9 RollingTouch in Canada

Team 14 Poster

Team Reflection

Rolling Touch is environmentally inclined which by adopting the seventh Sustainable Development Goal leads towards clean energy. The project, through its painting services, aims at not only beautifying but also creating a big, positive impact on the environment. The project wishes and hopes that it would make a contribution to the environment and hopefully create a positive impact while also providing beautifying services. An important and notable milestone was achieved in successfully finishing a community project making use of eco-friendly materials. The accomplishment itself marks a landmark in raising community awareness towards sustainable practices. The manager regretted that they might neither have opted for such other things very soon nor found the integration of the sustainable product into the offering from the onset easy. The project representation believes that Rolling Touch indeed serves as a model of how the organisations might have great social impacts through embracing industry practices and social responsibility. It likewise embodies the business person with its participation in local clean energy initiatives and endeavours towards supporting SDG 7-clean and affordable energy, thus providing an immediate means of addressing global sustainability concerns. This also shows the company’s receptiveness to all opinions, its ability to adapt on the basis of constructive suggestions, and ongoing commitment to enhancing its long-term impact. This reflects the company’s emphasis on recruiting team members who are passionate about their mission to create an impact, thus reinforcing Rolling Touch’s culture and values, leading to a considerable social impact. RollingTouch paintings were founded in 2023 based out of Stouffville, Ontario, their business has made a mark in their community with their innovative methods. This includes their commitment to corporate social responsibility by being committed to protecting the environment. This goes beyonds just the sustainable materials, this even includes the use of carpooling employees to the job site to display the importance of reducing the carbon emissions polluted, and portraying the image of having a low carbon footprint.

The interview educated us on several salient points for example;

The choice of using zero VOC paint, to display an understanding of health and environmental impacts.

Using electrical paint sprayers, rather than the gas powered equipment that is harmful for the environment and to reduce any chances of workplace hazards

The wide variety of work in multiple regions (Richmond Hill, Claremont, Markham and Scarborough). They were able to work in multiple areas and be able to be sustainable.

Also the commitment to community by providing education about the use of sustainable material and the benefits associated with it.

The personal reaction to hearing their story was shocking and was filled with hope. This reaction came from how surprised I was to see how much they help with their community and hope that maybe someday I can become an entrepreneur like them. I was also shocked to learn the importance it is to use sustainable paint and the health effects go along with high VOC paint. Rolling Touch started with an idea that you have to “touch” spaces by giving them colour and with care. We were driven by the thrilling idea of transforming any space and, at the same time, by another ambition: to contribute to clean and affordable energy, that became this project’s leading star through the #7THGoal: Affordable and Clean Energy. What has been your biggest success or proudest moment running this business? Tainting an entire community in vibrant colours, making it clean and giving it fresh eco-friendly materials, has been one of the proudest moments. Knowing that the place was now eco-friendly and watching the smile on the community’s faces was an unexpected and happy moment for us. What sets your business apart from your competitors? The creativity and the work quality. Not only we paint any given space, but every detail is done through eco-friendly practices. We are always pushing the boundaries of painting walls into elements of sustainable beauty, and not just a place where colors rest. How do you manage the risk of starting and running your own business? Planning all activities in advance and creating a team that can adapt to most of the situations you don’t have under control. By analysing the market, preparing your supply chain and training your team continuously. Developing a team that can adapt on the ground to different sizes of projects, is our daily way of conquering unexpected challenges and still remain eco-friendy. What’s the most important quality you look for in an employee or team member? A team member who understands the company’s vision and values what we want to accomplish in whatever space we touch. Furthermore, we need a team player who has a keen eye to observe, learn and to challenge any idea we throw on the table. What are your future or growth plans for the business? Expanding into neighbouring towns and building new houses with other local builders, who are also looking for clean energy. As a cornerstone, corporate social responsibility forms the basis for business strategy. From its SDG7-supporting project to local clean energy initiatives, it actively engages not only in beautification of environments but also in those aimed at energy conservation and improvement in climate health.

Criticism is perceived as a chance for improvement. Communicating such constructive feedback regularly in full agreement with customers keeps the company moving towards their improvement and growth in service delivery and sustainability efforts.

If they could go back on such journeys, they would impose a framework upon themselves which is eco-friendly right from the start. This would have gone a great deal, weighing on how far they have come along. They are very close to the eco-friendly practices, and starting with that would have pushed them a step further.

It feels great to know that every project is contributing toward a sustainable quality of living, and when one sees many others striving for cleaner ways of doing things, inspiration kicks in. Literally, one is motivated by the sheer effort of the team as testimony from customers will appeal to one.

Individual Reflections

Remas Theeb ALQahtani

It’s a pleasure working with them. It was a wonderful and unique experience. And Working across different cultures and time zones stretched my flexibility and communication skills. I was worried that it would be difficult to communicate but I was able, with Zoom communications and through WhatsApp and Email, to overcome these hurdles; the key has been constant communications. This helped us build trust and made sure that even though we are from different countries the communication went smoothly. Also It took patience and a lot of flexibility, but we eventually found a rhythm that worked. Our greatest success has been our ability to collaborate closely and unite our shared vision to support this innovative company. Also learn how to manage time to deliver work on time for everyone. When I completed the project, I felt very proud and accomplished because it helped me know different cultures and grow my English.

Yuhan Wang

My name is Yuhan Wang and I was mainly in charge of the poster part. It provided me with an opportunity to look into detail of the story part which was finished by my teammates and also I need to be familiar with the company interview to get the information the innovation actions it took. It was a great experience to relate the theory to reality. Moreover, I was able to meet, communicate and cooperate with students from different countries and universities. Although there were some difficulties during the process. For instance, we had to arrange a proper time for our group meeting every week to overcome the impact of difference in time zones. Communication online can also be challenging as misunderstanding can happen and it may take more time and more detailed explanations. However, overall we worked very well through the communication in the WhatsApp group and we also shared some documents by email which made our group work efficient and convenient.

Wenjing Xu

I recognized our varying degrees of avoiding uncertainty. High uncertainty avoidance team members, for instance, always expected when a part was completed; the appointed member then sent messages to the group as feedback to others, and they themselves also did like this. Although team members in a low-uncertainty avoidance culture may find it somewhat burdensome, this approach enhances efficiency and collaboration by synchronizing information and work progress, which in turn fosters trust among team members. Apart from that, the usage frequency of the particular chat application and varied time zones make it difficult for us to reply the messages in time. Despite this, we did well as we routinely checked our group chat and paid attention to this team assignment. My work was mainly the poster part, which needs some detailed information to begin with. As a person who grew up in a high uncertainty avoidance culture, this activity helped me realize that, in order to increase our productivity, next time we should try to set up the team culture of frequent feedback at the beginning and actively ask about the progress regularly, so we can make sure we consider remedies whatever portion causes issues.

Jordan Smith

I thought this was an extremely interesting and fun group project at the University of Guelph. I had a great time learning about my group members on how the lifestyle is in Spain and Saudi Arabia and how it differs from life in Canada. Had fun Learning about Sports and activities they are into, for example how Remas takes an interest in Soccer and Yuhan likes chess. I thought I made a significant contribution to the group by interviewing Nigel, creating the narrative for the group participating in every group meeting making sure we divided every assignment up evenly. I did find it difficult sometimes when planning the group meetings because Spain is five hours ahead and Saudi Arabia is six hours ahead. It was challenging sometimes but we made it work within our group. Overall I had a lot of fun meeting with international students and found it one of the most interesting group projects I have ever done.

Nigel Auyueng 

I liked this activity as I learned to communicate with others around the world we met once a week and conversed about how we would do the tasks at hand. One thing that was tough to deal with was the time difference between Canada and other countries. The cross-culture dynamics did not affect our team at all, we worked very well together. Our team did manage to find a time each week that worked for all of us. I participated deeply in this project as I was the one who found the company that our team interviewed. I also did the interview with Jordan, we talked to the co-owner of Rolling Touch. Jordan and I also wrote the Aim2Flourish story, because we were the ones that conducted the interview.