LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

LO 5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Before the break, I attended my first meeting as the co-chair of my GC, where I was thrust my load of challenges. It wasn’t as easy as carrying out the plan I carefully formulated the days before. The chair arrived late due to miscommunication with the service department, as a result, I had to step out of my comfort zone, walk to the front of the room, and run the GC meeting in place of the chair. (See meeting agenda here, under 25/9/18) Although the GC members were originally sticky when it came to rearranging themselves into their assigned groups, (event planning, blog, and trip planning) the groups did end up with decent discussions. I found that visiting each group and asking them questions, as I had watched the old chair do, (what do you think we could do to raise awareness? How many blog posts should we aim to create per month?) was effective at getting their brainstorming started. I think my prompting skills have improved over the session, which would be useful for continuing to motivate GC members in the future. However, a challenge I faced with this method was that some groups got off track while I attended to others. I’ll need to find a solution to this – perhaps I could delegate some of the ‘chatting up’ to other leaders?

It’s really important to keep members occupied, otherwise, they lose momentum and drift off track.

Another challenge I faced was the ambiguity of being co-chair; I had to decide what our GC members do during the meeting, and although we did have a list of things we are required to complete, assigned to us by the service office, we had to manage time and people so that tasks are given appropriate time and people to carry out.Last meeting, we didn’t manage to complete the finance request form – One of the reasons I procrastinated on this was that I had not idea what to write on it, (how much does out GC need?) who to address it to, (Who is out NGO contact?) and the procedures involved. In hindsight, I should have asked one of the ex-leaders. (slightly problematic because the old head of finance left – guess I’ll have to be more thick skinned when it comes to seeking support from the old chair and co-chair) However, I also realised that I shouldn’t try to do every task, as I still have to make sure the blog team completes a post – Currently, I intend for the head of finance to find out how this form works, (whether from the old leaders, or a trip to the service office) and get an update from her once it’s done. I wonder what she’ll think of the extra work. Then again, I cannot possibly do everything. (conveniently, the chair will be absent again, as theres a service conference) Tomorrow, I’ll make sure the form gets done.

All in all, co-chair is a challenging position, which I would probably be more comfortable in after a more sessions. Even after just one session, I am already practicing and feeling more comfortable with communicating with the other leaders, and keeping organised. Half an hour ago, I re-formatted the meeting plan from last week, into a minutes document resembling those of the old leadership group, placed it in the GC folder, and added in tomorrow’s meeting plan. Later, I also plan to email the other leaders about this document, with the aim of getting them more involved in the planning and execution of meetings. Sure, I’m co-chair, but I’m a person and I’m bound to overlook important tasks occasionally, extra eyes and ideas from another mind won’t hurt.

I think I’ll learn loads from being co-chair, and I look forward to building upon my skills so I can lead my GC more effectively such that it can raise awareness and help New Hope Foundation.