Vice-Chancellor's Professional Excellence Program
MY JOURNEY TO THE VCPEP
In 2021 I was very fortunate to become 1 of 26 recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Academic Excellence Scholarship at Deakin University. My consideration for this scholarship was constituted by my excellence in academic achievements as well as my extra-curricular activities in leadership, community, volunteering and sport at the time. As an individual who had just completed my VCE studies in the peak of the pandemic, I was thrilled at this new and exciting opportunity. However, in my first year of university in 2021, covid was still present and due to accompanying restrictions, I could not interact with the Deakin and Geelong community as I intended. As an individual who had moved away from home and did not live at Deakin residential accommodation, this period became quite challenging as I began to feel isolated from both the Deakin and Geelong community.
During my first year of university as part of my scholarship I was required to engage in online meetings with the scholarship team referred to as Academic Mentor Meetings and Development Plan Meetings. In these meetings I was presented with questions and tasks that encouraged me to reflect on my past opportunities that had supported me to my current position. By engaging in these reflective tasks, I was not only able to understand how my past leadership experiences played a large role in my succession in receiving the scholarship, but what most importantly was brought to my attention was how my previous leadership experiences had played a crucial role in my personal development. Following this realisation, I was able to confirm my strong passion towards contributing to the positive development of others and my ability to impact such communities was an area I was feeling deprived of at the time.
This acknowledgement empowered me to plan how I could immerse myself into the Deakin and Geelong community when it was safe. I came to the conclusion that my first step in becoming the best leader I can was to focus on my self-awareness. I believe a key quality in a leader is the characteristic of self-awareness. Here, with the assistance of the VCPEP I immersed myself in as many workshops both online and in-person to enhance my self – awareness and thus overall personal development.
VCPEP PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES
The Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Excellence Program (VCPEP) is a personal and professional development program in which Vice-Chancellor’s Academic Excellence Scholarship recipients are invited to partake in. This program aims to empower students to achieve beyond their expectations and has a focus on exploring leadership and achieving significant contribution to our community. This initiative was my first steppingstone into my leadership journey both at Deakin University and in the Geelong community. During my time in the VCPEP I was determined to participate in every leadership opportunity that was presented, this included both leadership roles and those opportunities that facilitated the enhancement of my leadership skills. As part of the VCPEP I voluntarily engaged with programs such as The Reach Foundation Authentic Leadership Training, VCPEP Leadership and Reflection Workshop and the PWC Design thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration and innovation workshop.
Thomas J. Watson
You cannot lead others until you first lead yourself
Matt Tenney
Self-awareness is the most important leadership skill we can develop
Brene Brown
Self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead
THE REACH FOUNDATION AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
The Reach Foundation Authentic Leadership Training was the first program I participated in as part of the VCPEP. I recall feeling anxious to attend this event as I had not met any other participants or the program coordinators prior. I also felt nervous at the thought of meeting new people and presenting my ideas and experiences as a leader. The training consisted of a range of activities and tasks that questioned who I was as a leader, explored what motivates me as a leader, revised qualities of a good leader and further explored my selected qualities so that I was able to learn strategies and tasks that I could put into practice to further develop these leadership skills.Upon reflection of this experience, I was able to recognise that a quality I value in a leader is authenticity. As part of this training, we were required to share a time in which we had failed. Through this task, although at the time I felt confused at its purpose, I was able to reflect and establish that the quality of authenticity is an element I highly value in a leader. By sharing my own experience of a time I had failed in front of 50 unfamiliar individuals and feeling out of my comfort zone, I was able to experience the empowerment of authenticity. I believe authenticity represents sincerity and integrity. I have included this experience as I believe this demonstrates a leadership opportunity in which I was able to contribute to my own personal development through my ability to empower others by sharing a time I was unsuccessful, and my self-awareness as I was able to recognise that from this event onwards I wanted to put in more effort towards being an authentic leader.
PWC DESIGN THINKING, COMPLEX PROBLEM SOLVING AND INNOVATION WORKSHOP
As my pursuit to enhance my self-awareness continued I immersed myself into the PWC Design thinking, complex problem solving and innovation workshop through the VCPEP. This opportunity was another environment I was highly unfamiliar with and did not know any members prior to my attendance. As part of the exercises, one of the activities required my team and I to attempt to make the tallest tower out of the resources provided. In this exercise I volunteered to be the team leader and was required to demonstrate my leadership skills in a team setting. Upon reflection of this activity, I was able to acknowledge that although I had a lack of knowledge in relation to constructing the tallest tower (in which the engineering students excelled in), I was able to provide my delegation, communication, negotiation, decision making and conflict resolution skills. Although at the time I felt that I was not contributing as much as other team members to the construction of the tower itself, I was later able to realise that my leadership skills such as negotiation and conflict resolution were key elements that I portrayed and had the opportunity to develop further in this activity. My leadership skills ultimately contributed to the overall success of our project and my personal development.
VCPEP LEADERSHIP AND REFLECTION WORKSHOP
Another key leadership experience I participated in as part of the VCPEP was the ‘VCPEP Leadership and Reflection Workshop’. In this workshop we explored personal values, qualities that I believe make a good leader and the concept of reflection. Prior to this experience I was able to acknowledge that I had the desire to improve my self-awareness, but I was unaware of reflective methods I could adopt to achieve this. Following my participation in this workshop, I was able to comprehend how deep and meaningful reflection on my previous leadership experiences was able to enhance my emotional intelligence and self – awareness which was a key area I wanted to develop. Following this experience I now think that reflection is a key element to self-awareness and thus essential in becoming a good leader.
VCPEP CONCLUSION
Overall, I have included my personal development experiences through the VCPEP as although it may not be typical leadership experiences, I truly believe that the experiences I was able to participate in through the VCPEP program allowed me to build my self-awareness, integrity, encouraged me to be open-minded towards feedback , established what I value in a leader such as authenticity and set the foundations for my leadership experiences at my time at Deakin and in the Geelong community.
These conclusions and opportunities in which I strengthened my personal development represent evidence of leadership initiatives beyond the scope of my degree as all these experiences are voluntary. Ultimately, I believe that self-awareness plays a pivotal role in effective leadership and that leaders practicing their own self-awareness is key to effective leadership.