IBE - Vice President | Honorsportfolio

INTEGRATED BUSINESS EXPERIENCE - VICE PRESIDENT

During the spring 2020 semester, I participated in the Integrated Business Experience (IBE), which is essentially a program that gives business students an opportunity to create and operate their own company. I explain more in-depth what the IBE consists of within my IBE Research Reflection.

Obviously, a huge part of a business is the various leadership positions and work hierarchy that exists within it. This is the same for the IBE; in fact, the first week or so was spent primarily getting to know our team members so that we could elect our C-Suite. For our company, this consisted of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), two Vice Presidents, a treasurer, a service coordinator, a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), a Chief Operations Officer (COO), and a Chief Financial Officer (CFO). I decided before the semester even began that I wanted to run for an officer position within the IBE, so when it actually came time for elections, I ran for one of the two Vice President positions. I was very passionate about getting elected, as I felt it would drastically improve my IBE experience and the skills I received from it.

The first step to getting elected was first impressions, and since I knew going into it that I wanted to be in the C-Suite, I was very aware of the impressions I was making at all times. I always did my best to be friendly and kind, but also confident and assertive when necessary, as these are characteristics I personally value in leaders and I believe others value as well. Most of all, I did my best to be myself because I wanted to lead as myself, not try to be someone I was not. I strongly believe that being yourself - both as a leader and in life - attracts the best people to you, as they will be able to see your passion and values and want to be a part of it themselves. This mindset evidently paid off, and I was elected as co-Vice President!

My responsibilities as VP included communicating between the CEO and other C-Suite members, coordinating tabling hours in the CSU, arranging and presenting our loan presentation, helping create our products, assisting with marketing efforts, and much more. After the transition to online schooling, another huge responsibility that I took on was the task of creating our entire company website and all maintenance afterwards, since tabling in the CSU was no longer an option for sales. Website creation included updating the online store, creating a donation feature, communicating with customers, and shipping products. This was easily the most challenging task, but also the most rewarding. I truly feel that our company would not have been successful without it, and it was clear that I was setting a positive example for all my other group members, which was a huge morale booster at that time since so much was uncertain for the rest of the semester.

Being a team member was another core part of this experience. I wasn't just leading my group, I was also a part of it. Obviously, a large group means more personalities and more likeliness for people to clash and have arguments. This did occur with other members of my group, often because of differences in leadership styles or lack of communication. In these situations, I often took it upon myself to mediate and help find a compromise.

Overall, I was able to identify my personal leadership values prior to the semester beginning, and this was what allowed me to have a pre-conceived plan for running for office and what I wanted to prioritize during that time. I knew what my weaknesses would likely be coming into this experience - finance and supply chain management - so I made sure to verbalize this from the very beginning, as I knew they could be easily filled with another group member's strengths. This way, I was consistently allowing my team to reach their absolute highest potential. Also, as I previously mentioned, there were leadership styles utilized that were very ineffective at times. Certain team members had very laissez-fair leadership styles, which obviously did not work (especially after the online transition) because people were often left feeling lost. On the other hand, there were individuals that sometimes attempted an authoritarian leadership approach, which resulted in conflict because people did not feel that they were being treated as part of the group and their opinions were not valued. The most effective leadership style was thankfully the one that was utilized by most individuals in the group and what our company strived for all semester - the democratic leadership style. This allowed all group members to contribute their thoughts and ideas, so there was not a concentration of power within the upper management.

Much of the team development within this experience was shown within the interactions between myself and group members. Obviously, the group members in leadership positions took on their formal leadership roles; however, there were many instances where people took on informal roles as well. For example, website design is definitely a marketing position, but I felt that I would be a good fit for that role in the company, as I already had a lot of previous experience designing websites. Another example would be the assumption of the "mediator" role within the company. Many of my group members would come to me for advice or help if they were feeling excluded from the group, and I would always try to find a way to solve it. All of the roles of my group members and I, both formal and informal, helped us achieve our goal of donating at least $2,000 to MyPlace, and running an overall successful company.

In conclusion, this leadership experience will have a huge impact on every leadership position that I will hold in the future. It has set the foundation for the experience and skills I will need as a leader, whether that is in the business world or not. I feel much more confident in my abilities, and much more self-aware of my leadership strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, I learned the beauty of working with a team, since there are so many skills and so much knowledge that can be combined to create a powerful group.

COMPETENCY FULFILLMENT: Values - All Levels, Teams - All Levels