Weaknesses

If you guys can recall, I actually applied and was selected to be a facilitator for the Freshmen Teambuilding Camp. So far I had attended two training sessions and there will be a mock camp coming up next week.

During the last workshop, I received feedback from my other group members and the senior facilitators. This is the summary of what they have written (my response in yellow):

Good points:-

1. Calm and composed

Well I don't think I'm really as calm and composed as they thought to be. I was the facilitator conducting the debrief when the other members simulated a quarrel and I wasn't sure how to deal with it. Perhaps I managed to give the impression that I could handle the situation.

2. Sensible and mature

Eh.. I'm already so old liao of course must be sensible lah....

3. Observant

Not as observant as I hope to be and I was slow in picking up certain stuff at times. I think it is because I happened to highlight something that most people overlooked.

4. Responses are well thought-out.

Frankly speaking I think that they ran out of any more positive things to write. I'm pretty sure that everybody's responses are well thought-out. In fact sometimes I had nothing to say and just repeated some of the points that were brought up earlier.

Bad points:

1) Too quiet and need to open up more

Everybody wrote that so it definitely has to be true. Eh I don't know how to explain this but it always takes me some time to warm to people whom I just know. For those who know me well, I could be quite different. It is quite a serious issue and I really have to think about it.

2) Speaking up

This is sort of related to the earlier point. I feel that this part is referring more to the planning and execution of the activities. I'm almost always the one with the least to say during planning. Sometimes I took a long time to process my thoughts or was too lazy to think. This is another real problem for me.

Ambiguous ones:

1) Confident

Some put that I'm confident; most probably due to the fact that I was really very confident of the things that I was sure of. Others put that I could be more confident and I agree; I definitely could be more assertive in situations such as the last activity when I volunteered to be the leader.

2) Articulate

I only got a B for my comms oral presentation so I knew where I stand. I didn't really understand why some people say otherwise. Perhaps my English is simple enough to comprehend.

From these feedback I got to know my strengths and weaknesses. I think most of them are very true and I can definitely use them to improve myself.

My weaknesses will probably hinder me from being a good facilitator. Getting the job done is not an issue; getting the job done well is probably a big question mark.

Hmmm... perhaps I'm not cut out for the job but I can't pull out now.

I have no choice but to learn fast during the mock camp next week.