Student Leadership Program (SLP) Awareness Project 2011
By Student Participants from the RMIT University SLP Program in 2010-2011
SLP Awareness Project 2011 Student Leadership Program (SLP) Awareness Project 2011 has been created by students from the RMIT University Student Leadership Program Published by What Really Matters Publishing c/- Organisations That Matter Compiled By Gary, Facilitator of the Projects Program Level 8, 350 Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3166 AUSTRALIA Phone +61 3 8676 0637 E-mail: info@orgsthatmatter.com Copyright Š 2011 Gary Ryan, Organisations That MatterŽ & RMIT University & each of the six members of the project team All effort was made to render this ebook free from error and omission. However, the author, publisher, editor, their employees or agents shall not accept responsibility for injury, loss or damage to any person or body or organisation acting or refraining from such action as a result of material in this book, whether or not such injury, loss or damage is in any way due to any negligent act or omission, breach of duty, or default on the part of the author, publisher, editor or their employees or agents.
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Overview By gaining a range of soft/employability skills from the Student Leadership Program (SLP) at RMIT University since 2010, six of us as a team believe that doing a SLP Awareness project is a good way to put the theories we learnt into practice. In September 2011, as part of the SLP at RMIT University, our project group was formed and tasked with the implementation of a project that will focus on enhancing the student to student experience by introducing students to 2012 SLP and having their questions answered by current SLP students such as ourselves. To achieve this we planned to promote SLP with two sub teams. The survey team includes Kelly, Lam and Daniyal uses face to face communication to connect with students while conducting a survey. The lecture team consists of Willie, Harn and Julia appeals to the large audiences within lectures and collecting data on how many students show interest. Each team prepared own transcript and had them approved by Con Moraitis, the SLP Coordinator. We also designed flyers to be distributed by both teams. By using two methods, we aim to reach students in a boarder range and collect data from different perspectives to use as a framework for future promotional and structural purposes of 2012 SLP.
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Table of Contents OVERVIEW
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4
Team Members
6
Allocate tasks to team members by utilising ones’ experiences and skills
7
Goals and objectives
9
Our Plan
10
What Happened
12
The Differences Between Our Plan And What Happened?
15
Findings from the Survey team
17
FAQS and Concerns
20
What We Learned
21
Our Recommendations
27
Conclusion
28
APPENDIX
29
Acknowledgements
35
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Setting ground rules and keeping them “alive” In Chapter 6 (How to create great teams by developing ground rules) of the “What Really Matters For Young Professionals” (Gary’s Book) we learnt that we need to know what behaviours are acceptable and what behaviours are unacceptable in order to build a high performance team. Therefore, we set ground rules in the 1 st meeting. This was done by answering three key questions: o What behaviours stop us from performing at our full potential? o What ground rules need to be set to prevent that from happening? o What will we do when a person breaks these ground rules? The behaviours we found to be most annoying was the lack of communication and not doing the required tasks. The ground rule that we set was to always communicate with each other on the progress of our tasks. We have agreed that if the ground rule was broken we would give this person a warning. If there was no improvement, this person would be excluded from our team. By setting this ground rule we found that we were always keeping each other updated on what was going on. For example: when the lecture team was delayed they immediately notified the surveying team on what was going on and kept each other informed. At the end we found that setting ground rules and keeping them “alive” is vitally important and it does help us to work much better in a team setting.
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Team Members Kelly Cheung Harn The Julia Ho Daniyal Noor Lam Tran Willie Chau
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Allocate tasks to team members by utilising ones’ experiences and skills In the Project Management Review workshop on 6th September 2011, Gary taught us to utilise each team member’s talents to form a high performance team. This can be achieved by learning each team member’s experiences and skills.
Our Experiences relating to this project Kelly o Solid leadership skills strengthened through leading multiple voluntary programs and university projects with great success o Confident communication skills developed through experiences in dealing with different people from different cultural backgrounds at work and university o Business writing skill gained at work Willie o Experienced in public speaking from working as a waiter and able to convey clear messages o Excellent writing skill gained through assessment writing at university o Competent user of using doodle and other PC technology to organise meetings and other chores Lam o Experienced in face-to-face communication from having joined in Public Relations-related events and working as a Sales Assistant Harn o Communication skills gained through working in a kitchen
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Julia o Previous experience in the creation of Marketing campaigns and liaison with 3rd parties Daniyal o General skills gained through working and studying
Our skills relating to this project Kelly o Be a team leader of the project who oversees every task of the project o Creation and completion of the E-Book Willie o Effective communication skills and experienced in public speaking o Organised meetings and other important tasks within team o Communicate information between team members, Con and Gary. o Creation and completion of the E-Book o Took photos for the project Lam o Conducted surveys to students directly Harn o Public speaking with the lecture team Julia o Ability to create Marketing material from scratch, contacting and negotiating with 3rd parties as to lectures times, experience in public speaking, and time management skills o Took photos for the project Daniyal o Conducted surveys to students directly 8|Page
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Goals and objectives Quantitative goals 1. Survey team: Conduct surveys with at least 150 students. 2. Lecture team: Promote in at least 3 lectures to 200 students. 3. Distribute 300 flyers from both teams. 4. Gather 300 expressions of interest from both teams. Qualitative Goals 1. Increase students’ awareness of the 2012 SLP. 2. Subsequently, students show interest of joining 2012 SLP. 3. Students’ questions get answered by current SLP students, us. 4. The information we gathered to be used as a framework for future promotional and structural purposes of 2012 SLP. Objectives (1) Increase the awareness of the SLP around RMIT University. This is done by sharing personal experience of being a SLP student and presenting factual data in theatre to students. (2) Conduct surveys to gather useful information that might be used to form a part of the framework of the 2012 SLP.
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Our Plan September 6th
Project Management Review workshop Survey characteristics of team members Creation of the project Set ground rules Allocate different tasks to different team members Exchange contact details Have drafted a Project Review Report Seek approval for our project with Gary Ryan and Con Moraitis Elect a group leader Create a project timeline
September 7th Create a project brief September 9th Create promotional flyers Create two transcripts for both teams Create the survey for the surveying team
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September 12th Request and receive Vest with RMIT logo September 14th Have our first group meeting Discuss the dates of promotion Contact Con to communicate with Lecturers Print flyers and surveys Discuss with Gary and Con with our project brief September 15th Cafeteria Team plans to begin surveying September 16th Cafeteria Team plans to end surveying September 19th Lecture Team plans to begin promoting in Lectures Have a Skype meeting to discuss progress September 26th – October 7th Sort data gathered Discuss outcomes of project Write report and E-Book 11 | P a g e
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What Happened September 6th
Project Management Review workshop Survey characteristics of team members Creation of the project Set ground rules Allocate different tasks to different team members Exchange contact details Have drafted a Project Review Report Seek approval for our project with Gary Ryan and Con Moraitis Elect a group leader Create a project timeline
September 7th Create a project brief September 9th Create promotional flyers Create two transcripts for both teams Create the survey for the surveying team
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September 12th X
Receive vest with RMIT logo
September 14th
Have our first group meeting Discuss the dates of promotion Contact Con to communicate with Lecturers Print flyers and surveys Discuss with Gary and Con with our project brief
September 15th Cafeteria Team plans to begin surveying September 16th Cafeteria Team plans to end surveying September 19th Lecture Team plans to begin promoting in Lectures Have a Skype meeting to discuss progress September 20th X
Lecture Team begins presentation in Lectures
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Lecture Team begins presentation in Lectures Discuss outcomes of project Write report September 29th Lecture Team ends promoting October 3rd - 10th Work and complete of the E-book Willie went to seek advice from Con about the E-book
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The Differences Between Our Plan And What Happened? Overall differences We intended to finish the reports and E-Book on the 7th of October however we wanted to add more content into the E-Book which resulted in longer completion time. Lecture team’s differences The team planned to present on the 19th of September however the emails addressed to the lecturers were sent out on the same day. The presentations on the 19th of September were planned at the Capitol Theatre however the delay caused the team to postpone the presentation until the 26th of September. The occurrence leaded to a delay in writing the E-Book as the Lecture team needed to finish collecting data. Another difference was there was no interest in one of the lectures as attendance was estimated at 15 students however flyers were still distributed among them.
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Survey team’s differences The team did not expect to be rejected by a large amount of students. The main reason we believed is because of the lack of authority as we were not able to obtain Vest with the RMIT logo therefore students quickly rejected us. Another reason is that students did not want to be disturbed while eating and socialising. Also, it was late into the semester so many of students had assignments due soon as well as exams approaching therefore students are lack of interest.
Kelly, Lam and Daniyal planned to complete 50 surveys within three hours each, however due to the number of rejections, the students that were interested were keen on asking a lot of questions. This resulted in the surveying took 8-10 hours to complete from each of us however as Daniyal was only committed to three hours was only able to fulfil 23 surveys at the end. We had 123 surveys instead of the 150 we had planned.
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Findings from the Survey team 123 surveys were conducted in three RMIT cafeterias with students being randomly selected and the results were: (These 123 students are made up from 21 engineering, 6 Media and communication, 5 advertising, 4 public relations, 3 electrical technology, 9 design and social content, 8 science, 9 business, 2 IT,2 game programming, 1 nursing, 3 English courses, 1 international studies, 4 entrepreneurship, 3 information management, 2 economic, 15 finance, 22 commerce and 3 accounting.)
Students were able to select more the one option in this question. We found that 87 students considered communication skills the most important. 83 students voted leadership skills while 70 students voted for teamwork skills.
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Students were able to choose more than one option in this question. Workshops were the most popular choice with 80 students voting for it. Career development was voted by 78 students while visiting organisations came in third with 68 student votes.
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Most students preferred SLP to be run fortnightly or monthly and wanted them to run on weekdays after 6pm.
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FAQS and Concerns Do we need to pay for the SLP? Why the SLP doesn’t run in other campuses such as Bundoora? Lack of information on the SLP website and did not know who to contact Students concerned about the requirements to complete the SLP Students did not see benefits of joining the SLP Students wanted the SLP to tailor to their individual needs Students wanted the SLP to be part of the industrial placement Students did not know how to apply Students wanted different SLP’s to focus on undergraduates and post graduates
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What We Learned Communication According to Gary’s book in Chapter 11 we learnt how to effectively communicate important messages. Use various communication tools when sending important messages, our team achieved this by using various channels such as Email, Phone, Face to face communication and Meetings as well as Skype. For example in our team we communicated with Email and sent a SMS at the same time to ensure our team members have received it. Clear communication was needed due to our project being split into two teams. We needed to communicate effectively and efficiently in order to plan subsequent progress of the project. Teamwork We identified the strengths and weaknesses of our team members and delegated them tasks that catered to their strengths. Teamwork was essential in completing our delegated tasks; we were always seeking advice from each other on how to improve our work and at the end everything we did was always checked by another team member. We recognised team members had different commitments therefore we backed up each other to ensure the entire project runs smoothly.
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Problem solving We learnt that problem solving was integral to the success of our project therefore we planned to discuss any problems we had with each other. We have been facing various minor problems along the way and we have learned to develop practical solutions and act quickly. Other important lessons that we learnt are things may not go according to our plans therefore we developed contingency plans to foreseeable problems in the planning stage of the project. The foreseeable problems we foresaw are
Lack of communication between team members Low attendance in Lecturers Lack of interest from the students Lecturers are not supportive
The contingency plan we developed for the problems are Various means of communication between team members Plan to cover more lectures Ensure the lecturers know what we’re promoting Seek assistance from Con to communicate with the lecturer as Con has official authority. Seek advice from Con and Gary
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Leadership Our group appointed Kelly as our leader as she is the most experienced among us but as we split into two teams everyone had their own tasks to do and Kelly was always there to support us as well as provide advice when we needed it. Planning and organisation We set definitive quantitative and qualitative goals as well as objectives which are manageable and realistic. We developed and monitored the plan along the way making any changes that were needed. We planned to collect, analyse and organise raw data to useful information. For team organisation we decided to split into two teams covering the lectures and the survey. This established two teams which were able to coordinate their own plans and in the end collaborate with each other to achieve our goal. Life long learning Firstly we treated our project as a real project in a workplace setting and develop various skills that will benefit us in the future. All our team members are open to new ideas and willing to learn. 23 | P a g e
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Self- Management and personal vision The vision we had in completing with this project was to set a framework for future SLP promotion. We learnt to manage own commitments in life to ensure we had time for this project. We took individual responsibilities and contribute to our team. Initiative After attending the Project Management Review workshop we found out that Con was tailoring 2012 SLP. As all our team members benefited from SLP in 2010-2011therefore we would like to contribute what we have learnt to gather information to be used as a framework for future SLP promotion. We showed initiative by creating the SLP awareness project which was approved by Con and Gary. Technology The technology we utilised is Google Docs as it allowed all the team members to actively contribute to the final report. A range of Microsoft Office software was used in creation of flyers, transcripts, surveys and the E-book. Various other communication tools (Phones, Email, Skype etc). Cameras were used to take photos for the E-Book.
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Service Excellence In chapter 13 (Develop a simple approach to service excellence) in Gary’s book we learnt that we should deliberately use “service excellence” as an approach to this project, not “customer service” To ensure we did this the following behaviours were exhibited Taking time to find out the expectation of this project might be used as a framework for future promotional and structural purposes of 2012 SLP. Constantly checked with Con with our progress and asked for advice to stay on track. Provided information in a timely manner. Put ourselves in the shoes of students to find out what they would like to know about the SLP. Applied service excellence when talking to students face to face and in lectures as well as being able to answer their questions. Created a professional image as SLP representatives.
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Time management In chapter 15 (Discover four quadrants to better manage your time) of Gary’s book, we learnt to utilise the “urgent and information matrix” to prioritise our tasks. We learnt that by identifying task with urgency and importance helped us create a timeline to keep on track (Refer to page 9).
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Our Recommendations 1. Make the SLP available in different campus. 2. Have an information session of the SLP earlier in the semester and have previous SLP students to share their experience. 3. Update the SLP website with the following information Clear directions on how to apply The requirements of joining and completing SLP Highlight the benefits of SLP
4. First and second year students should be targeted as they will get the most use out of SLP. 5. Have training fortnightly or monthly after 6pm weekdays as our survey indicates that’s the preferred time. 6. Content should be focused on communication skills and leadership skills as indicated on our surveys. 7. Students want to attend workshops and career development sessions. 27 | P a g e
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Conclusion This project has taken one month to complete, and it is a very good experience for six of us. No ground rules were broken. Kelly is a competent team leader and every team member has contributed in different ways. We have acquired a range of new skills which would definitely benefit to each of us in the future. We wish our project information would be considered by RMIT for the future SLP framework and promotion. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do this project. Like any project there are few very special people who have contributed to its creation, so we would like to this opportunity to acknowledge them. Firstly Con Moraitis. Thank you for checking with us the progress along the way and your advice is really constructive. We really appreciate your support, guidance and kindness to us. Next, very importantly, Gary Ryan. It is you who taught us all the soft skills we need to finish this project. It is you who encouraged us to commence and finish the project. Thank you for your teaching since 2010-2011. We sincerely thank you for your teaching and mentoring. You are truly inspiring to us. 28 | P a g e
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Appendix Flyers Front
Back
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Transcript used by the Lecture team Roles were interchanged between Willie, Julia and Harn Person A: Hi everyone I’m A and this is B and we’re from the Student Leadership Program. What we aim to do is to see how many people are interested in joining this amazing program that is being run by RMIT. As many of you might not know RMIT has a range of programs that aim to develop leadership skills among students therefore we’re here to raise awareness about them. B here will talk about the benefits the Student Leadership Program. Person B: Hey everyone, the Student Leadership Program is run by the head of Careers Con Moraitis. In this program there are two stages each taking six months. The activities you will be doing involve attending workshops hosted trained professionals and participating in volunteer work as well as projects. By completing this program you will receive a certificate singed by the pro vice Chancellor and acknowledgement on your transcript. A will talk about his experience with SLP Person A: As B said the benefits of this free program are great. You get to meet new people from different courses and best of all learn things that are relevant to in the real world. I joined SLP last year which lead me to meeting various people and the workshops have been great. If anyone is interested in joining this program just raise up your hand and we’ll come around to take your student id so the SLP committee can get in touch with you when the applications open. Person B: We also have flyers that we’ll leave by the door if anyone else is interested. Thank you for your time.
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Email of Acknowledgement Dear student, Thank you for registering your interest in joining the Student Leadership Program for 2012. Information sessions will be held in December 2011 and March 2012. We will notify you via email as well as on our website, as the details of these sessions. The program is currently undergoing restructuring, making it more fun and relevant for students seeking to get a head start in their careers. However please feel free to contact us about any concerns or questions you may have about this program. We wish you all the best in your exams and look forward to seeing you next year.
The Student Leadership Program Email: SLP@rmit.edu.au Website: www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=4hfh8mlfjir9z Phone: 9925 3558 Student services, Bld 14, Lv 3
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Survey team transcript Used by Kelly, Lam and Daniyal 1. Introduce self – Show name tag, tell the student name and from Student Leadership Program. 2. “When are you graduating?” 3a. Answer: This year. Thank you and still tell the student brief idea of the SLP. 3b Answer: 2012 onwards. Then ask the student “I am from the leadership program. What do you know about leadership? “Have you heard of the RMIT Student Leadership Program before? And how much do you know about it?” “Would you like to develop your leadership further?” “Why do we need leadership skill?” 4. Share own experience with these few key points. a. “Soft skills” learnt through workshops and practical project. b. Develop some great networks and friendship groups. c. Recognition on the academic transcript and receive a leadership certificate signed by the RMIT Vice Chancellor. d. Make it more employable. (Employers like students with leadership skill) e. Help with personal and professional development. (eg. For yourself that you work more efficiently, effectively and you can put it in work for professional) 5. Thanks the student for their time and ask the student whether he/she has any questions?
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Student Leadership Program Survey Name: ________________________
Student ID: _________________________________
Course: _______________________
Expecting Graduate Year: ___________________
What do you want to get out from the Student Leadership Program? (Can tick more than 1) □ Communication Skills □ Teamwork Skills □ Analytical and Problem Solving Skills □ Interview Skills □ Time Management Skills □ Leadership Skills □ Develop some great networks and friendship groups □ Other (please specify______________________________________________________) What structures do you want the Student Leadership Program to be? (Can tick more than 1) □ Workshops held by professionals/RMIT staff/prospective employers □ Doing practical projects □ Visiting organisations eg Excursion □ Cooperating with other RMIT events eg Open day or Orientation day □ Attend career development sessions to make you job-ready □ Webinar □ Other (please specify______________________________________________________) How often do you think it is appropriate to have training sessions/workshops/meetings? □ Weekly □ Fortnightly □ Monthly □ Other (please specify______________________________________________________) Which day you find it easier to attend? □ Weekdays (Anytime between 9am-5pm) 33 | P a g e
SLP Awareness Project 2011 □ Weekdays (After 6pm) □ Saturdays (Anytime between 9am-5pm) □ Other (please specify______________________________________________________) Any other general questions or suggestions? ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please write down your student email if you would like information for the Student Leadership Program 2012.______________________________________________________
Thank you for taking part in the survey! =)
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Acknowledgements We would like to say “thank you” to the following people and organisations that have supported us in making this project possible RMIT University – Student Leadership Program Gary Ryan – Organisations that matter (www.orgsthatmatter.com) Con Moraitis - Careers Consultant and SLP Co-ordinator Sally Brooks – Career Development Manager
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