Chapter 4: Reflection on personal, professional and intercultural goals
PART A: REFLECTION ON MY 4 GOALS (ACHIEVED!)
Goal 1: After 6 months, I know about Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability as well as their importance to every company, especially CCV with the completion of my tasks which contribute to improving the reputation of a responsible and sustainable CCV.
S
Situation
T
Task
I would like to contribute to building the image of CCV as a responsible and sustainable company in the financial industry. The idea is that my manager will assign me tasks with different levels of complexity to reflect on my progress every month.
Starting with the report series to submit to Ecovadis assessment, them comes the more complex about the how to leverage our membership of UN Global Compact, the Bike to work campaign as a part of CO2 reduction plan and the supporting with the creation of training materials.
A
Action
By preparing the CSR and sustainability-related reports, I had the chance to look back/ delve into CCV commitment to CSR and sustainability topics.
When figuring out how to leverage our membership of the UN Global Compact, I have a broader knowledge about how CCV partly implements our CSR strategy.
The Bike-to-work campaign’s objectives are both reducing the CO2 emission and caring about CCV-ers’ health (so both Sustainability and CSR).
The creation of the training materials: Supplier code of conduct expands my knowledge about supply chain sustainability.
R
Result
I completed all necessary reports, from which I learnt about the training efficiency of CCV-ers, internal and external sustainable activities, and the targets we set for the upcoming year.
I finalised a proposal with 3 ideas of leveraging our membership.
With the detailed bike-to-work campaign, the effort I put behind is big enough. All data, and statistics related to CO2 emission and the importance of employees’ health were analysed.
As a wish project, I would like to have an overview on the supply chain sustainability after carefully learning about CCV’s sustainability.
R
Reflection
I was aware of the CSR in the Branding class, but did not have a chance to delve into it. It is super exciting to learn and apply it from a real case/ company. Having practical experience is undoubtedly a plus in my CV as I can see myself using this knowledge in the future. This is a very trendy topic so it can take a long time to master and understand all the functions, but I could say that I acknowledged all the basics and completed the goals that I set for myself in the first place.
S
Situation
T
Task
A
Action
It’s another interesting opportunity for me to be in an international setting besides HAN. I would like to make use of this chance to comprehend different communication styles besides the school, which I can apply in my future career.
I am proactive in setting and sending the meeting invitation if necessary. I host the meeting, involve myself in the conversation with colleagues instead of listening.
Goal 3: During 6 months of my internship, I take initiatives and I am not afraid to behave in a proactive way in casual conversation to comprehend different communication styles based on our diverse cultural backgrounds.
I proactively ask my colleagues to switch to English when they are talking in Dutch with my presence. I felt more comfortable to be in a conversation, both formally and informally. Despite different communication styles, I was adapted to the straight and informal styles at CCV.
R
Result
I realise that it is easy to behave proactively when I know about who I am talking to. I always ask to know them and where they are from. As a result, I adjust my tone of voice suitably and gain an effective conversation.
R
Reflection
It helps me to get out of my comfort zone of being shy and afraid of bothering my colleagues if I jump into their conversation. But there was one time I realised that they were so nice, when I wanted to talk with them in English, they were willing to switch and sorry for not noticing that I couldn’t understand Dutch. At that moment, I always start the conversation with an English speaking alert.
Goal 5: Within the next half 10 weeks, I will improve my Intercultural capacity by talking/ communicating more with different colleagues during our Team Day, lunchtime, and discussion about tasks.
R
Result
I become more open-minded and adapt to the culture of working in an international environment. I felt like I was not forced to act to be nice, but I was comfortable to be myself and share what I want.
A
Action
S
Situation
T
Task
When working, I was clear in setting the goal and rule of working together. Just to avoid the mistakes as much as possible.
We have a Team day on Oct 8. As a routine, my department usually has lunch together. Regarding teamwork, we always have meetings both online and offline to discuss.
Be proactive in being involved in conservation and sharing more.
Sharing the way of working with teammates and deciding on our common goals.
I all joined the lunch together with the department and shared with them about my future plan. They were all happy to listen to my story and shared theirs too. For Team Day, we had dinner together. I also talked a lot and got to know each others’ culture.
​When working with Selale and Cenic, I always clearly communicated my way of working, my expectations and we were all happy collaborating.
R
Reflection
​
I’m confident when I’m myself. I changed for the better, because I know that being shy will leave me behind. Interning at CCV gives me the chance to improve my behavior and confidence at personal and professional level with normal conversation during lunch/ dinner with colleagues and work-related discussion.
S
Situation
T
Task
Goal 6: During 10 weeks, I will focus on improving my writing skill and working on more complex projects more autonomously and develop all other skills to the next level.
Within the first 10 weeks, I knew enough about the researching, reporting, and knowledge about CSR and Sustainability terms/ topics. Now it is the time for me to communicate my knowledge/ inform other colleagues about our progress. The most popular way is writing a post on Teams/ Inside. At the same time, I increase the autonomy of my task.
Internal communication on Inside - our main digital communication platform about technical subjects for all employees to raise awareness about:
Coming CSR and sustainability legislation; CCV CO2 emission report 2022; Ecovadis result 2023
I receive little but enough support from Anna when performing tasks. Basically, I performed the task on my own and once done, asked for feedback, then improved!
A
Action
Anna just gave the task to me with the title and a sentence in the brief about what the content would cover. Then it’s my responsibility to search/ collect the information available on our Sharepoint/ Inside/ other sources to finish my writing/ announcement about a specific topic.
For the SME newsletter, and WOM campaign, Anna simply gave me the context briefly. After that, Cenic and I work in a pair to figure them out.
Also for the Inside analysis, Amy gave the task for us to analyse Inside without giving us any sample, and we developed the analysis by ourselves.
R
Result
I have done more than 3 announcements with different tones of voice on Teams and Insides. I can see my improvement step by step and I am happy with it.
The autonomy of the task also helps me more mature in developing my organisational skills.
R
Reflection
It’s hard at first to try new things on my own, but it doesn’t mean I cannot make it. After 10 weeks, I am confident that I understand CCV enough to perform all tasks Anna/ Amy gave me and completed them with satisfaction.
PART B: LOOK FORWARD TO GRADUATION YEAR AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Hidden treasures
(what I am not good at but enjoy)
-
Organising events such as Christmas for company-wide employees
-
Proactiveness in finding new tasks for myself but I enjoy doing what I’m engaged with
-
Reporting (Prepare professional reports) and Designing
Strengths
(what I am good at and enjoy)
-
Researching and investigating (keywords, potential content research)
-
Writing the announcement about what the company achieved.
-
Structuring the work, organising the content for a campaign
Weakness
(what I am not good at and do not enjoy)
-
Multi-tasking. I prefer to have a flow of tasks and follow/ focus on one/ two in a day.
Strenuous gifts
(talents or gifts that drain your energy, so what I am good at but do not enjoy)
-
Gathering and analysing numeric data
My future position
I would love to continue deeping into Branding and CSR, especially Sustainability aspects.
In the future, I prefer moving into a dedicated CSR role, where you can focus on developing and implementing social responsibility initiatives for the company. During my internship at CCV, I get used to CSR principle, involve in internal activities and enjoy encouraging colleagues to participate in Sustainability related activities.
In addition, working in a financial service company like CCV gives me another chances to be exposed to different brands in addition to some clients for projects at HAN, which makes me realise the importance of the brand awareness/ image of a company. I imagine my transition into a Brand managing role where I can be responsible for developing and executing strategies to build and promote the brand.
My potential topics for thesis
As I was working in the Financial Technology industry for a financial service company that cares about the sustainability, I have been inspired to come up with some topic ideas for my thesis in the G cluster.
For examples:
The Role of Transparency in Sustainable Finance Branding:
-
Analyze the importance of transparency in sustainable financial service branding, exploring how openness about practices and impact influence customer trust and loyalty.
The Role of Fintech in Shaping a Sustainable Cashless Future: A Branding Perspective:
-
Investigate how fintech companies contribute to the development of a sustainable cashless future and analyze their branding strategies in promoting eco-friendly financial technologies.
During my internship, I was amazed and inspired by the company's commitment to combining financial innovation with environmental and social consciousness. The dynamic intersection of finance, technology, and sustainability has provided a unique platform for learning and growth, challenging me to think creatively about how responsible financial practices can be communicated and integrated into everyday operations.
