Nadia recently had the opportunity to take on a new mission within her organization. She is now coordinating the implementation of an important project with significant expected results for the targeted beneficiaries. She has been an excellent member of the technical team so far but apart from a 3-day workshop in RBM she has limited real experience in project management. The Skills4Dev team of advisors supported her during this transition, focusing on urgent skills-upgrading needs in RBM planning, procurement and M&E. Her colleague, Sara, also benefited from Skills4Dev support, but in her case, she had to prepare to move from basic RBM skills to advanced skills as she had recently been offered an international assignment.

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Mika is known within the team as someone who gets the job done. But each time he has to collaborate with a teammate or another team, he feels uncomfortable, like working in a team slows things down. This sometimes creates tensions within the team. But most of all, it prevents Mika from bringing his full contribution to the team; it prevents him from reaching the next level. When Skills4Dev advisors started working with Mika, they realized that he was not really aware of his working style, and all the implications it had on his relationships with his teammates and supervisors. He was performing well but not recognized accordingly. During the first sessions with Skills4Dev, Mika agreed to prioritize the work on his self-awareness using daily tips & reminders. Then, they worked on what diversity in the workplace meant and what value diversity could bring to Mika's work and career. After the first advisory cycle, Mika felt way more comfortable working in teams and showed more patience. He realized that what he previously saw as a cost would in fact be an asset in the future. 

Cristina, her husband David and their two young children moved to their new country a year ago as part of Cristina's new mission. Recently, David accepted a position with a local NGO, and with the incorporation of his new job demands into his already busy schedule he soon found himself overwhelmed and stressed, to the point where he wondered if he had made the right choice. With the help of Skills4Dev counselors, David was able to reorganize and prioritize his time, and incorporate stress management techniques into his schedule. These modifications and new habits allowed him to find a new balance and to maintain his choice.

Sam has been working in a UN agency for a few years now, and has been implementing programmes in remote areas of the country. During this time, he also benefitted from a 3-day workshop on results-based management and an online training on stress management in the workplace. However, when he suddenly became confronted with a humanitarian crisis, he felt completely overwhelmed. At that stage, the Skills4Dev team supported him in the most pressing needs: defining priorities in an emergency context, defining short routes of supply and resource utilization, and tracking delivery. Originally, Sam did not realize that he also had to take care of himself during this period of high tension. It looked like a misuse of his time at first. Nevertheless, when he realized that he was getting close to burnout, the Skills4Dev team helped him define effective strategies for stress relief with limited time investment.

Paula has been working in an international NGO for 10 years now. She has recently been assigned to a new country. After the first 3 months, she realized that despite the fact that her teammates seemed to be sharing the same end goals, there were many different interpretations within her team about how to achieve these goals, how to measure progress and performance, or how to communicate effectively within the team, among others. The situation started bearing a heavy burden on the team's overall performance. Paula felt that it was time to act and, in coordination with HR, she engaged with the Skills4Dev team to work on aligning their joint understanding of results and performance and improve their communication, within the country and organizations' existing codes and principles, so that everyone felt comfortable giving and receiving feedback.

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