Understanding your strengths
By Lauren
[T]rusting my teammate was an extremely important learning from this class. The reason being it’s impossible for anyone to be an expert at everything, and there will always likely be someone who is better at certain topics than you are. Being self-aware about your strengths, and willing to learn from talented peers, leads to the most successful partnerships and work.
When we began this project there were many unknowns (by design) which led me to grow in a lot of ways. At the outset of our project, my partner and I had a big task ahead of us. I specifically was new to the space of incubators and impact investing, and it was a daunting feeling. My partner and I worked hard in the upfront to define the SOW for our project and ensure that what we were working on would be truly impactful for the organization while also maximizing our strengths as a team. As we got to know our client, and build trust, we were able to have impactful conversations that uncovered information key to developing a successful recommendation. Specifically, we adjusted our meeting style to no longer prepare specific questions in advance but come with general themes we would want to cover during these meetings. This change allowed us to converse with the client and uncover more information than we would have ever been able to think of on our own. When reflecting on this, I realize that while efforts to be ultra-organized have the intention of helping, they can also sometimes hinder creativity and flexibility during important conversations.
Another reflection point that I have had throughout this project is the importance of self-reflection and self-assessment. In the beginning, I wanted to do everything needed to ensure all parts of our project were successful. This was not because I didn’t trust my teammate, but because I struggle with the uneasy feeling of not being confident in the material at hand. As the project continued, I quickly understood that I had a lot to learn in many new spaces we were covering for our client. My partner was an expert at impact investing and incubators, and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from him on all of these topics. As the project went on, and we understood our working styles, I became more confident in topics relating to messaging and value proposition. Upon reflection, I realized that I was putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself to be an expert in all parts of our project when that wasn’t necessary. Letting go of that control and trusting my teammate was an extremely important learning from this class. The reason being it’s impossible for anyone to be an expert at everything, and there will always likely be someone who is better at certain topics than you are. Being self-aware about your strengths, and willing to learn from talented peers, leads to the most successful partnerships and work. I was lucky enough to experience exactly that during this project and am really proud of the work we put together.
In terms of our final presentation, the client was extremely pleased with the playbook that we created. When reviewing with the client, they advised that we had captured exactly the growing pains they were facing after their fast growth. They understood many of these challenges but appreciated the usefulness of the frameworks that we presented the information in. The client is looking forward to diving into the content further and has asked that we present to their larger team in the coming weeks.