Reflection by Ro

Tayah: “You’re going to be putting on two events; a professional skills workshop, and a professional networking event. It’s all you guys.”

Me: “Wut. Are you fucking kidding me?”

I believe it is safe to assume that my initial reaction to the project assigned to us was pretty similar to everyone else’s. In no way, shape, or form; am I a hipster. But moving on.

So, last week, we focused on our action plans. What each, individual group was going to be doing with their time to contribute to the overall project. We were all obviously more attentive to the earlier event, which is the skills workshop. I imagined that coming up with a plan would be rather difficult. Why? Because I’m in the volunteers coordinators group, and we basically have to wait until there is a plan before we start finding people for the plan. And what I wanted last week, was for everyone to do their own thing, and for us to collaborate with the presentations groups. And we kind of sort of talked about it two weeks ago, but by the time we actually got time with our groups, there was only five minutes of class left. But I will resign from describing my frustration with not having time in class two weeks ago, for it is in the past, and we have obviously moved forward.

As I mentioned in my last post, the biggest issue we’ve had with our group so far is basic participation. I’m sure everyone WANTS to help and do their part, but in all honesty, it hasn’t happened. And I don’t mention this to place blame, I’m just giving information. For the blog, we had to write about our action plans, but in order for this to happen, we had to have an action plan to begin with (imagine that). And you’d think that in a group project, things would be done by the group, but this isn’t what happened. So, on top of the individual blogs we have to take care of from week to week, I also had to get something started for the action plan. I have no problem doing things by myself; in fact, I prefer it, but since this was supposed to be a group effort, I reached out. For details on that part of the week, please refer to Assignment #3. I’ll wait.

Welcome back.

Now that you’re at least a little bit familiar with my frustration with this entire thing, you can see how my priorities were all tossed up in the air and only the heaviest ones came back down to me. And to make sure they all got done, I took ’em upon myself. That’s how I respond to things that need to be done. Because I know that if I do them, they will for sure get done. I manage my time by making lists and making sure I do everything before the deadline. I think the biggest problem is that all of our groups are basically competing. The documentations team can’t do much until there’s actually something to document, my group has to wait on the presentations team to figure out what we’re doing during the actual event, but they have to wait on the logistics team for a specific date and time, and then the marketing/advertising team also needed specific information to start spreading the word. That’s what I think when I see ‘competing priorities.’ Not my personal priorities,  but those of the groups that form the entire body of people who are trying to put this event on.

So, onto last Friday.

I came in with the printed out action plan. I knew the girl I had worked on it with wasn’t going to be there, but we were still missing a different person. But, there were four of us (including me), and I was looking forward to sharing with them what we had come up with and to get the ball rolling on getting people for the skills workshop. But what I wanted/expected to happen, never happened. As everyone knows, we came together as a group, and listened to the presentations team present what they had come up with. And this is where the stress comes in.

Things weren’t just falling into place. And no, I didn’t expect them to since we’re a bunch of undergraduates who have no idea what the hell we’re doing, but I did expect things to go more efficiently. And it irritated me that there were things that we had and hadn’t discussed, but the biggest issue was that we didn’t have a common vision. And I think that should have been one of the first things we should have done. So, as Artem talking about their plans, I’m sitting there thinking that our action plan is basically being thrown out the window, and that we’re going to have to approach our entire strategy on finding volunteers differently, now. The minor discrepancies that could be talked through and obviously resolved, seemed like major things to me.

So you can see how I would be a bit stressed out to everything changing, but not moving forward.

And to cope with my annoyance, I did what I usually do when I get stressed out: I took it upon myself.

As a closer, we consider all of the possibilities. We consider the circumstances, and choose the best avenue. And that day, the circumstances changed, so it threw me for a loop. Remember when I said that what I wanted to happen was individual group work? Yeah, me neither. BUT, basically, my thoughts on that changed as we went through each part of the actual event, and thought about what to alter and what to add and subtract  But the closer in me–wanting to make sure everything was detailed and perfect–took the reigns. But, as per public knowledge, closers think too much. But, in order to respond to what I saw as a problem, I stepped out of my closer comfort zone.

I raised my hand.

And I kept raising it.

And the more I raised it, the more consensus I got from the rest of the group, the more ideas we got; and the more the event came to life. The way I responded, helped the way my peers responded. More people started thinking: “‘Hey, she’s got something to say, and you know what. I agree. But I also have something to say…”

We literally decided on the entire event in less than fifty minutes, which is pretty impressive considering the fact that the bigger the group, the more difficult it is to get a commonality between everyone. I work on efficiency; it’s one of the few words I would legitimately use to describe myself. I like to get things done, and I know that it comes off as a little rude or in your face, but that’s just my passion to succeed. So now ask me how I responded to the stress brought on by everything we’re trying to accomplish?

I became a leader.

This is an indication to me that not only am I growing as a person, or a student, but I’m growing as a business professional. I’ve been working on my habit of wanting to be independent, of not relying on the help of others. Which is obviously counter-intuitive to business. So this time, not only did I take things upon myself, I shared the burden this time. I actually enjoyed figuring out something concrete (like the schedule and plan) from a completely abstract concept (like getting every single person’s opinion). And I gotta tell you, it felt great.

– Ro

 

 

First, let me start off by saying, that for as long as I can remember, I have had a rather negative view of group projects. From an early age, I’ve always wanted to do things by myself. I wanted things done the way I wanted them done, and who better to do them but myself? As a twin, I grew up wanting to be separate from my sister, so at times I can see that my need/desire to be independent is one of my faults. Needless to say, I understand that business is all about working in groups, and I have hoped that in the future, my pessimism regarding working in groups with other people will change.

 

Unfortunately, that time has not yet come.

 

I will try to be civil, as I have a reputation of being blunt, and occasionally rude when I talk about other people. So please bear in mind that I am trying to be not only politically correct, but constructively critical.

 

When we left last Friday’s BBL session, I had the emails of three other people in my group. One person hadn’t showup that day, so were already down in numbers, with only 4/5 people in communication. Soon after I got back, maybe a day or so after, I sent out a mass email asking when would be a good time that everyone could meet up so we could discuss the types of people we want to get for both events, how we are going to ask them, etc.

 

Only one person replied to my email.

 

And thank goodness for her, because I had expected that I was going to be doing the outline/write-up/action plan all on my own, but I was completely dreading it. But, we met up on Tuesday, and had a very efficient, hour long session in which we typed up our plans for the group. But, we were all alone, out of our five person group, so you can see why my frustration was building. I sent out the document to the other members of my group via email, finding that fifth person who hadn’t showed up on Friday, and sending it to him as well. Did I do these things because I am a group-loving person and I believe in sharing my work so that all can benefit? Honestly, no. I did it because it wouldn’t benefit me to keep the rest of the group members in the dark, even though I was clearly flexible enough to include them on our endeavors. I like pairings, because it’s just one other person to align yourself with, which is why it worked with that one other group member; but I really don’t think groups work very well when you don’t know the other members. I’m not saying that it wasn’t inevitable that we would all be randomly put together, but maybe, if we could have chosen who we wanted to be with, there would be more communication.

 

Communication, accountability, and commitment are the three things I believe my group will have difficulty with. To this day, I still haven’t gotten any replies from any of the other group members, despite having sent them a new email with the work we did. And that is frustrating to me more than one would think. I don’t like it when other benefit from my hard work; not only do I get nothing out of that, they ALSO get the glory and reward from my careful planning. If I wanted to continue carrying other people through higher-education, I would have stayed in high-school. I’m tired of being the only dependable person when it comes to groups, which is why I dislike them. Give me a group I can work with, then we can talk. And I’m not saying that all group work is categorically bad, I’m just more familiar with the bad because I’ve almost never experienced the ‘perfect’ group. I think our group will struggle with action; every member on Friday were on board with the emailing and finding another day to get together before the next Friday sessions, but none but one followed through. The fact that I don’t know them prohibits my ability to track them down or pester them about getting with the picture; I want full participation because the outcome will be better. That’s what group projects are all about, right? That one person can’t do it on their own? Well, I’ve had the mindset, for a pretty long time now, that I can do it by myself. And I know that personally, I need to get over that, because one person cannot accomplish everything; but the fact that it’s been my go-to for almost every situation, not to mention that it’s worked, leads me to believe that I don’t need to change.

 

But being a business leader is all about change.

 

So that will be my cross to carry.

 

How do I think I can address these faults?

This Friday, I’ll bring a hard copy of our plans, get everyone on the same page, and then maybe we can all get our shit together.

As for out action plan, I’ll simplify it a little bit. We had kind of talked to the presentations team last Friday, so we based our plan on that quick exchange of ideas to get a basic outline. Some things may no longer be valid since the presentations team came out with their outline after ours. And we kind of go hand in hand.

Week In Term	Done by this date for Professional Workshop	Done by this date for Networking Event
Week 4 – 2/1	Planning Talk to Presentation Group
Week 5 – 2/8	Divide up tasks: Ask one of the student leaders to teach “elevator pitch,” handshake, and business dress Find three upperclassmen (or our student leaders) with concentrations of sports marketing, finance/accounting, marketing Discuss getting speakers to pitch at event: Women in Business WSBC AMA Alpha Kappa Psi Entrepreneurship Club IBEC UOHRA Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Alpha Psi
Week 6 – 2/15	Professional Workshop Coordinate with volunteers what time they need to be at the event and go over what they will be sharing	9-10:50am Follow up on presenters Invite members of all business clubs to the networking event Figure out date of Networking Event After Event: Touch base for Networking Event
Week 7 – 2/22	———	Touch base with other groups on what/who people we have already brought in (who has committed and what we still need to do) In Class: What does everyone have done?
Week 8 – 3/1	———	Remind and confirm all presenters of date, time, and place of event In Class: What does everyone have done?
Week 9 – 3/8 Event TBD	———	Touch base with every group again and make sure all the plans are set

– Ro

So, my understanding of this project is pretty basic. We are basically going to host a professional workshop event where we will be sharing the secrets of the business world to those who come and participate. And then, we’re going to put what the group learns to the test and host a networking event with other business majors at the university.  In theory and words, it seems simple enough. But, it wouldn’t be possible without the more than adequate execution of each element to the planning process. All of the units we’ve been assigned to are crucial to the success of both of these events. At first, I was overwhelmed by the task at hand, but with everyone working together, as business requires, I think we’ll be able to pull it off.

 

Especially if everyone works towards their strengths.

 

First, let me start off with what group I was assigned to. I am part of the Volunteer Coordinators unit. I shall ‘recruit and oversee the volunteers that will help at the workshop.’ To me, this means that we’re basically the human resources of the entire operation. We’ll be the people…people. I see this as an opportunity to work out one of my weaknesses as a closer: sociability. Yes, I have the ability to talk to people, but I am often stuck in my own head. I have often claimed that I’m not much of a people person. And seeing as how I’m going to be a coordinator of people, I’m going to have to work on that. And I appreciate this opportunity and will do the best I can with the team I’ve been given.

 

As a closer, I believe my strengths will be good for the coordination of volunteers. Volunteers need to be told what to do, when to do it, and where to do it; they need to know the specifics, especially for highly professional events such as these. Closers are good at organization  and they are good with handling all of the facts. You can imagine my excitement for being able to activate my strong points in a legitimate setting such as this. If I can accomplish the smooth transition between volunteers and the help that’s needed in both events, I think we all will be victorious in the execution of these projects. For without the people, and the people to lead the people; where would we all be?

 

Stuck in an empty room with no one to teach. (Not to mention that’d be boring)

 

Because volunteer coordination is a pretty behind the scenes job, the lack of action that closers face as an issue won’t be as prominent. So this will be a good test run to see how I do in a situation like this. Eventually, I hope to work my way up to the type of closer that will get it done, with or without other people. For the project as whole, I think that because I am of the closer type leadership style, I’ll be able to take in a lot of information and process it all. This is advantageous when wanting to help other groups out. I will go where I’m needed, which I think is a plausible function of a closer.

 

I see closers as versatile and independent individuals when in a business setting (and out, I suppose). And through my determination to achieve, I think I will prove useful throughout the phasing and then final implementation of this trying project.

 

Wish us (but really, me) luck.

 

– Ro

For this assignment, I chose a picture of the Thinker statue by Auguste Rodin. Obviously, the main point of the statue is that the man sits there, looking rather pensive. I think the statue as a whole connects to a ‘closer’ more than one may first realize. First off, I shall define what a closer means in layman’s terms and what it means to me personally. By definition of Friday’s seminar, as a leader in business and otherwise, closers reflect as opposed to do and are more abstract than concrete. We think of every possible route and idea, and we make sure our final conclusion is the absolute best answer or solution. To me, I find that I must be one hundred percent sure that I know an answer before I say it, or, release it to the public, so to speak. A downside to this type of personality is that sometimes if we think too much, we will end up never actually doing anything. I have been guilty of over-thinking many more times than I can count, so I think the term closer fits me like a glove. For example, I often know the right answer to question in class, but refuse to raise my hand for various reasons. I am essentially stone, sitting there and keeping my solutions and my thoughts to myself.

 

Just like my friend the Thinker here.

 

The Thinker is made of marble and unfortunately is immobile. That can be a parallel to the lack of action that closers might struggle with. And as everyone knows, if a leader never actually does anything, how can they lead? How can they achieve and deliver what they promise to a group if they are stuck in their heads? I shall apply these questions to myself and try to work on being more of a doer. In fact, ever since I’ve started university I have tried to come out of my shell and become more of an extroverted person. So far, I believe I am achieving my goal, but there is always more room to grow.

Another characteristic of a closer is that when we do finally decide to open our mouths and divulge to the world our profound knowledge of the task at hand, then we mean business, and everyone else needs to shut up. I believe it would be the same if the Thinker suddenly became animated and started walking around. I’m pretty sure everyone around would immediately drop what they were doing and watch him, if not follow him. Which I think is a perfect example of the talents a closer does. They will get the job done, given the opportunity, and one can be assured that it will be done accurately. In this way, they are relied upon in a group/business setting. They are constantly watched as people wait for enlightenment, similar to those who observe the Thinker and wait for the artistry to come alive.

– Ro