JFINEX youth speaks out (1)
If there is one word that would best describe the student leaders in this situation, it is innovative
Wouldn’t you like to know what our youth today are thinking of, their aspirations, their concerns in this very uncertain period? With these questions in mind, the JFINEX (Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines) Committee, the junior arm of the FINEX Foundation Research & Development Inc., consisting of several thousands of students taking up business courses in universities and colleges all over the Philippines, decided to interview three student leaders from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to get a pulse of their sentiments. I am giving way to them for the next few articles.
Despite the current situation, student leaders cannot stop their operations.
This week’s contributor is Kelsey Mendoza, a senior at the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT)-University of Cebu, an accomplished student who is on the Commission of CIT Supreme Student Government, president of JFINEX-CIT and president of Society of CIT Scholars.
Passion behind leadership By Kelsey Mendoza
Being a student leader comes with a distinct passion. It is the passion of building relationships not only with your team but with the whole organization as well. Building up an effective relationship with the team can be way harder than I thought because of the new normal setup. Communicating virtually is not that efficient as communicating physically. Gazing at the monitor, speaking without knowing that everyone is listening plus a slow Internet connection. These are only some of the challenges that the student leaders are facing right now. How about organizing an event? activities? webinars? Navigating some websites or applications that can be helpful during the events? Yes. Student leaders like me are having a difficult time dealing with these challenges because of the new system.
Despite the current situation, student leaders cannot stop their operations. Whether you like it or not, you must deal with all the challenges to achieving your goal as a leader. The following are the challenges that I have experienced and how I deal with them.
When organizing an event, activities and webinars, reaching out with your officers would be the first thing that the leader should do to gather or brainstorm ideas. This itself is a challenge as a leader on how they will make sure that everyone is paying attention to the agenda when in fact being at home can be distractive. What I regularly do is give the agenda ahead of time and let them think about their ideas. By the time the meeting begins, we can directly impart each idea that they have in mind and discuss it with the team.
Radically, during the event can be nerve-wracking. Interacting with the participants virtually and thinking about all the problems that may occur, especially technical difficulties that can ruin the entire event. Good thing that the CITUniversity offers technical training to each organization, giving us more knowledge on navigating useful applications. It would be better also to have a dry run with a complete setup. You must think of all the possible circumstances that might happen during the program, so that you can provide a solution ahead of time. This might not be the best solution, but this would probably reduce the unforeseen problem that might occur.
Post-event deliverables are important in knowing if the event was successful in reaching its objectives and target outcomes. Here, you can probably be able to know what the participant’s judgments and suggestions are to have a way more effective event in the future. The best way to deal with this is to save all the positive and negative results and discuss with your officers what you can do to have a better event next time.
This might not be the best solution, but this would probably reduce the unforeseen problem that might occur.
Indeed, connect to lead is a must for leaders. It describes the day-to-day reality of a leader particularly during this time of the pandemic. Connecting not only through communicating but in all aspects. May it be emotionally and spiritually. Being there for your members as a student leader, personal advisor, sympathizer and believer.
If there is one word that would best describe the student leaders in this situation, it is innovative. In these difficult times, leaders are doing their best to come up with new activities that are ideal for the participants while also adjusting to the new arrangement. As the current president of the JFINEX CIT-University, the officers, together with our adviser Mr. Allan Borres Delantar, and our supportive Dean, Dr. Alexander Delantar, were able to conduct webinars in partnership with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on a topic about financial literacy. Innovating strategies like this helps student members gain knowledge even with limited resources. Most importantly, to inspire the team to take constructive steps not just during the development process but also during times of uncertainty.
Until next week… One big fight!
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