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Δ The things I learn as Progs Head

16 March 2016, 08:49

Well, I think I should start off by providing the context of this post. One is that I shouldn't be doing this, I have so much to study for but I just heard something from one of my friends, I thought it was appropriate to do some reflections. Two, programmes just went through a tumultuous dry run 2. Over the past week, we came up with an almost new proposal and revamped our entire system of thinking. Well, one of the reasons why DR2 went so horribly was that the seniors and I (or us) had different ideas of what the dry run was about. The seniors were looking towards something that was totally orientation-styled, including the timing and such but we were looking more towards a trying and testing our games approach. Hence, the level of unpreparedness came up as a really huge issue. But I think it was also through this experience that I learnt a lot and through this experience that the team grew closer. Ok, cutting to the chase, here's the three main lessons that were picked up along the way:

1. Lead with a vision

You'll probably have heard this a million other times from two billion other leadership workshops and talks. They'll give you all these tips to leading with a vision but this time I finally understood what it meant. I used to think that vision meant telling your team, 'let's achieve a XXXXXX at the end of this wonderful journey!' But then this time during dry run, I looked at the things that were done well and the things that were not, and I realised one key difference was the vision that was inked into them. For one team, I merely made a general statement on the visual impact that I wanted to see, but for the other, I laid out a far more elaboration. What exactly I wanted to see in each step of the equation.

2. Be more sensitive

There are going to be three million occasions and more that your most cherished team members are working overtime, just to achieve the effect that you want. Worse, they could be working alone. In fact, I only came to know about this when my friend (who's not in this) came to me, gossiping about the other things she's heard. Only then did I realise, be more sensitive! They're helping you out and the least you could do is to show a little more care and concern.

3. Don't go back on your promises.

They've been so many times that my indecisiveness has impeded upon this point. You can't even imagine how many times I revise my visions, my demands and worse still, my promises. At some point, I'd say it's ok but on another day, I'll go back on it. And well, over time, I realised that it has caused loads of inconvenience to my team. I still make this mistake really often and there's a lot to work on this but it's a great reminder for me to stop being indecisive and start making legit, unwavering decisions.

(: Way to go, Yilei!