The business club is a club collectively initiated by me and 2 of my friends. I have always seen clouds arousing in my school either related towards psychology, literature or sociology; clubs leaning towards the corporate world or business environment lacked presence which led us to create something of it. The business club was a medium for students to engage and discuss emerging corporate issues and concepts which has led to efficient transfer of knowledge as well as sufficient development of interpersonal skills. It took place every month on a weekend on online platforms due to the pandemic. We had organised guests, activities and debates to provide our members with maximum learning opportunities and engagement which is critical to the development of our students participating in it.
LO2
Organising a club was something I was never exposed to before. It involves major tasks such as structuring meetings, revising agenda, keeping students engaged and informed which involved regular supervision with my supervisors and partners. The challenge in this project was to consistently initiate new activities and sessions that were interesting to our participants. We overcame this challenge by scheduling meetings with our supervisors and other superiors in order to grasp their view on future agenda. The other challenge that arises was the circumstances we were conducting in our club which restricted our ability to physically engage with our participants and ensure their involvement and focus for their personal development. We overcame these challenges by modifying and replicating our physical agenda to an online platform, although we fully couldn’t clone the agenda we had tried to maximise their learning experience. Undertaking new challenges helps individuals like me to develop in critical and creative thinking that helps me in finding new solutions and alternatives.It also helps individuals in learning from the consequences that they go through while overcoming the challenge. While constantly organising meetings and preparing for the club, I came to know that I had skills which were unknown to me. The skill of communication with my participants, supervisors and partners were efficient and knowledgeable which helped me indicate the way I could naturally get my point across the table. This skill has implications everywhere from relationships and interactions to academics and personal development which is why its presence has led to personal development.
LO3
This business club had regular meetings for its participants which entailed a responsibility for us as organisers to schedule meetings and structure the agenda in a way that would provide minimum pressure on the participants. I am usually an organised guy as I like to keep things in place to avoid unfavorable future circumstances. Planning was relatively a harder process than initiating as it involved intense thinking and structuring of the agenda, multiple meetings with supervisors and pre-meeting communication with participants. Initiating was relatively easy as it was executing whatever the pre structured plan was cumulatively decided by us. Initiating this plan involved a major skill which was building consensus from all the different ideas and viewpoints coming from me, my partners and my supervisors. I had to combine, shortlist and modify ideas and advice to get down or reach a particular idea of what the session will produce. Initiating and planning are critical to the completion of an activity or process. Strategic planning can help to prevent deviations and good execution can help in preventing unanticipated outcomes, both contributing to successful completion of the activity.
LO4
Commitment and perseverance was consistently needed in the business club. We had to allocate some time every day into revising ideas about activities needed to be conducted. We also had to commit efforts in sessions in order to ensure active participation of our members. Perseverance was also needed as regardless of how old sessions were conducted, the future sessions had to reap maximum benefits and an optimal learning experience for our members. It is easy for me to commit to things as I desire the fruitful benefits reaped from it. Commitment and perseverance are necessary for any activity as they cumulatively help in developing consistency and stability. Commitment of time and efforts helped me in ensuring that I am punctual in sessions and meet deadlines of tasks while perseverance had helped as even though we had sessions where activities were not properly planned, we made sure that future activities had not considered these past problems.
LO5
I’ve always worked independently and collaboration has not benefited me the most. In this project however, cooperation and communication was needed between me and my partners in order to arrive at a consensus and involve multiple viewpoints. It was typically difficult to handle those people who didn’t respect the basic conditions and expectations like not being punctual, not participating, not turning on their camera, etc. This was handled by providing them warnings by me and my partner or even my teachers, there were also consequences like CAS not being considered which helped in ensuring that the members of the club met the expectations in order to derive fruitful benefits for all present. Cooperation was needed in meetings to like in active discussions, to support or contradict points, to communicate or even to inquire. Collaboration is better than a single entity the same way multiple perspectives are better than a single viewpoint. Not only multiple viewpoints are gathered but synergy is developed and interpersonal skills are improved like communication, conflict management, etc. teamwork and leadership help in achieving group objectives, develop a common vision and active engagement among members which is why it is necessary in any activity that involves more than one member.
LO6
A business involves educational and knowledgeable arguments, discussions, debates and activities about corporate aspects which may even hold global significance. Being educated about these issues and concepts helps in making informed decisions in the future as well as our participants being aware about it can further discussions and arguments in the present from multiple perspectives. Our first session was on corporate ethics which helped in evaluating morality in the corporate world through various case studies. Some of us could use this knowledge to structure their business practices in the future while others can act upon this knowledge when new circumstances arise like voicing their opinion or influencing others. Being educated and aware extends the knowledge of an individual, expands communication and decision making, leads to actions that benefit the community all contributing to personal growth and development.
LO7
Ethics were involved as every club member had to be treated equally with respect. One ethical issue we tend to face is that due to the opportunity for participants to voice out their opinion freely, sometimes some participants get offended or triggered with what one tends to support. We tried to convey that one’s participation should involve consideration of others which is our prominent way of overcoming this ethical issue. The opinion before this club was initiated is that every member should be given a chance to speak their mind without any restriction whatsoever, however, after seeing the consequences some restrictions need to be placed when people are given an opportunity to speak in order to take consideration of every member and ensure a lively discussion.
Final Takeaway:
The learner profile attributes I displayed were thinkers, communicators and reflective. I had to brainstorm ideas that needed to be involved in the agenda of the session to make it enjoyable for the member. Even during the session, I had to involve myself by participating in debates and lively arguments to voice out my take on the concept. I was a communicator as I communicated with my partners and supervisors about tasks and deadlines allocated towards me and during sessions I communicated with members to transfer and receive knowledge. I was also reflective as we had submitted feedback forms to our members who would provide improvements to ensure the utility members receive excels every succeeding session. This project is related to business management but the sessions conducted do not need prevalent BM knowledge. This activity benefitted other members significantly as they received knowledge upon the corporate world as well as developed interpersonal skills through actively being involved in the sessions. I tend to believe that this was a success as although we couldn’t measure how much the members benefited from joining it, we conducted it throughout grade 11 trying our best to consistently create an enjoyable experience. The members involved were not simply students who were simply listening but active members who tend to pass on their knowledge and viewpoints to which I could gain a new perspective. I also learned about time management, creative thinking, conflict management and strategic planning. One change I would surely want to bring if I repeated this initiative ever again is the consistency of sessions we delivered, we could have learned a lot more and have way more experiences with less gaps between every session too. The knowledge that i received through this could be used further in my academics as it has implications in the subject of business management and the skills i developed through the challenges i faced could be utilised in every aspect of my life from academics and communication to success of an activity to maintaining relationships and beneficial interactions which is why this as a CAS project was immensely instrumental for me and I would want to perform more of such enterprises in the future.
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