Hi everybody, I'm applying for Chevening and this is my leadership essay. I appreciate any feedbacks, regarding the examples i used, and structure. I know there is a lot of grammar to check, but i want to have the structure and ideas first. Thank you all!
Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
Along my life, I have discovered that I have passion for coaching my peers and seeing transformed the way they perform; which, in turn, has always had a very positive impact on their lives and mine.
During 2017, when I was a teaching assistant, I identified that students were having difficulties in learning, which had a negative impact on their grades. It occurred to me that it would be useful to have an extracurricular class where we could discuss the topics they had learnt and clear doubts. Therefore, I designed a proposal with the meetings dynamics and looked for a space in the University where this could be developed. Once I had a detailed plan of action, I presented the idea to my Professor, who found it very interesting, so she allowed me to do it. At first was quite difficult as the classes were quite crowded, so I decided to enhance the structure of the meetings, defining specific topics for each class. The classes proved to be successful as the average of students getting higher grades improved significantly. After graduating, my Professor contacted me to inform me that the programme is still active and thanked for the positive impact this has had for the students.
Another clear example of my leadership skills was during my University years. It was then that I met a group of students who created an NGO that on weekends offers tutoring to young children from marginal neighbourhoods. Such was my passion that soon I became the Group's Coach. It was then that I came up with the idea to have a special day for Children's Day. Therefore, I set up the idea of the festivity, define the budget and establish tasks division for the volunteers, who were under my charge. When I communicated the plan to them, they were really motivated. One of my responsibilities was to collaborate with the trade union of the neighbourhood to provide donations. I also coordinated with the neighbourhood's Priest who offered us the church's backyard for the celebration. After all these years, this has now become a tradition in the community.
During 2019, my teamwork and I discovered that small businesses were having problems exporting their products. After doing some benchmark, I found a programme to strengthen small company's capabilities. Because of my diagnosis, my boss offered me to lead the project and my team. I had to supervise and coach their job, define the plan and coordinate with the different areas of government such as the legal team and communication department. When the programme was ready to be launched, we were hit by the Covid-19 Pandemic, which made it impossible to get presence training. It occurred to me that we could modify the programme and create a Webinar, which would also allow us to achieve our goal. I had to convince my boss that that was the best way. The result was incredible; almost 150 companies signed up and are already improving their business models.
I believe the Chevening community will allow me to continue challenging my leadership skills
chevening is looking for future leaders or influencers
Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
Along my life, I have discovered that I have passion for coaching my peers and seeing transformed the way they perform; which, in turn, has always had a very positive impact on their lives and mine.
During 2017, when I was a teaching assistant, I identified that students were having difficulties in learning, which had a negative impact on their grades. It occurred to me that it would be useful to have an extracurricular class where we could discuss the topics they had learnt and clear doubts. Therefore, I designed a proposal with the meetings dynamics and looked for a space in the University where this could be developed. Once I had a detailed plan of action, I presented the idea to my Professor, who found it very interesting, so she allowed me to do it. At first was quite difficult as the classes were quite crowded, so I decided to enhance the structure of the meetings, defining specific topics for each class. The classes proved to be successful as the average of students getting higher grades improved significantly. After graduating, my Professor contacted me to inform me that the programme is still active and thanked for the positive impact this has had for the students.
Another clear example of my leadership skills was during my University years. It was then that I met a group of students who created an NGO that on weekends offers tutoring to young children from marginal neighbourhoods. Such was my passion that soon I became the Group's Coach. It was then that I came up with the idea to have a special day for Children's Day. Therefore, I set up the idea of the festivity, define the budget and establish tasks division for the volunteers, who were under my charge. When I communicated the plan to them, they were really motivated. One of my responsibilities was to collaborate with the trade union of the neighbourhood to provide donations. I also coordinated with the neighbourhood's Priest who offered us the church's backyard for the celebration. After all these years, this has now become a tradition in the community.
During 2019, my teamwork and I discovered that small businesses were having problems exporting their products. After doing some benchmark, I found a programme to strengthen small company's capabilities. Because of my diagnosis, my boss offered me to lead the project and my team. I had to supervise and coach their job, define the plan and coordinate with the different areas of government such as the legal team and communication department. When the programme was ready to be launched, we were hit by the Covid-19 Pandemic, which made it impossible to get presence training. It occurred to me that we could modify the programme and create a Webinar, which would also allow us to achieve our goal. I had to convince my boss that that was the best way. The result was incredible; almost 150 companies signed up and are already improving their business models.
I believe the Chevening community will allow me to continue challenging my leadership skills
