Evaluating One’s Progress

At this mid-way point of the semester, it feels important to evaluate where we have reached in the project. I want to address my progress towards the goals that I set in my first blog post: to build some confidence in my professional skills and to remind myself of real work considerations; to apply theory to actual issues and to determine how much I have retained, while exploring which skills I have learned through osmosis; and to learn more about a unique and different area, which included some stepping outside of my comfort zone and pushing the boundaries of what I know. Moreover, I want to add a fourth objective, which is to consider how I work within a team and how to best manage relationships between team members. 

In relation to professional skills, we have all worked hard to keep the project professional, with regular updates to our client. Another part of this, particular to the past few weeks, was recognising that we were all travelling for our Capstone projects over spring break and that we all had mid-terms. This meant, to keep the level of attention and professionalism that we all wanted, that we did significant amounts of work before this busy period within the semester – essentially frontloading our work for this class. This is an important real work consideration recognising that there is a need to balance client obligations with other work (or personal) commitments. Our planning paid off and this approach served us well. It meant that we delivered a strong and comprehensive plan of our progress to our client, which gave us a good opportunity to further our research on a more ad hoc basis over the busy period. This was a good reminder of the importance of managing expectations, but also in-team communications of expectations and our variable levels of capacity over the semester. 

We have all learned a lot. Our client also prioritises our learning, while also sharing their real-world experience. Our client is very engaged and asks extremely thought-provoking questions, which keeps us on our toes. This has been not only enjoyable, but something we all look forward to. We have also taught each other about the specific areas that we have focused on, which is great for obtaining a different perspective. This collaborative sharing of information has been critical to the project’s development and success. My focus has been to look at gender bonds and how they fit within the capital markets framework. It is a super interesting area, which aligns with my SIPA specialisation on gender. I also hope to pursue a PhD in sustainable finance and inclusion, so this has helped me explore gender inclusion in bonds. Some of the findings on impact have been interesting, with it becoming clear that impact can be both direct and indirect, intentional or non-intentional. The other element that has been key is the role of gap analysis, in that it is important to acknowledge where gender is, but also where it is not. This has encouraged us all to take a broader and more holistic approach. 

In relation to team management, I decided to include this as there are some nuances to teamwork at graduate school. There is no hierarchy and there must be a willingness to contribute. I have been super excited to work with my group, who are dedicated and interested in the project. Each person has a different background, which means different strengths, but also different interests. This makes the project a learning curve in different ways for each member, but this is bridged somewhat as we all teach each other what we know. A consequence of this is that we have developed a dynamic and supportive team environment, which is a lot of fun. This continues into our meetings with our client, which are lively and really push us all on our respective areas. As we start to work on the report, I hope that this dynamic can continue. On balance, I feel that I am at a good stage with all my objectives and that there is plenty of scope to develop these further over the coming weeks.