2022-August-26

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A story of Hybrid Work, Giving Back, and Friendship

BY JUAN DAVID DUARTE · SALES SPECIALIST · PANAMA

WITH HELEN GALL AND LEONIA BREZOVNJACKI

4 MINUTE READ · 6 MINUTE LISTEN

A group of people from the DNA Spaces sales team posing for a photo in Colombia.

We were overwhelmed by the beauty of Colombia and how welcoming everybody was.

I’m a sales specialist in Global DNA Spaces Sales, where my team are based in United States, the U.K., Germany, Singapore, Netherlands, Colombia and Australia. I’ve been with Cisco for 14 years.

I’m originally from Colombia but I have lived in Panama just on the other side of the Colombia-Panama border for almost seven years.

With my team, I found myself talking all the time enthusiastically about my adoration for the food, culture, and people of Colombia.

A few members of my team showed an interest to learn or brush up on their Spanish, so we considered holding our team meetings in Spanish.

Why not? I thought. This could eventually help spread the message of Cisco Spaces more broadly by having more employees amplify the benefits to Spanish-speaking customers.

In July 2021 we began having our Webex meetings in Spanish.

The meetings went well in Spanish. We only used English on occasion. After a while a couple of people said jokingly, “When are we meeting up in Colombia, so we can really put our Spanish to the test?”

That conversation became real.

Colombia here we come

A group of people from the DNA Spaces sales team posing for a photo in front of a lush green background.

During the visit, I got the chance to spend time with colleagues I had not met in person before, contribute to the local community, and experience different cities with very different moods and flavors.

We started planning dates and talking to management about the trip. With the pandemic, we had not had the opportunity to meet each other on the team in person yet.

So, this was a fantastic opportunity to do just that. Spending some time working together in person became our main goal.

A short while later, VP of Enterprise Networking and Software Sales Justin Barney sent an inspirational email to the team about Time2Give and volunteering. Inspired to incorporate a volunteer activity during our trip, we talked about volunteer opportunities in Colombia and how we could also get Cisco to match through Bright Funds on our next call.

Six months later the team arrived in Colombia. With the assistance of the Colombianitos Foundation, we volunteered at the Institución Educativa Yarumito in Barbosa, Antioquia, Colombia.

The school serves and educates kids from rural communities in Colombia. We coordinated sport activities with pre-kindergarten and elementary kids, and pizza time with coordinators and kids. The kids had a fabulous time eating pizza. (Kudos to Anton, my manager!)

A large group of people pose with children at a school in Colombia while eating lunch.

I was able to share a humbling moment in Colombia with co-workers and experience the little things that made kids happy, like eating pizza.

The trip ended up a three-week phenomenally successful Colombian work and travel adventure for our Cisco Spaces sales team. We volunteered over 80 hours. Four of us traveled and worked for the entire period with five others joining for intermittent periods.

We also put together a fantastic Time2Give initiative in Medellin, kindly assisted by the local Cisco Colombia team.

The biggest challenge for me was worrying about losing people and things along the way. I had eyes on everyone to ensure the experience was safe.

As Leader, Regional Sales Jake Lovisolo on the team likes to say, “We had Juan's eyes on us at all times making sure we were in the right place at the right time and not being tempted to go off and do the typical tourist things.”

For some, it was their first time participating in Time2Give. There was six months of input and planning, including some serious Spanish language up-skilling!

I spent many hours coordinating and facilitating the entire three-week program, but it was worth every second, and I believe we got more out of the experience than the children.

A large group of volunteers and school children smiling and waving at the camera.

I loved that the team took their time and effort to come to Colombia and get to know our culture. As you can see, we left behind a lot of smiling faces.

“What a beautiful and welcoming country. An unforgettable experience for my first time in South America, from the food, the culture, the people and more all I felt was warmth and vibrance,” says sales specialist Navid Tabrizi. “I couldn’t recommend to visit Colombia enough, I certainly will be going back.”

Would I do this trip again? Absolutely.

It was a marvelous experience. Not only did I get to show my teammates how beautiful my home country is but I also had a wonderful time with them while doing it. We had a lot of fun and shared many stories.

We discovered that we do more than work together — we can have a wonderful time and travel together. My most cherished moments include bonding and learning more about my team members, nuances, and hobbies. When team members talk about the trip, it is wonderful to capture the “afterglow” of an amazing experience.

I hope we’ve inspired you to use our experience as a creative, next-level idea of how you can volunteer as a global team for your own team building and giving back adventure.

Where you are located should not stop you from giving back — we are one big global community.

A story of Hybrid Work, Giving Back, and Friendship

BY JUAN DAVID DUARTE · SALES SPECIALIST · PANAMA

WITH HELEN GALL AND LEONIA BREZOVNJACKI

4 MINUTE READ · 6 MINUTE LISTEN

Colombia here we come

Would I do this trip again? Absolutely.

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