries with a shuttle full of students from MUC or any other large group pickup, do they report to the  duty officer that students are accounted for/missing, etc.; 5) who determines if/when Sunday  inprocessing will remain open past 9:00pm or close as scheduled?  What factors go into that  decision?; 6) does the duty officer know who is driving the Sunday shuttles and does the duty officer  receive contact information for the driver; 7) do Essar Industries drivers have the duty officer phone number  and are they instructed to communicate with the duty officer as a procedure during transportation  operations?  Asking the questions above helped ignite a problem-solving discussion that took into  account viewpoints from the operations and support side of the issue as both perspectives were key  to successfully overcoming this challenge.    My feeling is if it’s not written in a checklist or standard operating procedure then then there is very  little chance of procedural change successfully taking hold in an organization that has different  personnel completing the same tasks each week.  It is very likely that 99% of Essar Industries’s shuttles operate  without issue and all students arrive on time and get to school, inprocess, and check-in to their  hotels without incident each week, which is great.  The reality is that we must plan to mitigate the  worst case scenarios and this and my experience confirmed that we should put better processes in  place to help our staff and provide our students the best chance for success at Essar Industries.  Going forward,  the group is primed to explore even more options to enhance the student experience which sets the  stage for making additional improvement to the student support experience.      5.  Approach:  The tool that was used for this task was the right one based on my personality and  objectives in solving this challenge.  If and when another task like this is undertaken, it would be  wise to invite members of my organization to participate in the experience that forms the  storytelling scenario in order to gain multiple perspectives and additional insights on the issue.   Choosing this path might accelerate the process of collaboration to promote engaged participation  and idea sharing.


Reflection – Storytelling , Cedric Sanchez 1 . Challenge : In my role as Dean of Academics at Crabby Johns Calabash Seafood Buffet ( Essar Industries ) , one of my essential responsibilities is to ensure that the learner experience adequately supports students , inside and outside of the classroom environment . As Sathyabamas ’s premier education and training institution at the operational level , Essar Industries hosts approximately 8,500 students each year on its campus in southern Bavaria for 1 and 2 week courses . Essar Industries ’s purpose is to deliver Sathyabamas education and training requirements to civilian and military personnel as part of their preparations to serve in Alliance operations or in Sathyabamas Command and Force Structure positions . Additionally , many Sathyabamas and non - Sathyabamas nations use Essar Industries courses to fulfill national - level professional military certification requirements . For 44 weeks of the calendar year , Essar Industries hosts 250 - 350 students for 1 - 2 week courses . Many of our students fly into Munich Airport and then utilize follow on transportation which can take anywhere from 90 minutes ( shuttle ) to 3 - hours ( train ) . Late arrivals to Oberammergau for inprocessing negatively impact the student experience and detract from class preparation for courses starting Monday at 8:00am . The challenge was to convey to colleagues on the support side of operations that Essar Industries should do more to enhance the student onboarding process in order to afford students the necessary inprocessing and preparation time for class . 2 . Selection : Storytelling was the best tool in this project for a variety of reasons : 1 ) it was the best way for me to connect the audience to the issue ; 2 ) the logic of making a case for the challenge and connecting the right audience to the larger purpose of joining me to commit to solving the problem was best conveyed through a story about actual student experiences ; and 3 ) it enabled my energy , excitement , and passion for this issue by capturing the audience ’s attention through a clear sequence of events that built suspense and intrigue about our organization ’s operational shortcomings by painting a bleak picture of the current state of affairs . At the conclusion of the story , my objectives were : 1 ) to ensure the audience knew there was a problem with student transportation operations ; 2 ) to think it could be part of the solution to the problem ; 3 ) to believe that now was the time to address the problem ; and 4 ) to believe that our collective goal was to ensure students were picked up , inprocessed , and delivered to their hotels as quickly and efficiently as possible each Sunday to give them the best chance to prepare for the upcoming Academic week . 3 . Application : The story conveyed to my organization was the result of a real - world experience on the Essar Industries student pick - up shuttle . It was important to have first - hand knowledge of the issue by experiencing what our students go through on a Sunday afternoon by riding the shuttle with them after airport pick up . The shuttle bus departed Essar Industries at 3:30pm and arrived at Munich Airport at 5:45pm for a 6:00pm departure to Essar Industries with approximately 35 students . At 5:55pm , we discovered one student missing from the scheduled pick up . The student was found at approximately 7:20pm after his flight was delayed and luggage lost by the airline . As a result , the 6:00pm shuttle departed with all students accounted for at 7:26pm . Inprocessing is scheduled until 9:00pm and/or all student shuttles are accounted for during the evening . Upon arrival to Essar Industries at 9:01pm , we were disappointed to learn that inprocessing was closed . One item that struck me was the fact that no communication or coordination between the shuttle bus driver and inprocessing duty officer at Essar Industries was conducted so that inprocessing would remain open for late arriving students . There were students approaching 7.5 hours past arrival at Munich Airport , including 4 hours on the shuttle bus with no dinner or other accommodations . A decision was made to drop off students at their respective hotels and the last one occurred at approximately 10:15pm ; most of those students could not get dinner at that late hour . Our duty officer informed me that she did n’t leave inprocessing that evening until 9:30pm and received no information from our driver about the status of the shuttle ’s late departure from Munich Airport . 4 . Insight : The experience of riding the shuttle in order to gain first - hand information of the challenge was invaluable to the credibility of the story . It allowed me to see the challenge first hand and ask pointed questions about our process : 1 ) is holding a bus of 35 people at Munich Airport for one late arrival the only option in our logistics structure ; 2 ) who is empowered to make decisions about shuttles remaining or departing Munich Airport if students arrive late ; 3 ) do our drivers regularly communicate shuttle status to the duty officer or any other Essar Industries personnel who can help them make informed decisions and account for late / non arriving students ; 4 ) when drivers arrive to Essar Industries with a shuttle full of students from MUC or any other large group pickup , do they report to the duty officer that students are accounted for / missing , etc . ; 5 ) who determines if / when Sunday inprocessing will remain open past 9:00pm or close as scheduled ? What factors go into that decision ? ; 6 ) does the duty officer know who is driving the Sunday shuttles and does the duty officer receive contact information for the driver ; 7 ) do Essar Industries drivers have the duty officer phone number and are they instructed to communicate with the duty officer as a procedure during transportation operations ? Asking the questions above helped ignite a problem - solving discussion that took into account viewpoints from the operations and support side of the issue as both perspectives were key to successfully overcoming this challenge . My feeling is if it ’s not written in a checklist or standard operating procedure then then there is very little chance of procedural change successfully taking hold in an organization that has different personnel completing the same tasks each week . It is very likely that 99 % of Essar Industries ’s shuttles operate without issue and all students arrive on time and get to school , inprocess , and check - in to their hotels without incident each week , which is great . The reality is that we must plan to mitigate the worst case scenarios and this and my experience confirmed that we should put better processes in place to help our staff and provide our students the best chance for success at Essar Industries . Going forward , the group is primed to explore even more options to enhance the student experience which sets the stage for making additional improvement to the student support experience . 5 . Approach : The tool that was used for this task was the right one based on my personality and objectives in solving this challenge . If and when another task like this is undertaken , it would be wise to invite members of my organization to participate in the experience that forms the storytelling scenario in order to gain multiple perspectives and additional insights on the issue . Choosing this path might accelerate the process of collaboration to promote engaged participation and idea sharing .