Challenge No. 1: Reflection on PROGRAM LETS HELP AND LOVE EACH OTHER 2021

  I joined a program “Let’s Help and Love Each Other 2021” that held on 6 April 2021. In early year, I have accepted the position of Head of the Multimedia of the program and will oversee two members. The objective of this program is to spread awareness of stigma among people who suffers from mental health. No matter what the situation, there must be a few problems that get in our way. In this program, I also faced a few problems as well. The main problem that I faced is doing a something that is not in my job scope, which my team need to handle live program via Facebook using OBS application. The issue is that I underestimated the job and causes a few problems for the program. My team and I have limited knowledge using OBS application, as we are more toward designing and creating, not streaming. However, I made a huge mistake accepting the job as I thought that it is not an issue. But alas, my teammate and I need to learn about the said apps in the span of two weeks and our unstable Wi-Fi did not help the case. As the leader of the team, I felt like it was my responsible to make things right as soon as possible, and not become a burden to others. However, this action add to the existing stress and I became more anxious and in panic-mode all the time, and made others panic as well.

  I felt like I cannot handle all of this alone and need help. So, I ask my junior (which my leader from another program) if he knows how to use OBS application. Unfortunately, he possesses little to no knowledge about it, and introduce me to other people that might know about it. After a while, I finally got the number that I seek and the person is my junior from the same course. She is kind enough to teach me how to use OBS application. After a while, I thought that at least I grasp the basic of the application, but my Wi-Fi is the main factor why everything will go wrong. I had tested way too many time with director of the program and one of my teammate but we were not confident as it was lagging during the stream. I felt anxious as I was afraid of disappointed others at the time, and I felt like it was my responsibility to make everything right as soon as possible. Thus, at the very last minute I asked for help from junior that guide me in using OBS application. Against all odds, she agreed to help and save the program altogether.

  This reminds me of the past program when I first become leader of unit multimedia as well where there were a few issues occurred because of my lack of communication skills. I made a mistake where I thought that I do not need to bother my team member with simple task as I think that I can handle it myself. But, the director of the program advised me that it should not be that way, and I need to give opportunity for my team member to learn instead of doing stuff for them. I felt like my past action is pretty selfish as I do not believe in my team mate skills and also limit them from learning anything, and I thought I was doing them a favor by not giving them more complicated tasks. I was still new to the leadership skill, so I do not know how to handle certain situation. For example, one of my team mate does not have skills to make videos, so I gave them task to take picture before, during and after the program. But, a misunderstanding occurred during the program because of miscommunication. She thought that I tried to exclude her from the team and I tried to deny it but it is no use. So, because of my lack of communication skills, problem ensues and I do not have enough knowledge nor skills to fix them. At the end of the day, I tried to not do everything myself and let others have opportunities as well.

  For me the most significant aspect from this program is how important communication is. Without communication, there will never be a successful teamwork. For example, one of my team have trouble in making e-certificate as the designs kept getting rejected. I thought that because she is an only a first year, she might get overwhelmed by demanding task in limited time. So, I message her personally and ask about her feeling and whether she faces some difficulties. Also, I assure her that as the leader of the team, she can ask for my help anytime and I would be willing to do so. As a student, with many group assignment assign to us and many experience in dealing with group mates, I somehow know that communication is the key. I thought that it only applied only in course work but I was wrong, it can be applying for real life situation as well for example the situation that I described just now. In my perspective, I trust that we learn a lot from our mistake rather. We as a human always thrive for perfection although perfection itself did not exist. During this program, I always felt insecure towards my lack of certain skills but unfortunately with experience doing coursework, my role in the program become smoother than ever. Although I lack in certain department, I believe that without the mistakes that I made, I will not become who I am today. In a nutshell, what is significant about this program is that I learn that everybody makes mistake and everybody has those days, but we just need to keep our chins up and strive to become a better person that we are yesterday.

  From the program I have learned that I need to become more confident in myself, and not be afraid of admit that I made a mistake. My plan for now is that I need to take some constructive critic rather than hears some meaningless insult. Not only that will improve my soft skills but also my self-esteem. I believe that if I keep doing what is right I can benefit others as well as myself. Although it might get difficult in the long run, I believe that it will benefits me in the future.