What Have I learned?

            This section will outline my personal reflection on learning from my management practicum project. Upon entering the class, I was not completely aware of what to expect. I have heard good and bad things, but I put those aside and wanted to make the determination myself. We were assigned a big project at the beginning of the quarter and this intrigued me because it would allow me to get real world experience. I had to think for a bit and figure out what business I wanted to approach for the project and what I would be willing to do for them. After some good thought, I determined that I would love to find somewhere that I would be working with the owner of the business so I could have some insight on business operations.  

           I sent out an email to Mari, the owner of Chuck-a-nut Brewery, explaining what the class was and that I would love to work on a project for them. I was assigned a market pricing research project that allowed me to get out and talk to managers of surrounding breweries and restaurants to get info on their menu prices. During my experience, I was able to meet many new contacts that I will be able to add to my list. I wanted to utilize these experiences of meeting managers because it can end up benefitting me in the long run and I may not realize it right now. The main thing I wanted to get from this project, was to impress my main supervisor and show her what I am capable of.

            While working on this project, I was able to utilize my leadership skills and understand what tasks needed to get done early on. I found that establishing clear goals of the project from the start is something that is crucial to producing a detailed final product. It felt as if the project grew over the course of 7 weeks to the point where I ended up putting more work in than originally planned. I brought up many examples of what could work and persuaded my supervisor why one was better than the other. I wanted to challenge the process and give new ways of presenting the prices that would be easier to interpret. While I did not directly lead people in my project, I was able to demonstrate my skills in inspiring a shared vision with my supervisor and my self-leadership strategies.

            One quote that really stuck with me from the beginning of class is “Leadership is action, not position”. I wanted to portray this quote with the way that I worked on my project. I know that I needed to show I am capable of producing a detailed report for my supervisor because that is what I would expect someone working under me to do. I did not take advantage of the fact that I was working by myself on this report to slack off as it is not how I want other people to act. After I turned in my project, we sat down and went through my entire report, comparing them with their menu. I was congratulated for a job well done as my report was far more detailed than the previous ones. Mari said she liked my communication and willingness to get whatever tasks needed to be completed, done. At the end of it all, I can feel proud of the report that I produced and how useful the report was for the business. I definitely feel more comfortable going out and completing more projects for my future supervisors as I know that if I put my mind and time to it, I will be able to produce a high quality deliverable.