Throughout my time at Olds College I have never felt as engaged as I have in TRF 3100. Having our constant discussions has been one of my favourite and most eye opening experiences at school. The credit for this would largely be the environment created for this class as well as the topics of discussion that are encouraging everyone to expand their point of view to understand different solutions and leadership strategies. Another contributing factor to the overall experience is the group of students. We have all grown so much together since our first year while displaying a similar passion for the industry as well as the content being taught. The group shows a level of maturity and leadership that has created an environment where everyone is comfortable sharing their opinion and experiences while welcoming constructive feedback. The Leadership Ian has displayed to our group by thinking of ways to enhance the learning environment really shows dedication toward educating, not only future superintendents but a group of students who I feel will be successful in any career.
I have been fortunate throughout my life and career to have incredible influences that have shown me how to be a strong leader by displaying qualities such as passion, determination and compassion for others. Experiencing this has taught me how to treat everyone around me and learn from others. Demonstrating compassion has been a major contribution toward managing a team in a work environment and providing a space for all team members where input and questions are encouraged and I feel that this has been the same throughout our program.
Listening to the conversations that have taken place in our class, it is evident that everyone is really trying to get the most out of one another and move in the right direction to improve our industry. I often find myself thinking of a specific solution at the beginning of a presentation but by the end I am considering multiple solutions and doing my best to understand the different ways to approach the situations. When someone explains how they would approach a situation it has instantly made me think why? which in turn has encouraged me to understand the thought behind the decision and if that could be a better solution than what I originally had in mind.
The feedback received from others has also been extremely important to my development. Reading through the comments on my groups presentation has been extremely helpful validation, showing us that our depth of understanding and assessing each case study from various perspectives has been informative and well received by others. I strive to display strong leadership and teamwork in every class whether it is through our presentation or contributing in discussions. Through conversations with fellow class members as well as group feedback I feel a level of pride not only in myself but also others in the class. We have all shown these strong qualities and continue to build upon them each day. As long as we all continue to use what we have learned in this class I believe that we can improve our industry and the culture we create. The strong leaders that Ian has helped coach and encourage should feel confident that they have the ability to do the same for those around them.
Matt's Reflective Journal 