WEIQI TANG

As the winter semester coming to an end, in this uncertain time, I have become more grateful for finishing most of my field placement work before the social distancing. Throughout the experience, I was fortunate to develop my leadership capacities through trial and error, make contributions to the team I work with, and meet all the fantastic, supportive people. 

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In the field placement of UNIV-3030, I worked as a student representative (communication sector) for Applied Communication, Leadership and Culture (ACLC) program at UPEI. As a student rep, I attended and provided input at student rep meetings, helped to organize and promote ACLC events, and contributed to running ACLC social media platforms. I also job shadowed the director of policy and communication of the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA) PEI. There were two sessions of my job shadow. In the first session, I met with some of the ACOA PEI members and talked to the communication team, and I also joined in the policy and communication team's weekly meeting. During the second session, I interviewed seven ACOA PEI members who shared their professional journeys with me. 

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The most significant improvement of my leadership skills during this professional experience was my communication skills, which was also one of the professional competency goals I set for myself at the beginning of this course. Working as a student rep, I needed to not only discuss with other student reps about ACLC events and activities but also connect with professors and other students. For instance, one of the regular features for the ACLC Instagram account in the fall semester was our weekly "photo challenge," where students shared their photos with the ACLC community according to a weekly theme. To bring this feature back, I asked other student reps for opinions, gathered ideas for weekly topics from other ACLC students, and consulted with my supervisor before creating posters for Instagram. 

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I also had the opportunity to utilize my oral, written communication and listening skills during the job shadow. From writing professional emails to the director to conducting interviews with other ACOA members, it was challenging for me to introduce myself, ask questions and give feedback, as well as to listen attentively to each person. However, it was also most rewarding to hold myself accountable by doing the practices in a professional setting for the first time. Besides, it was fabulous to hear inspiring stories from everyone who all had distinctive characters and unique experiences. 

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Time management was another leadership skill that I improved. I have learned to schedule the professional practice hours with other people and balance the time between work and study. I have also learned to prioritize tasks and multitasking, as well as to manage my time more efficiently to meet deadlines.

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One thing I found most fulfilling during my professional practice was creating posters and other designs. When I was designing posters, I could quickly get into the state of "flow," where I could fully concentrate on creating and forgot about time. I have also been learning from design books and trying to improve my work each time. I think desktop publishing or careers that can allow me to tell stories through different media, especially in a visually appealing way, would be suitable for me in the future. Therefore, I am especially grateful that my student rep work provided me with the opportunity to discover my strengths in new areas.

 

Although I have been enjoying what I love to do, I have also encountered some challenges. The challenges I experienced were mostly due to a lack of team communication. One example happened when the student representative communication team received our first assignment of the winter semester a few days before the classes began, which was to design a poster for an ACLC workshop. After I saw the requirement email from the professor, I was not sure who should create the advertisement, the other student of the team or me. However, we did not communicate about this question, and both of us ended up designing our posters, resulting in a waste of time and energy. After this lesson, we decided to communicate regularly both online and during our meetings. I was glad that we not only worked together as a team but also became good friends.

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From interacting with my supervisor during the field placement, I have learned to look at things from both sides. Whenever we discussed something, he never took it from the face value, but always thought deeper or looked at it critically. One leadership behaviour of my supervisor that I wanted to carry on in my future career was being encouraging. He would always say encouraging words, and he cared about my learning, which I found so helpful as a follower. And I wanted to be a leader like that.

Another thing I learned from my supervisor was that he would never give a direct answer even when I asked for help. He would, instead, provide some hints and insights, or give back to me more questions to help me think through independently. I believed that to support a follower to grow, I, as a leader, sometimes should do the same thing.

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Finally, my biggest takeaway from this experience, which was also something I wanted to improve, was to take initiatives. I would miss an opportunity to practice design, for example, if I did not volunteer to take the poster design task for an event. I would not meet with different people and hear their personal stories if I had not proposed the second session of the job shadow to interviewing some of the ACOA PEI members. I would not have meaningful conversations with my supervisor if I did not show up at his office to update what had been going on in my field placement. Therefore, I should continue to be more courageous, more open to experiences in the future.

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It has only been a few weeks since everything suddenly changed, and yet as I conclude my winter semester of leadership study, the in-person interactions seem so far away. I think it is even more crucial, at this time, to reflect on what we have learned, to appreciate what we have, and to practice self-leadership to find new ways that make our life more organized and meaningful. Lastly, we should keep reaching out to people online and keep spreading hope and love.