as taken from my updated
blog.
a rather long read, but it took me quite a while to sort out my thoughts.
that's it. basically, we have come to the end of LTB [for me, LTM] and yea, that is simply the end of it. thirteen weeks of fun, laughter, sweat and toil, all boil down to a final alphabetical grade that appears on the computer screen 3 weeks after today, at least thats what i think.
so is this it? what exactly does LTB want to cultivate, and are we going to fulfil the goals and objectives of LTB even after the end of it all?
"This course provides you with knowledge and skills about effective leadership and team-building based on concepts, application-oriented cases and exercises as well as self-assessments, role-plays and games to develop your leadership competencies… … Another objective is to develop intra and inter-personal competencies that are essential for leadership success."
- as quoted from LTB course outline
have you got the knowledge and skills about leadership and teambuilding? have you effectively developed intra and inter-personal competencies? have you taken away something from this course that you would like to share with others?
some food for thought. mmm.
Too bad there isnt a course outline for LTM, if not, it would be interesting to note what are the objectives for us mentors, and to see at the end of the day, if we have achieved something out of the course. dang i think the yep intensive training has done something to my head about the goals-setting and objectives. it really allowed me to see the importance of goals and objectives, and setting measurements and benchmarks to see if something was achieved at the end of the day. true enough, that thing you may have learnt during the process may be intangible, but they will serve as checkpoints for your own reflections to see if you yourself have attained it at the end of the day.
its wonderful to see the team gel so nicely after 13 weeks of hard work, issues to resolve [which werent many] and i am really glad that my year Ones felt that the week 5 group reflection session was a major turning point in the team organisation, dynamics and working styles. its like.. an extreme makeover session where you can significantly see the before and after. the girls became more talkative and open about their own ideas, which proved to be wonderful and fantastic, the guys were more than willing to let the girls take center stage.
i mentioned in my own learning journal that i didnt truly believe in shared leadership after a mere 13 weeks of LTB. what i believed was, LTB is a stepping stone, and a tool to help instil and reinforce the idea of shared leadership. but guess what, i truly saw Timeline emerge as a shared leadership team at the end of the day, when different people are willing to take up the leadership role at different periods of time, without having to point a gun at that unwilling person's head. it was a group effort, and i truly salute my year Ones for that.
with the end of LTB, i can no longer call them my year Ones. hiaks that is one of the perks of being a TA, as me and steph had agreed on hahaha. but this end, is merely the start of another beginning, a true friendship, if both parties are willing to put in the time and effort. looking back at my own LTB team, we were once close. and we maintained that close friendship during year 1 sem 2 when we were still all classmates. but after that, we all drifted apart, with the bulk of them in biz and me being the only one in accountancy. ultimately, our characters were very different, and i guess we were not fated to be close and good friends till the very end of time. but then again, who believes in friends forever? its always good to see everyone so chummy now, but what will happen in future?
you hold that rein in your hands, and you control the fate of how that friendship will turn out. i didnt hold it tight enough, and i chose to let go when it seemed all fuzzywuzzy.
how would you hold on to that, and how would you control it?
you own the ultimate learning, and you own the fate of the relationships in Timeline.
the main person whom i will sorely miss after this, is my very dearest fellow TA stephanie.
she never fails to light up my sleepy mondays with her bigg smile or silly jokes and ego-ism. i lovelove her to bits! its like, when the teams are doing their stuff, or preparing for presentation, or going for breaks, we will be entertaining each other, keeping each other company, and talking about anything under the sun we can see.
ahhhhhhh i will definitely miss her loads. ><
during this term of LTM, i got back in touch with a fellow acquaintance whom i got to know since year 1, but lost touch since then because we were never close to begin with. now i am glad to have gotten the chance to get to know him better again, and that is ian!! nice boy he is, very gentleman hahahaha. i will never forget the night he sent me and steph back right to our doorsteps without having us to direct him LOLS.
of course, without this fine lady, i would have never gotten the chance to be the TA at all. joanne is the one, who has been guiding us TAs along very finely and i really really (to the power of infinity) appreciate her help for everything! of course, not to mention our lovely prof menkhoff, who is ever so lovable and nice hehe.
alrights, enuff said for tonight. i think i've rambled long enough. think this can be my final learning journal, if there had ever been one. 
