Hello! I'm Made from Indonesia, I'm about to apply for Australia Awards Scholarship this year, and I'd like to try answering question prompt no. 3. For a brief overview, I emphasize my contribution to the importance of resilience as well as being compassionate and supportive to my teammates in order to maintain good well-being as a wildlife veterinarian. Any inputs will be very helpful. Thank you in advance!
(Be specific and include what aspect/s of your leadership knowledge, skills, and practice you consider to be well established and effective: which people or organisations you worked with to solve the problem: and what creative methods were used.)
The veterinarian team participated in a 3-months-training which included dental surgery on about fifty animals. We were trained by an experienced wildlife veterinarian from the Netherlands, and we also worked with orangutan and sun bear keepers in terms of animal husbandry. At that time, there were three veterinarians and three veterinary assistants actively involved in the whole training process.
We faced unexpected hardships along the process, due to a very tight schedule yet limited personnel. I forced myself in intent to strive for the best, however, I ended up falling sick and could not work for three days. The other team member seemed to be drained as well, which led to depleted focus and accidents such as being bitten and pulled by the animals. I then realized the importance of taking care of ourselves as veterinarians, no matter how hard we work for the best. On the next day, I suggested modifying the schedule by implementing two days working and one day off for each personnel. I gave the idea of one person working on anesthesia and the other one joining the trainer to do the surgery. On every procedure day, I encouraged my teammates to alternately took a short break to have a meal in the afternoon because maintaining energy is crucial for enduring the high-demanding surgery.
After finishing the training, we started implementing more effective teamwork for performing surgery and believing in each other better. Time management was also more considered, and the team's well-being started to become a priority.
The process was not easy, yet the lessons were worth learning. Although setbacks came my way, those did not bring me down and I resiliently kept going to endure the journey. Despite not being a leader structurally, being compassionate and supportive toward team members were good leadership traits, because reassuring them in difficult times would drive more confidence and better performance.
How have you contributed to solving a challenge and implementing change or reform?
(Be specific and include what aspect/s of your leadership knowledge, skills, and practice you consider to be well established and effective: which people or organisations you worked with to solve the problem: and what creative methods were used.)
The veterinarian team participated in a 3-months-training which included dental surgery on about fifty animals. We were trained by an experienced wildlife veterinarian from the Netherlands, and we also worked with orangutan and sun bear keepers in terms of animal husbandry. At that time, there were three veterinarians and three veterinary assistants actively involved in the whole training process.
We faced unexpected hardships along the process, due to a very tight schedule yet limited personnel. I forced myself in intent to strive for the best, however, I ended up falling sick and could not work for three days. The other team member seemed to be drained as well, which led to depleted focus and accidents such as being bitten and pulled by the animals. I then realized the importance of taking care of ourselves as veterinarians, no matter how hard we work for the best. On the next day, I suggested modifying the schedule by implementing two days working and one day off for each personnel. I gave the idea of one person working on anesthesia and the other one joining the trainer to do the surgery. On every procedure day, I encouraged my teammates to alternately took a short break to have a meal in the afternoon because maintaining energy is crucial for enduring the high-demanding surgery.
After finishing the training, we started implementing more effective teamwork for performing surgery and believing in each other better. Time management was also more considered, and the team's well-being started to become a priority.
The process was not easy, yet the lessons were worth learning. Although setbacks came my way, those did not bring me down and I resiliently kept going to endure the journey. Despite not being a leader structurally, being compassionate and supportive toward team members were good leadership traits, because reassuring them in difficult times would drive more confidence and better performance.
