MD4042 Semester 1: Individual Essay on Residential Experience

This essay provides a detailed reflection on a residential experience, focusing on the application of leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. The student recounts the activities undertaken during a three-day excursion, including games, seminars, and visits to local attractions. The reflection utilizes a reflective model (likely Gibbs) to analyze the experience, exploring what happened, personal feelings, actions taken, and the actions of others. The student evaluates the experience, discussing both positive and negative aspects, and identifies key learnings regarding leadership, teamwork, communication, and personal attributes. The essay concludes with action plans for future development, focusing on enhancing leadership skills and effectively balancing professional and personal roles. The assignment addresses the student's self-awareness, and it highlights areas for future growth.

REFLECTIONS ON RESIDENTIAL EXPERIENCE
What happened? Give an account of what happened.
There had been an excursion plan from our educational institution, to Wales. For three days we had
been involved in a number of activities. There had been games arranged for us, along with a seminar,
and a visit to the places surrounding the area. The experience was both refreshing and energizing for
me.
Reflections on Experience
Looking back, why did the event or situation turn out that way?
The excursion had turned out to be one of my best experiences ever, and I think it is completely
because of the arrangements and the events and the activities that I have been involved in for three
days. It was my first outing with my acquaintances and with the entire batch. I had been out with my
friends from the MBA school, but not with the entire batch. Therefore, as, the more the merrier, I think
this is one of the prime reason for the excursion to have been this much enjoyable. Also, there was a
series of activities that energized both our intellectual self and our casual self.
What did you do?
While I had been involved as much as possible with my team, I was also involved with my teachers as
well. Since we had consisted quite a great number, it was being difficult for our tutors to manage the
entire team. Therefore, I thought that it is my responsibility to help out the tutors to manage the team.

Therefore, I was being the medium of communication between the tutors and the students and at the
same time I had helped out the teachers with the planning of the seminar. Also, while we had been
visiting Snow Dania, again I took the role of the mediator or the mode of communication and helped
the tutors to manage the team.
What did others do?
First, the team had been to the mountains walking with our friends and on the second day, where we
played a lot of games. The second day we had a seminar to attend, and on the third day the entire team
had been to Snow Dania where us, the entire team went for canoeing. It was so much fun, and there
was one certain point when only the members of our team was present on the entire river, and we had
a lot of fun.
How did you feel?
The entire visit was so much fun. I had not expected that this trip will be so memorable. I had enjoyed
a lot, and at the same time, had learnt a lot, which had made this trip more memorable for me. I felt
energized all along the trip, and also felt a sense of responsibility while helping out my tutors with the
team.
How do you feel now?
Now, I feel enriched, and refreshed. I have explored myself as well, and I could have used the
learnings that I had got during my MBA course. Therefore, I feel that I have learnt effectively and I
can balance between my professional and my personal lives in the future.

Learning from the Experience
What have you learnt from this experience regarding your use of leadership/ team working/ effective
social interaction/communication skills and personal attributes?
I have learnt that communication is the key to understanding.
Management of the team is a very difficult job.
There are always things to learn from even in a recreational trip.
What would you do differently in the future?
In the future, I am planning to learn more about the leadership skills and activities, and how to
balance between my professional and personal job role more effectively. This time I had been to the
place as a student but in the future I may take the role of the tutor, or I may plan for a trip with my
friends, and in those cases I must remember to enjoy myself as well as managing the team, and
effectively manage between these two roles.
Action Plans
What actions (if any) do you need to take as a result of this experience to continue the learning?
I would like to test of my effective leadership abilities.

Also, I would like to chart out the factors or the roles that are important to remember while taking up
the role of the leader.
I will try to find out my weak and my strong areas ad thereupon will acknowledge each of these areas
in the specified way.