10 SDG 5 Gender Equality – Resource Becoming

Group Reflection

Group 24 has learned many things from this experience that we will be able to take on with us in future years. We have learned many new concepts, new skills such as how to work as a team, and how to delegate tasks, and lastly what worked for our group and what did not.

From this cross-cultural experience, we have learned many concepts that are related to what we have learned in our class. In class we have learned about all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. From learning this in class, we have now been able to apply it to our company, and what SDGs our company achieved. Our company Resource Becoming, has an innovation that elevates women in the mining sector. The different SDGs we have been able to apply to our company have been Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Reduced Gender Inequalities. Resource Becoming provides quality education about gender equality specifically in the mining sector, which goes into my next point of how they apply gender equality. They elevate women in the mining sector, so they support gender equality and reduce gender inequalities. Lastly they provide decent work and economic growth, because their goal is to get more women in the mining sector. They are providing more jobs for people (and women), which is raising the GDP.

The learnings in our courses helped us when knowing just about how companies are ran. This helped us to understand how companies can evolve and show their innovations. Also learning about the Sustainable Development goals helps us really understand what a company is trying to do with their business. Our business Resource Becoming really leaned into SDG’s 4, 5, and 8. Knowing these goals and what they mean and stand for helped us understand the business and what it was doing for the environment and community.

In our group, the process of task delegation was a collaborative effort that contributed to our overall efficiency of our Aim to Flourish experience. Right from the start, we engaged in communication in our whats App group chat, as well as during our meetings to identify each team member’s strengths, and preferences. This allowed us to allocate tasks in a way that maximized individual contributions and fostered a sense of shared responsibility. We ensured that everyone had a clear understanding of their role and the expectations associated with it. During our weekly meetings is when we would address most of our task delegations as well as any challenges or adjustments needed along the way. This collaborative approach allowed our group to perform to our very best ability.

We think a lot of things worked really well within our group and overall things went really smoothly. The thing we think took the most getting used to would have been managing the time zones each of us were living in. For some of us we were almost 7 hours ahead than the rest which made it a challenge communicating sometimes as there was almost always a long wait time between responses. To deal with this we made sure to plan what we were going to do early in the week which allowed us to adapt and make any changes needed without any problems. On the other hand we think a lot of things worked really well within our group. To start, we think we were able to distribute the workload very well. It did not feel like only one person was doing more or less than their fair share of the workload and this allowed us to quickly and efficiently finish our tasks. Another thing which worked well within our group was our participation and involvement. Everyone came to our weekly meetings and were always contributing to the conversation and to the plan. Finally, another aspect in which we think our group was very successful was managing our time. We were never rushed by the deadline and often finished the week’s tasks a couple days before they were due. This was great as it reduced all of our stress and ensured we were submitting our best possible work.

Individual Reflections

Emily: After participating in Aim to Flourish for the past few months, I have learned many different new skill sets. Some new skill sets I have learned are time management, teamwork, and leadership skills. Working in a team with students from all over the world definitely comes with its challenges. A challenge that I had to manage was time management. Our group members were from Kenya, Chicago, and Guelph so we had different time zones to work with. We have had to learn how to find an ideal meeting time for everyone, as well as being able to get all of our work done for Aim to Flourish. Although I have worked with various teams, this project has helped enhance my teamwork skills. Due to having so many deadlines and meetings we had to coordinate and figure out who was to submit what. With that being said it was also a team project where usually we would all have to contribute a piece to the project before it was finally submitted. Lastly, the new skill set that I have also enhanced in is leadership. Due to everyone being new to each other, it could be difficult to communicate and delegate tasks to. I feel as if I had taken on parts of that leadership role in keeping the meetings moving and delegating some tasks. Overall I think that the Aim to Flourish project is a great way to meet new people and gain new skills.

Calum: I absolutely loved this Aim2Flourish assignment, I think it gave a really good view into how businesses run their teams and I think it helped me gain a lot of experience and develop some new skills. To start, I think this assignment really helped me to develop my planning and management skills. While planning our meetings and deadlines we had to work around three separate team zones as well as each of our unique schedules. This was a challenge near the beginning of this assignment as it was difficult to find a time that would work for everyone. However we were eventually able to find a time that worked for everyone and luckily we were able to use this for the rest of the project. This assignment has helped me to develop my communication skills. Many of our tasks often heavily relied on our communication with each other as well as our communication with people outside our group. Because our group chose to use my company I had to plan and organise the interview which took several weeks and had many setbacks. This process involved constant communication however in the end I was able to find a great company who were happy to help us. I think our group worked really well together even with the cross cultural dynamics and I don’t think they had a huge impact on our final product. As I said before it was a challenge to find a time that would actually work for all of us however once we did it was fairly simple and worked well for everyone.

Mike: As a student pursuing a Bachelor’s in Economics and Statistics, my journey with AIM2Flourish opened new horizons of understanding and ignited a profound shift in my perception of business and its potential for positive global impact.
Collaborating with students from Guelph and Chicago was an eye-opening experience. Together, we embarked on a mission driven by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, exploring how businesses could be a force for good. The diversity within our group amplified our perspectives, emphasizing the multitude of approaches towards sustainable business practices.
The AIM2Flourish assignment structure, particularly the Appreciative Inquiry approach and the in-person interviews with business leaders, proved transformative. It wasn’t just about crafting stories; it was about discovering the intricate balance between profitability and sustainability within various enterprises. The real-world insights gained during these interactions expanded my comprehension of responsible business practices.
Delving into the Global Goals revealed their depth and diversity. Each goal presented a unique avenue for companies to contribute positively to society. Our collaboration allowed us to tackle specific goals, emphasizing the connection between business innovation and societal advancement.
Personally, this experience reshaped my perception of business objectives. Previously focused on striving for success within a competitive landscape, I now see the profound importance of businesses striving to be the best for the world. AIM2Flourish instilled in me a belief in the potential for business leaders to drive meaningful change, inspiring me to aspire to be a positive force within the business space.

Derek: I think that there are many things that can be learned from this Aim2Flourish assignment. Some of the things that I personally learned are how to be better with time management as well as working with people from different cultures. Having to work with many different time zones and schedules really helps develop time management as well as communication skills. Almost all of what we did relied heavily on our ability to communicate. With meetings every week we needed to communicate about what everyones job was and what they needed to get done for our team to be successful. Knowing about other cultures is something that I believe is super important when doing work with people, not from your own culture. With the company that we chose being a Canadian company, it was important to know as much as possible about their culture that I could to help understand the company and their values and goals. Overall I believe that this assignment helped with many things that we will see in our business careers. Things like working with people we never thought we would work with and learning how to communicate with people from all around the world. It was a great experience that taught many lessons.

Rocco: I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this Aim2Flourish Project as it was fun, engaging, and beneficial. This experience not only broadened my understanding of sustainable organisational operations but also helped me strengthen my personal and professional skills. This project weighed heavily on our time management and communication skills because my group is from many different areas of the world including Illinois, Canada, Kenya and Guelph. Being from many different parts of the world brought different challenges that I haven’t encountered yet, our group is from three different time zones, so communication was key to making sure we all were able to participate and work together towards finding meeting times that worked with everyone’s schedule. Other challenges we had to overcome were figuring out a way to section off the work evenly but still have all input and opinions incorporated in the final product. We decided that we would all talk about the assignment briefly before breaking it up into sections would be most efficient and effective. Overall Working on this project was a real eye opener to sustainable business practices and how to be effective while working with a team.