It is crazy to think that the end of the spring 2021 semester is approaching. It feels like just yesterday when I was first joining zooms and getting to meet all our international clients. This opportunity to participate in an international consulting project during COVID-19 is an experience I could not be more grateful for. I believe the lessons and skills I was able to gain will be something I can continuously utilize and grow from.
From this experience, I believe there are three key lessons I learned. The first lesson I learned is the importance of communication. Clear and concise communication is crucial to connecting with individuals that live in different locations and possibly different time zones. It is essential because there are a limited number of times you may have access to your client, thus having strong communication skills will help ensure you are able to utilize the time efficiently. The second lesson I learned is the importance of developing a cultural understanding. Not being able to put yourself in another’s shoes and understand their country’s situation or standards will make it difficult to provide them with useful recommendations. I also think the cultural barrier is difficult to fully break down when only communicating online, which means as a consultant it is important to research more about the country to fully understand the client’s situation. The third lesson I learned is the importance of teamwork. Being online means there is likely to be individuals that are difficult to reach, as they may not be good at responding to messages or they can avoid being an active individual in group chats. I think teamwork is also an important lesson, because every member has ideas that are strong, but it may be hard to share with the group when there are minimal ways of connecting in person.
A transferrable skill I was able to develop during this consulting project is the use of organization and project timelines. Timelines are such valuable pieces of information because it means both the client and the consulting team are able to stay up to date week by week. Without a timeline, the client may be left in the dark with where progress is coming on the project, especially with limited access to them. Further, without the timeline, it can be easy for the consulting team to push back deadlines or get off track. Having a timeline also allows for a strong piece of organization, as it breaks up who will be doing the work and how the work will get done from the beginning of the project. Without organization, there may be pieces of the project that people forget to complete or pieces of the project that too many people overlap on. I think this skill is important to my professional life because I can implement it with any form of teamwork, or even on my own projects. With any type of teamwork, in the classroom or at a company, developing a timeline with specific roles allows everyone to feel as if they have an equal role in completing projects and also holds them accountable. Accountability is important both as an individual and on a team, which is why it is so valuable in staying organized from the beginning.
When working on deliverables, the pre-existing relationships and the relationships developed during that time period are important to formulating recommendations within the project. When my group and I began to create our deliverables, we were unclear on which client they should be catered to as there were some gaps with both clients. Originally, we had been assigned two clients but had only been able to meet with one of them before finalizing our deliverables. This made it difficult to formulate which client to focus on, as we had been assigned two clients but had not heard much about one of them. This halted our groups work for some time, as we had to do more research and reach out to more contacts to understand more about our clients. Once we had figured out which client was the larger focus, it allowed us to strengthen our deliverables and cater them to the client that would be most present at our meetings. However, as we continued with the project, our work with the clients was definitely not as strong as I would have preferred. Our ability to connect online was difficult, which meant much of our communicating was done mostly through email. Furthermore, we were unable to even connect with our second client this semester. This may make it more difficult for future consulting groups to maintain contact with them. It is important to note that this semester was a hard one in maintaining clear and strong connections, as our clients’ non-profits have been severely impacted by COVID-19. This meant the deliverables and recommendations we were creating for them may not have been a large priority as it usually is, because they are working to keep their funds and missions ongoing during such an unstable time. Overall, I felt the deliverables my team and I provided at the end of this semester were strong but may not be implemented until the organizations are finally stable enough to bring these new ideas to life.
In a professional interview, I would explain this project as my first experience consulting in global business during a pandemic. I think highlighting my passion for learning about other cultures is important, and how the pandemic did not prevent me from accomplishing my goal of learning about more cultures. I also would explain this project as my first-time conducting check-in meetings and creating deliverables that I may not be able to see get implemented. I think this is an important part of the project to point out because much of the work or projects I have done thus far I have been able to see the results. However, with this project, much of the recommendations my team and I created we will not be able to directly see, and we are unsure how the clients may put our ideas into action. If I were to pitch this during an interview, I would highlight the importance of research and communication done during this project. Primarily, I would focus on the dedication it took to research and understand the exact pandemic situation in Trinidad and Tobago, while also researching about the culture of the country itself. Gathering a strong understanding about the pandemic and culture was crucial to formulating feasible ideas for our global clients. Additionally, I would highlight the value of communication from this experience. Learning how different clients have different access to internet connection and learning the best way to communicate was an important lesson. Plus, the valuable lesson of learning what to focus on and how to formulate ideas within groups and meetings is something I would highlight during an interview.
The three most important things I would recommend future groups know is the importance of choosing the project they are interested in, establishing strong teamwork, and staying on top of their project work. First, I think picking a country and project one is interested in is important to how much work one will dedicate. If an individual is not passionate about what they are learning about, they may slack off from the group or have less motivation to create strong ideas that benefit their clients. Making sure all team members are participating in this international consulting project because they are interested in global business and have a passion for helping their clients’ missions is essential to the success of the whole group. Secondly, I believe establishing strong teamwork is so important to the success of the project, especially if the work is still online. Making sure everyone in the team feels welcomed and included in conversation makes the project seem less daunting. It also allows for more ideas to be shared and discussed, which helps everyone feel as if they are contributing in some form. Lastly, staying organized is the most valuable piece of information I could recommend to future groups. There are so many moving pieces of a consulting project—scope of work, deliverables, client meetings, etc.—that assigning roles and having team check-ins is what will help the project succeed. I think it can be easy to overlook the group portion of conducting global business, as some individuals may be interested in the cultural aspect rather than the teamwork required to complete the project.
Ultimately, the experiences I gained from this international consulting project have been so valuable to how I will progress forward in my career at Pitt and beyond. Having the opportunity to study abroad in a virtual setting has only just allowed me to crack the surface at the global business experiences I hope to see in my future. This pandemic has taught me so many valuable life lessons, and I believe this consulting project tested the skills I had developed thus far, as well as taught me so many more lessons. I believe this is only the beginning of the global experiences I will gain as I continue my career at Pitt.