Critical reflection has been a part of my experience with Felice's since the beginning of my four year journey. As part of Loyola's Jesuit values, critical reflection is often encouraged at the end of each day. I try and make it a goal to allow myself ten minutes sitting by the lake outside of Madonna della Strada to crticially reflect on the day or even the week, month, and year. It is a very worthwhile experience and alleviates stress from the day. I usually reflected upon Felice's quite often. Seeking guidance from God and all the people who support me in my life has allowed me to effectively participate in this critical reflection process. It is extremely easy to get caught up in the everyday chaos of life. But, critical reflection has given me the opportunity to escape that chaos and think about a specific situation and weigh out the pros and cons! The critical reflections I have participated in within EXPL 390 has allowed me to learn to appreciate and cherish the opportunities I have been given here at Loyola. I have learned that it is ok to have nothing to critically reflect on at the end of the day. I have also learned that these critical reflections of work and classes allow a more in depth critical reflection of life itself. That is the beauty of it all; learning how to apply the critical reflections of your daily routine to your life in general. It offers clarity at work, at school, and so much more.
I think it is important that I take this skill and transfer it to any future schooling or job positions that I may hold. Challenges and dilemmas will arise in the future workforce that I choose to take part in, therefore, a good way to sit down and solve problems is through a critical reflection. It is important to use this critical reflection as a means to notice what has worked and what has not worked in the past and apply that to the future. To take the critical reflections one step further, I think it would be entirely beneficial to involve coworkers, family, friends, even strangers with this process. It can be entirely helpful for any individual!
One thing that I wish I had done early in my college career is to critically reflect more seriously by writing down my thoughts and properly journaling. I think it would have been interesting to sit down and have tangible evidence of past reflections and compare them to the reflections I have now. I will most definitely apply this skill into future professional experiences I may encounter. I will look back to EXPL 390 as the gateway into being able the world of critical reflections.
In The Successful Internship: Chapter 3, a statement that he made has a good connection to this topic of critical reflection. It states, "in addition to essential personal resources, attitudes, and skills, there is also knowledge that is essential to have as you begin this journey in learning" (Sweitzer and King, 70). The essential knowledge and essential personal resources that he describes here are also necessary for the process of critical reflection.
Critical Reflection #1:
Since I have been with Felice's Kitchen for over 4 years now, and acting as President for about a year and a half, I am going to give insights about my experiences over a longer time frame. Over the last few weeks, however, my focus has been on the hiring, interviewing, and transitioning process that comes with graduating and leaving an on campus job. In working through this process, I have developed my leadership skills and competencies in regards to team work. I have learned how to better communicate between staff and interviewees, as well as compromise in order to get the best result for everyone on the team. One of the most important critical learning moments of the past few weeks has been how to successfully notify applicants that they did not get the position, but also offer other opportunities elsewhere.
Upon reading the article "What Happened When My White Boss Talked To Me About Race In America," I really resonated with the sentence, "each of us has a part to play in creating the workplace and world that sees the humanity and value in all people" (Schumacher-Hodge). At Felice's we have a diverse staff of individuals in regards to sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and women in leadership roles. This is something I take pride in being President. It is of the utmost importance to ensure that everyone feels comfortable in a work setting. One sentence I had a problem with in "The Key to Measuring the Impact of Learning and Development: Align it With Business Strategy," was that, "unconscious bias can also explain why women struggle to climb the corporate ladder" (McCormick). I disagree that it is a woman's "unconscious bias" that leads to her inability to climb the corporate ladder. I think it has to do with the way women are viewed in the workplace by men, even women too. I know I have definitely experienced some sort of bias for simply being a woman. So, I disagree with that statement. I have been at Felice's for 4 years now, so I am constantly pulling the basic skills that I learned starting out there and integrating those into my decision making process when dealing with employees and hiring.
Learning Artifact:
A presentation of the Fifth Annual Student Run Business Conference that Loyola Limited had the pleasure of hosting on our campus this past February, 2018.
Critical Reflection #2:
Over the last few, nostalgic, weeks at Felice's the bulk of my duties have centered on transitioning out of my role as President and training someone new to take my place. This has been a trying time for me as I have spent the last 4 years growing in this student run business. It has opened many doors for me and allowed me to better myself as a leader in ways that I didn't know was possible! So, therefore, saying goodbye to a place and people that I have cherished for so long will be extremely trying for me. This has been the main focus of the last few weeks at Felice's. I realized as I began training the next President that there are so many things that I don't have the ability to teach her. They have to be learned through the wonderful and amazing experience that is Felice's and Loyola Limited. The most difficult part of this training and this process has been learning when to step back and realize that my time here in this position is up! As we talked about before, leadership takes a whole team and I have learned, through this process, how to step back and let others assume the duties I have been training them for. I know that once I step back I am confident in our successor's abilities to run Felice's in the same professional, yet fun atmosphere I strive for it to be! In the coming weeks, I will be stepping down as President and working as an advisor on the admin team. I am excited to see what goals the new team will set and how they will play off of each other's strengths and weaknesses to achieve those goals!
Related to the articles this week, Felice's has definitely established its own culture that immediately differs from that of, say, a large corporate chain restaurant. We offer a space for creativity, change, empowerment, and upward momentum within the business. Whereas, other places might offer a monotonous routine of procedures and rules. At the end of the day, the culture is the first thing a business owner/manager should establish before implementing rules and procedures. "They can bring out the best in people and create excellent environments for people to work in or they can bring out the worst in people and create dysfunctional environments filled with stress and tension." This quote completely resonated with me for multiple reasons. When establishing a culture it is important to define boundaries that establish a clear line of professionalism. Yes, it is easy to have a carefree and fun work environment, but if there are no rules or boundaries set in place, the culture will crumble into a lack of motivation and disregard for authority. I have seen this occur at Felice's for sure!
All in all, I am excited to see the next future leaders of Felice's create their own culture and how that plays out in the success of the business!
Learning Artifact:
This is the transition guide I shared with my successor at Felice's Kitchen. It highlights some of the key topics about Felice's and Loyola Limited that are important to be aware of in order to be a successful leader and team player.
Critical Reflection #3:
I watched Larry Smith's Ted Talk on "Why you will fail to have a great career." I chose this talk because of graduation looming and what that means for my future. I have had many jobs at this point in my life, but reflecting back on them I have never thought, "this is my passion." I thought this until I started my journey at Felice's. Before Felice's, I worked at a shoe store and indefinitely knew that retail was not the job for me. If you want to know what chaos feels like, work an overnight shift on Thanksgiving into Black Friday! Back to Felice's, I never knew that Felice's would be the spark to ignite the need to step out of my comfort zone, to learn new skills, to grow, and to become a leader. Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be the one in the group to make people laugh, to see them happy, to know that whatever little I was able to give them made their day that much better. I did not do this for the attention, instead I did it knowing that in some way I was able to make a difference in that individuals day. Fast forward about 10 years to my senior year in college and I never thought I would be able to make hundreds of people's day better! Providing locally sourced, fresh, from-scratch food to the students of Loyola and the greater Rogers-Edge community has allowed that little girl in me to prosper and to become a woman in the business world. This is how I know I was meant to be a Physician's Assistant. Combining my passion for science and biology with my passion for helping people, I have realized that I see myself doing nothing else but becoming a PA.
I agree with Larry Smith in that people make many excuses for why they do not follow their passions. People constantly risk their full potential for excuses that society creates. This applies to women especially! Women are encouraged to have children and have a family, however, according to society's standards, that would also require women to stay at home and take care of the family. Women are meant to feel guilty for pursuing their passions and are accused of neglecting their family if they attempt to do so. Women are fully capable of maintaining a beautifully happy family as well as a successful, thriving, passion-driven career, too! I fully intend to be passion driven in every facet of my life, starting with the reflection and gratefulness of my four years at Felice's, embarking on my career path towards becoming a PA, and ending with having a family and thriving career. Many of us have interests, like Larry Smith said, but not all of us have the courage to follow our passions. I think this is the central point I gathered from his talk.
Learning Artifact:
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