Leicester Award Workshop 1

30/01/13

Any workshop in my opinion is a class where apart from learning more about whatever the subject may be, you are able to extend your interpersonal skills by working with others on a variety of projects in order to achieve the same common goal. For me, the first leicester award workshop, based around getting along in the job market, did just that. 

During the workshop, we were given the task of working in a team to complete a realistic challenge that a consultancy company might face. The task involved, as a consultancy company, finding a solution to building better relations between a large scale corporate race track and a nearby village, and then presenting a plan of the ideas to a panel of representatives from the racetrack so that they can choose which company’s plan they would like to implement. 

Initially the task was difficult due to the fact that I had never worked with my team before, and therefore we had to work out how the team was going to work together as we went along. I decided to take a leading role, by putting forward my first idea for the project in order to get the project off the ground. I suggested the idea of allowing the residents to voice their opinions at a meeting as a way of giving the residents a medium to pin point the exact problems they may have. This idea was well received and initiated a brainstorming session, in which I put forward other ideas. Shortly after we collectively decided on a 9 point action plan, that included economic actions, social actions and environmental action. Thus, I decided that splitting into three in order to work on each idea in more detail would be more time effective. This became one of the reasons towards our ultimate success, as we were able to create a more in depth plan that made it easier for us to not only present, but also to answer any queries that the panel had at the end. 

In smaller teams we prepared each aspect of the ideas and began to write a mini speech or a dialogue to explain them better. Then we came back together in the last 15 minutes of the challenge in order to collect our work side by side and make a powerpoint. It also meant that we had time to practice our presentation together. By having the last few minutes to do this, it meant that we were able to give reasonably well rounded, professional presentation, given the timeframe.  

Finally, although something new for me, I felt that by taking the lead in this task it was able to progress more efficiently. On a personal level it enabled me to try my hand at a different role in a group and I was able to get a lot more out of the workshop because of it. Now I believe that if I were to face a similar task to this at a selection day event, I would not have any qualms about performing in the same way as I did during this challenge.