One leadership quality I possess is empathy. I demonstrate this quality through the volunteer work I do at the BC Children’s Hospital. As a volunteer, I constantly see and talk to people who are going through some of the hardest experiences in their lives, so being able to understand how they feel and sometimes even be a source of comfort for them is essential. An example of this would be when I had a patient who was a little curt; however, I did not take it personally as I could tell they were stressed, so instead, I helped them find where they needed to go and ended up even having a pleasant conversation with them.

One leadership skill I possess is communication. Being part of such a big group, it is key to be clear and concise so everyone is on the same page. An example of me showing this skill would be utilizing our group chat to communicate future plans, responsibilities, meeting/event dates, and other important things. I outline the big picture and then explain the smaller details we must do; an example would be our cupcake workshop where I wrote down what we had to do (marketing) and how we should do it (CENT show, CENT Today, Instagram post). Moreover, we often share documents, designs, and updates on what we do, keeping our communication lines clear.

One quality I would like to develop by the end of the course is confidence. I find that I struggle to have confidence in my own work, thinking that whatever I do will lead to failure. I would like to work on keeping an optimistic viewpoint rather than thinking pessimistically as it leads to low group morale. As the ‘leader’ of HACC, making sure that my group believes in our cause is essential to help the morale so we can pull off great events and come up with creative ideas.

One leadership skill I would like to develop would be problem-solving. Often when faced with challenges. I depend on others to help me find the solution. Although there isn’t anything wrong with depending on other people, I would like to try to be a person that others come to for when they need help with problems. Moreover, I would like to try and solve problems through different ways as I find that I tend to find one solution and go for that one instead of searching for more and maybe even better solutions.

I can work with others to achieve a goal.

I reflect this core competency through my Cultural Connections Project. In my group, I am working with 8 other people toward the same goal of raising awareness about health and cancer and fundraising money for the Canadian Cancer Society. An example of me showing this would be the Cupcake Workshop HACC hosted on Halloween. This event involved a lot of planning and organization to be done. To get everything organized, I had to communicate with my group members about what tasks everyone was doing and things we had to get done. For instance, I was in charge of gathering some of the materials, handling the float, marketing, and generally communicating with my members for any other details needed for the event.