Importance of Good Feedback

At the end of this semester, this Monday we had a trip to our client’s company, which is near the river and on Wall Street. I felt a huge growth in teamwork and collaboration during this semester with my team members, who are always supported, careful mutually during the process. 

This Monday, we gave our final presentation to our client, and I still remember the large meeting room. Our theme is all about “engagement strategy”, and our deliverables are a complete chart and methodology deck for the company. We have a whole step-by-step process of how to engage stakeholders and how to attain the long-term impact within different sectors, including climate change and just transition, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing forest cover, etc. To prepare the presentation, I printed my step 1 and step 2 description as complementary materials in case I forgot what to say. The fact is that our client was very nice and friendly, listening to us carefully and actively, and gave us very useful feedback, which I do learn a lot from. 

A timely and correct feedback is critical in a consulting project. The client gave us some. First, always ask questions, like the concept, like why the client wants this. At the start point, we were all confused about the concept of engagement and what the client wanted us to achieve, then we asked the engagement manager of the basic framework of the dashboard, and any recommended benchmarking companies materials, which helped us a lot to understand more clearly. Second, the cohesion of the team can be enhanced also. During this semester, our team members have a very tight schedule, being busy in each life track, sometimes our work is split and then combined together since it’s difficult to find a time that works for everyone. What I learned is that if we have enough time, we can sit together more times to combine our different skills to work together, increasing our teamwork quality and efficiency. Third, a timely follow-up after every meeting of each week and the setting of milestones and small goals can improve our teamwork efficiency. However, I realized that our meeting is every Friday afternoon, when everyone will be ready for the weekend, and sometimes our roles are not very clear, like who is responsible for contacting the client, etc. 

Beside the feedback, I gained numerous insights in the sustainable investing field, helping me to prepare for my future career. Understanding the connection between money and sustainability has been eye-opening. Checking how we measure up against other companies not only showed how well we're doing but also inspired me to keep aiming high. Building a theory of change from nothing was a big challenge, needing a mix of creativity, analysis, and a strong commitment to making things better. 

Looking back on what we've achieved in this growing industry fills me with pride. I feel like I've gained skills and a passion for making positive changes that I can use in my future career.