These 4 days i went for the LEAP foundation camp (a leadership camp), which was awesome! It was completely unlike any other camp i've attended. It was not all fun fun fun. There were really solemn moments, and those moments can get emotional as well. I'll just mention those parts that were meaningful to me and how this camp changed me.

No leadership
I was one of the least outspoken and sociable person in my team, so my existence ended up being 'barely felt'. So, for the whole of the first day, i was cloaking into the surroundings. And on the second day, everyone was told to rate 3 top leaders and the 3 bottom leaders in the team. As expected, i appeared in most of everyone's bottom 3 because i was too quiet and they could not get to know me. We were supposed to go one whole round saying who the bottom leaders are and why, so it was quite tiring to hear my name again and again. Out of 13 people (excluding myself), 12 people had my name in their bottom 3. (We had to be honest in the camp)

After that, we were told to speak our minds out, so i promised that i will change and try my best to be more outspoken. I then asked for their support. And they enthusiastically agreed to help me, which touched me. So i did try my best and fortunately they realised and saw improvement in me :)

Trekking Leading
Day 3 of the camp was trekking, and i had volunteered myself to be the trekking leader, alongside with jun yuan. This was my first time leading a team, and what kept me going was that i got everyone's support and approval. My teammates were extremely respectful and no one looked down on me at all. They accepted me as their leader and listened, which i'm really really grateful for. I hope that i've lead the team well.

This period of leadership made me realise that being a leader is exhausting and stressful. When i was a follower, i just needed to follow and take care of myself. Being a leader is different; I had to take care of my whole team, take lots of initiative, be very aware, and be encouraging. But during this period, i realised my full potential and grew.

Overall
From now on, i will be more proactive and start to exhibit leadership qualities. I will also be more outspoken and confident and be able to lead a team to produce result. This camp is one of my major turning point.

Labels: overseas, things that happened