Four lessons from the Business Leadership Program-SELF case competition
The following blog was written by William Baker for Business 305, a business writing course offered by the KU School of Business. During the spring semester, students were tasked with creating an effective blog post to communicate an opportunity or issue in the business school to prospective students, current students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors, and anyone else who reads the School of Business’s blog content.
Early in the Spring 2020 semester, Business Leadership Program (BLP) freshmen teamed up with engineering freshmen from the Self Engineering Leadership Fellows (SELF) program to present in a case competition.
A local artist provided questions about how to expand her business. Teams developed solutions for her and presented their ideas to a panel of business and engineering staff.
As a freshman in BLP, I have completed many challenging and beneficial assignments in the program. This project in particular taught me several lessons that I will use throughout my time at KU.
Fellow BLP student Zac Genilo described the project as “a good simulation of the professional world.”
It required us to work with a diverse team and present findings to other professionals. Following are four lessons we learned that can apply to any project.
Take advantage of a diverse skillset
Working with people who have different interests and skills can be difficult, but it can also be an opportunity. If your group members all have different strengths, you can utilize these to complete the project more efficiently.
For example, one of the engineering students in my group had graphic design skills, so he developed our slideshow and paper handout. My business teammate was a skilled debater and speaker, so he took the lead on writing the outline and fielding questions from the judges.
Genilo was on the team that won the case competition. He said the group’s success depended on “giving each individual a part of the project that they would succeed in.”
Through the competition, I learned the importance of taking time to talk about each team member’s strengths and weaknesses before splitting up a project.
Communicate intentionally and honestly
Organized communication and planning helped keep my group on track. When the project began, we found a weekly meeting time that worked for every member. To maximize each meeting, I sent out our goals before we began. Afterwards, we recapped our accomplishments and tasks to finish before the next week.
Genilo depended on communication when other teammates fell behind.
“You can’t be afraid to call people out when they aren’t doing their work,” he said.
Always be supportive, but don’t make teammates guess what you’re thinking because you haven’t communicated clearly.
Practice tone and pacing
A mistake our group made was focusing on the time guidelines so much that it hurt the flow and tone of our presentation. We rushed and didn’t smile or connect with the audience.
Two presentations with the exact same information can be received very differently; it’s all about how much you resonate with the audience and make them believe your ideas.
To do this, Genilo recommends having a conversational, yet professional tone. This can only be accomplished with practice. Therefore, the case competition was an important, low-stakes way for us to gain this experience.
Make others around you better
This is the Business Leadership Program’s definition of leadership. Putting your teammates first and focusing on their needs helps you become someone that people want to work with.
BLP pushes the limits of my comfort zone through assignments like the case competition and provides important leadership experience.
To learn more about the BLP’s mission, curriculum, requirements, or application, click here.
By William Baker (BLP 9) and Meaghan Boyd (BLP 8)
