Individual reflective Learning Essay Example

INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIVE LEARNING REPORT

(Student Name)

(Lecturer)

Introduction

During school holidays, I got a part-time job in a delivery firm. I worked there for three weeks then one day the supervisor came to me with news that most of the senior workers were heading for a three-day trip and I was given a task of finishing a project within the three days. The first thing that the manager told me was to pretend or take the responsibility of being the project manager. I was given a team of young interns to lead, and the senior managers expected good results from me. After reading the project instructions, I realized that I had a tight deadline to meet.

Steps involved

The first step that I took was to sort out the workload among the team. To do this, I decided to call a meeting so that we could map out the project as a team. The tasks could not be distributed evenly, and I asked some of the members to volunteer and take the extra tasks, this one I did after delegating most of the work to myself.

Because I did not trust the new crew that I was working with, I decided to be the pace setter. To set the pace for the workers, I took most of the work from the team members whom I felt that were not performing according to my expectations and assigned them to others. By the time we were finishing the project, almost every member felt exhausted. The project turned out to be a success, and the senior managers congratulated us on the good job.

Analysis

Even though the project turned out to be successful, there were various mistakes that I realized, for instance, a good leader should trust the team that they are working with at all times. I did not trust some members with some of the duties so I decided to reassign complicated duties to the members whom I thought were competent. A good manager should know how to distribute the workload among his staff members, pushing the employees too far can lead to poor quality services or products (Fransen, et al, 2016).

Instead of reassigning the duties, as a good leader I could have shown my team members on the best way forward so that in case we get assigned to work on a similar project, at least everyone will have the knowledge.

Conclusion

The first thing towards finishing a successful project is to create time or plan with the shortest time possible. The next thing is to try as much as possible not to involve emotions in the course of the work. Emotions always interfere with the quality of work that one delivers. Lastly, every manager must know how to balance his workers through mixing the experienced with the inexperienced. As much as it is a requirement for the project managers to act as pacesetters or serving from the front, it does not mean that you should take all the jobs since it will deny the junior staffs from gaining experience (Fransen, et al, 2016).

References

Fransen, K., Vanbeselaere, N., De Cuyper, B., Vande Broek, G. and Boen, F., 2016. When is a leader considered as a good leader? Perceived impact on teammates’ confidence and social acceptance as key ingredients. Athletic Insight: Online Journal of Sport Psychology, pp.In-press.