I am often told that I am the most indecisive person ever. If you ask me what I want for dinner, you’ll probably be waiting until breakfast for a decision. Luckily, this only holds true in my personal life. In my day to day life, I try to keep the idea of Karma in mind. This is the idea that every action has a consequence. Often this may come across as indecisiveness. I think that sometimes in today’s society, where we’re constantly receiving information, we have a tendency to try and reach a solution or come to a conclusion without considering the consequences or implications of the decision. I try to keep this in mind when making most decisions, especially when I am feeling overwhelmed or rushed when having to come to a solution. When this happens I begin by pausing and taking a few breathes then working through the task and evaluating possible solutions and their implications.
A major decision I have made in my life was deciding to end my relationship and moving back to Kamloops. There was nothing inherently wrong in my relationship. Everything was fine and my partner and I created a good life for ourselves. That was it though. Everything was simply good and fine. I knew I wanted more for myself and my partner was content with how everything was. It was a decision I really struggled with and it took a long time for me to come to a conclusion. I felt guilty for not knowing what I wanted, hurting someone that I loved and deeming the life we created as “not enough”. In the end I decided to deal with the short term guilt and leave something that ultimately didn’t feel right for me instead of settling for a life I wasn’t fully happy with.
I have had to learn how to problem solve and make decisions on the fly throughout my experience in program coordination and event management. Many organizations make decisions based on their guiding principles or core values. For example, in Rotary, if someone is having difficulty making a decision they should consider the 4-way test: Is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendships and will it be beneficial to all concerned? I think the 4-way test is a good way to reflect on our choices. I don’t actively use this when making decisions but I keep the first two statements in the back of my mind: Is it the truth and is it fair to all? At lululemon, the company reflects on its core values to drive all decisions. These include quality, product, integrity, balance, entrepreneurship, fun and greatness. Having core values keep individuals accountable when faced with tough decisions. This is something that I kept in mind when making decisions on behalf of an organization.
My role at lululemon empowered me to make decisions and take a proactive approach to solving problems. This aligns with the company’s core value of entrepreneurship. If I noticed that there was product on the floor that wasn’t moving, I remerchandised it to showcase different features of the garment. Guests came in to the store for a variety of expectations. Whether they knew exactly what they wanted or it was their first time, I was empowered to help them find something that would make them feel amazing. Sometimes, a guest would come into the store unhappy with a purchase they made. At this point, it was up to me to solve our guest’s problem. I assessed why the guest was unhappy. If it was because of a quality issue or something the company could have done better, I would take appropriate steps to ensure the guest left with something that was best suited for what they are looking to achieve in the garment they were unsatisfied with. Sometimes, a guest would return an item due to wear and tear. These were tough sometimes because although we wanted our guests to be satisfied, it’s not feasible to replace every pair of pants that were ripped on a fence that someone was trying to climb. In this case I would gently remind our guests that our pants at the end of the day were pants and that unfortunately we wouldn’t replace them.
When making decisions in planning events I have learned to consult previous data to make an educated decision. This can include looking at previous budgets, registration, participant feedback and sponsorship. I often ask myself how this event aligns with our departments priorities. In my current role as Alumni Relations Coordinator, this is a part of process when planning events each year. One of our priorities in increasing alumni engagement. We use a scale to evaluate engagement. This begins with receiving our e-newsletter once a month and expands to engaging with us at an in-person event and becoming a part of our regional alumni committees. It is critical to evaluate each event to get feedback to continue to increase engagement. Using the data from each event assists in making decisions for the next one. The data we collect in surveys (2.2) includes information about each event and information about department initiatives.
My role as Alumni Relations Coordinator includes planning events to engage our alumni in person across western Canada. One of the events I planned was in Edmonton. We originally planned to rent a large bar area at the upstairs of a local restaurant and serve food buffet style. We had planned to have a panel discussion around the topic of career development. Our team has just recently started to visit the Edmonton area and we had lower registration that anticipated. When registration still wasn’t as high as I had hoped a week prior to the event, I made the decision to change the booking to an intimate meeting space and change the format of the evening to be a less formal evening. Our guest speakers shared their experiences with career development and facilitated a question period for our Alumni. The conversation that our guest speakers asked, ignited passion in our alumni and they ended up staying after the anticipated end time of the event. This proved to be a valuable networking time for our alumni. Although registration was lower than we would have liked, it was still important to host the event as we would like to continue to engage our alumni across the country. The next day we hosted another event in Calgary. The event in Calgary was a wine tasting at a local wine shop. This event was better attended and attracted the same demographic that attended our Edmonton event. This experience will help planning this year’s “AlumNights” in terms of selecting events that cater to the demographic of alumni that we would like to engage.
When something unexpected happens at an event, I’ve learned to remain calm and take a 360-degree approach to view the situation. This involves keeping the event running a smoothly as possible while minimizing the impact the solution will have in the event later. For example, at convocation students were to be seated in alphabetical order so that when they crossed the stage they were in the correct order for the orator. If too many students were counted for a row and the student sat in the next row, it could throw off the order when they cross the stage. I had to learn to make quick decisions and problem-solve on the go. I was responsible for the “Front of House” at convocation. I had to learn how to line up, usher, seat the students and get them across the stage in their correct order. Another part of my role was ensuring guests were welcomed and seated appropriately. Additionally to learning these roles, I was also responsible for training and facilitating the ushers, counters and graduate seaters to do the same. I had create a process and decide how many volunteers we needed for each role to keep the ceremonies running as efficient as possible. Each ceremony had different requirements. The convocation ceremony for the School of Business and Economics was our largest ceremony on record. We didn’t anticipate the number of students that showed up. This meant adding additional seating for graduates at the last minute. I devised a plan to add additional seats on each row to minimize the number of rows we required. This was the first ceremony at convocation. After evaluating this ceremony, I created printed row numbers (11.2) to assist in counting the number of students in each row. I created the convocation assistant protocol (11.3) for organizing and leading the assistants at convocation for the next event coordinator that will on this portfolio.