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Having to build multiple friendships with strangers of different cultures in a smooth way defines my strength of me being adaptable. One of the first few things that I liked was, being a part of a Learning Community, getting to know people outside my friend circle, and learning how I have to work in a different style. My Learning Community and I had a project in a course named Management where we had to form 4 teams according to a SWOT analysis. There was one main group manager. The LC was then divided into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Each team was appointed a timekeeper to keep track of the time. I was a part of the Strengths analysis team and was appointed as the team manager. Usually, I like to do things ahead of time and always maximize my productivity. Being a team manager, I like to give people work to do and try my best to make sure they do it on time. But for the first time, not all of my team members did their work given according to the deadlines I had set. Things would keep coming up and they wouldn’t be able to do. I would keep encouraging and supporting them to complete their work because I understand that things come up and this is a one-credit course so normally students don’t give much importance. They still wouldn’t complete the work.

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My conflict was trying to be empathetic but at the same time being strict with them. It was necessary because if they didn’t do the work then the whole Learning Community would lose out on this project. I told myself we all want a good grade and if they didn’t do the work the blame would fall on me so I should do it. But then I realized that we all are close to becoming adults and that we all have responsibilities and that they needed to start doing their own work. Later I sat down with them and talked to them in a calm but firm tone about how they should balance their time and if they can’t balance their time, they should reach out to the Learning Community leader. They finally took that opportunity and figured their way to complete it. This made me learn about how, doing a project from different perspectives, critically analyzing, and having constructive discussions will lead to better performance and better solutions. This was the first conflict I had to deal with being a freshman in college but it sure did help me grow and be more patient. It helped me to be strict with people whom I never knew. I also learned that the next time I am a group leader I should give two deadlines, one soft deadline as students genuinely have a lot on their plate.