45 SDG 13 Climate Action – Global Thermostat

Group Reflection

The AIM2Flourish story assignment was very different compared to what we as students are normally tasked with. Working with people from other schools in different countries, we really got a perspective of how important sustainability and corporate social responsibility are in our world. Even though we are located across the globe from each other, we all learn the same important lessons in our courses when it comes to becoming a responsible business leader. From the interview, we learned how real companies use sustainability in their operations to do good for the world and achieve growth in their respective field. As business students, this cross-cultural experience was very valuable as it showed us how important international collaboration is in achieving sustainable development.

Communication, which we have all learned to be very important in our business courses, has been the most valuable tool in achieving our main goals as a cross-cultural team. It all started with a virtual meeting in which we all introduced ourselves in order to become confident and comfortable when communicating with each other. The use of a group chat has been very helpful for expressing our opinions and sharing assignment updates with each other. Ultimately, this experience has allowed us to learn in a first-hand setting how important communication is in a cross-cultural context.

As we have also learned in our courses, the ubiquity of technology and communication tools in today’s society play a pivotal role in facilitating collaboration across international borders. In applying this knowledge, we have been able to ensure the successful completion of the Aim2flourish submissions involving participants from Canada, Spain, and Indonesia. These technologies have bridged geographical gaps, allowing team members to seamlessly share ideas, insights, and progress updates in real-time. Virtual meetings, video conferencing, and collaborative platforms have broken down the barriers of distance, enabling efficient communication and fostering a sense of unity among team members dispersed across different continents. Additionally, cloud-based project management tools and shared document repositories have streamlined workflow, providing a centralized platform for data storage and retrieval.
Our course learnings about the environment, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility have been very valuable in supplementing our teamwork for this assignment. In interviewing a company that takes great priority in the environment through their direct air capture solutions, it was useful to know how corporations can contribute to a better world.

One of the topics our members found useful was the five driving forces of CSR. These include affluence, sustainability, globalization, communication, and brands (Chandler, 2017, p.85). With climate change and the need to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide being a major inspiration for our selected company, our team was able to conclude that sustainability is an essential driver of their CSR. By understanding that sustainability is at the core of our company’s operations and CSR, our team was better able to conduct our interview and understand the company’s innovation.

Another course learning that was helpful to our team was the relationship between profits and CSR. We learned that profits and CSR and not mutually exclusive goals and that both can be achieved simultaneously (Chandler, 2017, p.244). This concept was useful in examining our company’s business, environmental, and societal impacts. Through this, our team was able to understand how the benefits our company’s operations have on the environment and society can also contribute to their success and growth as a business in the long term.

The course chapter on sustainability has also been an insightful resource for our team. Although for-profit firms are significant drivers of climate change (Chandler, 2017, p.450), our company’s innovation demonstrates that this does not have to be the case. By reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale, they are making large strides towards a net-zero future. Our course learning about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals allowed us to easily identify which of the goals our company and its innovation were working towards achieving.

Over the course of the project, our team worked together to create high-quality final deliveries. During our weekly meetings, everyone was assigned different responsibilities according to their strengths. For example, those who had strong writing skills primarily focused on writing the story, while those with high creative abilities worked on the poster. This ensured that everyone was contributing to the workload in a way that was efficient and could achieve the highest value for our efforts. In our meetings, we made sure to share ideas with each other that we thought were important to include in our outputs. Using shared Google documents, we had a platform to collaborate on our written assignments in real time. After completing our tasks individually, we would then review our team members’ work and add or change anything we thought was necessary. This allowed us to achieve cohesive results in our work.
Another important element of how we worked as a team was setting deadlines for each other. For example, if a deliverable was due on a Sunday night, we would make sure that everyone had their parts done by Saturday so we would have a full day to review and make any final changes. This was helpful in making sure that everyone prioritized their time wisely so the project could be handed in on time. We also had one group member responsible for submitting our weekly and final deliveries to the Google Classroom. We agreed that this was the best way to avoid any miscommunication or missed deadlines.

There were several successes and challenges we faced as a team. One of our main successes was our effective use of strategies to divide the work. The team embarked on task organization by harnessing the diverse strengths and competencies of its members, aligning roles based on individual skills and interests. Through comprehensive discussions and assessments, tasks were meticulously allocated to leverage each member’s expertise. This strategic approach ensured a balanced workload distribution and optimized productivity, enabling the team to capitalize on specialized abilities in research, communication, and technical proficiency for various facets of the project. For example, Heather was in charge of designing and developing the poster. Her experience in design gained through her participation in several university clubs and associations was of excellent use in this delivery.

Effective communication served as a cornerstone for task execution, fostering transparency and collaboration among team members. Regular updates and progress reports facilitated a cohesive workflow, allowing prompt identification and resolution of any challenges encountered during task execution. In fact, the thing that helped the most apart from being able to communicate continuously through a whatsapp group, was establishing a fixed time for weekly meetings. In our case, we scheduled meetings on Wednesdays at 9:00 EST. However, challenges arose due to sporadic responsibilities arising for different members, leading to occasional delays or even the non-presence of members in some of our team meetings. Additionally, inadequate planning at times caused rushed completion and compromised the quality of work.

Moving forward, refining the task organization process requires a nuanced understanding of individual strengths, coupled with clearer delineation of responsibilities. Strengthening planning methodologies and ensuring equitable task distribution mitigated challenges related to uneven workloads and improved overall team efficiency. Finally, prioritizing consistent communication and periodic evaluations furtherly streamlined workflows, which fostered a more cohesive and productive team environment. Overall, we all made a great effort working throughout the project which allowed us to complete it quickly and successfully, giving us more time to reflect upon how our chosen company achieves social and environmental good.

Individual Reflections

Ferran: The AIM2Flourish project was an eye-opening experience. Working in a diverse, cross-cultural team from Canada, Spain, and Indonesia was both enriching and challenging. Communication and managing multiple time zones was perhaps the most challenging aspect. Coordinating meetings at times suitable for everyone meant some late nights or early mornings. However, the commitment and dedication of each team member made it worthwhile. We adapted by scheduling regular meetings (on wednesdays at 9:00am EST) accommodating everyone. Understanding and respecting cultural differences was key to our success. Despite the time zone challenges, our commitment and teamwork allowed us to effectively develop an interesting and well-documented story. I feel like almost everyone in the group made a great effort, which is quite unusual in these types of projects. For me, this is very gratifying.
In my personal case, I believe I have usually been a great teammate to cooperate with. I actively participated in the whatsapp group and was fully engaged during meetings and the overall development of the project.
Overall, I felt incredibly fulfilled by the project. It was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with a diverse team and contribute to making Global Thermostat more visible. Seeing the project come
together was truly rewarding.

Heather: My COIL and AIM2Flourish experience has been much better than I expected it to be. Prior to starting this group assignment, I was worried about the difficulties of working with the schedules of three very different time zones. I also thought that finding a company to interview would be a major challenge. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Not only did we find an inspiring and impactful company to interview, but we also managed to have productive meetings each week.
I am typically a natural leader in group settings which was a strength that I was able to apply during this group project and our communications. I also found that it was important to be flexible with teammates and knowing when to step back and let others take on more responsibilities. Although it was stressful at times trying to complete a cohesive final deliverable before the deadline, our team managed to make it work with the use of strong leadership skills and communication.
The activity has been both an educational and rewarding experience. I found it enjoyable working with students from other countries and learning more about a highly relevant sustainable and innovative business.

Owen: Almost nearing the end of the AIM2Flourish project, I am very happy with how everything turned out. Going into the project I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how this project would work and I believe that everyone else can most likely relate to that. Being a business student, I have learnt through experience that you will be working with multiple different cultures around the world and have to work through the troubles that you run into. For example having to meet at specific times because of the time differences for all the members of the team as well as everyone’s different point of views on the tasks at hand. This project was a great experience for me and I believe for many people part of the project as well, as we got to experience this cross-cultural dynamics and team work.
Throughout this project, our team did a great job in working together, communicating with each other and helping each other out. I personally enjoy working as a team because you learn a lot by observing how others like to work and to find what works best for the team. I believe that I am a person that can make teamwork enjoyable because of the flexibility that I have with work. I can take control of a situation and get done what needs to be done as well as help out others that need help. In this project I used my strength to my advantage in order to maximize the value of our group and provide my best work. I am very happy with the quality of work that our team completed throughout this project.
To wrap up this project, I am very happy that I got to have this experience and work with people from across the world and in different time zones. I learned a lot throughout this semester about innovation and sustainability because of this project and plan to use this knowledge and experience that I have learnt in the future.

Ghaitsa: The main lesson I got from the AIM2Flourish project is that teamwork will develop well if we can communicate openly and honestly and remain respectful of each other. Thank you to my team, which has worked with extra effort, sharing their time for us to complete the project optimally.
I learned that building a sustainable and innovative company is not easy to achieve; there are obstacles that must be overcome, such as technological aspects, high capital to run a business, and the difficulty of introducing products with new innovations and opening people’s views on the products being sold.
The time difference made it quite difficult for the meeting to take place. I am happy and grateful that we found a suitable time (09.00 EST). Apart from that, the thing that was a challenge for me was the difference in work styles. I felt that the distribution of tasks was uneven; some people got a lot and some people got a little. In this activity, I received many benefits and lessons for the future, one of which is that I can manage my responsibilities better and become a person who values time.

Ignacio: By working through the Aim2flourish I have realized how important technologies are nowadays since with the use of them we can achieve any goal no matter where your team is. With a lot of effort and many online meetings we have achieved going through every task that was needed for the project. All of us listen to each other, respecting each other and being as helpful as possible to each other. Also, the company we have chosen to work with has created a huge interest in its main purpose.
I think we have all been great teammates and very collaborative. I would love to work with this team again. I’m very proud of how easy it was to do the job since we divided it correctly and that was very helpful. Global thermostat as I mentioned before has opened many interests in my mind that I will keep on investigating on my own and for my personal growth as a business student who is into the sustainable world.
Overall, I am fascinated by the enrollment of the AIM2flourish and very happy with my Canadian and Indonesian friends.