I’m not sure how it comes across in the blog but as well as
being fantastic this trip has been bizarre. Simple things like staying in other
people’s homes, spending massive amounts of time with team mates you’ve just
met and having your photo taken about 100 times a day all contribute to this.
It’s been great having the Aussie team around and meeting people here who’ve
also done GSE and understand how intense it is.
The Australian team is on a slightly different programme and
are called a Vocational Training Team rather than a Group Study Exchange team.
They are all teachers and have had a more vocational focus including delivering
workshops and sharing knowledge as well as the cultural aspects. It’s been
really interesting to get to know them and see how they work as a team under
their team leader Jacqui.
I seem to remember that part of this trip was about
developing as leaders and watching how Jacqui has led their team has been
really interesting. Being a bit bossy and a bit of a control freak it’s been great
to observe such good leadership. From my perspective Jacqui has completely got
the difference between leading a team and managing one. The team as a whole
have a fantastic relationship and are close with them providing support to her
as well as vice versa. It seems that respect built up between her and the team
members has provided a great base for her to be able to lead effectively.
It would be easy in this stressful and alien situation to be
issuing orders to get the team to do things but Jacqui has a great knack for
just giving people the option to do the right thing. For example on the way up
to Baguio not all the car seats had seatbelts as people often don’t bother with
them here. Instead of telling her team they had to buckle up she just quietly arranged
for them to get seats with belts available so they had the option should they
want to.
Another example of the respect afforded to her team members
is in her assumption that they will do the right thing. In Boracay we were on a
night out and Kerrin went to let her know she was off to find a ‘comfort room’.
Rather than lecturing her about not going off on her own or telling her to take
someone with her she assumed that Kerrin would already have thought of this and
that because I was standing nearby I’d be going with her (which I was).
There is some assumption on this trip that on our return we
might join Rotary and some people we’ve had contact with have made us feel
obliged to do so. Although clearly committed to Rotary and their work Jacqui
has reassured us that this is not the aim of the trip and we shouldn’t feel
under any pressure. She also allowed us and her own team space to not have to
take Rotary so seriously even extending to the slightly drunken ‘Rotary
meeting’ held on the beach in the dark complete with fake bell ‘dinging’ the
meeting to order.
On this trip we are chaperoned pretty much 27/7 and it would
be tempting as team leader to treat us like children on a school trip. Jacqui’s
leadership is so effective in keeping her team on track and ultimately safe and
I hope I can take back what I’ve learned from her and apply it at home.
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