Topic: “It is easy to be wise after the event.” Describe some lessons you have learnt in hindsight.

Written by Caden

It has been said that “smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.” I can truly relate to this after the recent event where I was the lead member of the planning committee. 

One month ago, my committee spent days in meetings, coming up with a meticulous plan for my school’s open house. This was a key event as we were expecting hundreds of guests to visit the various booths set up in my school. The burden of a thousand bricks was on me as I needed to ensure the event would go smoothly and that we presented our school in the best light. However, a sudden change of events threw a spanner in the works – many cadets were incapacitated as they fell seriously ill days before the event of the year. One of the highlights of my booth was a skit which the actors had spent hours rehearsing on to captivate our guests. Unfortunately, given the short notice, it was difficult to have stand-ins for the various roles. Some booths with interactive activities was also going to end up being unmanned. Due to these, we had to go back to the drawing board to rethink how we would allocate our manpower. 

I was not the only one who felt infuriated and demoralised as we were looking forward to putting up a good show. This situation meant we would need to sacrifice our precious time to come up with a contingency plan. We had to bury our emotions and stay laser-focused on doing so. Some of the cadets also needed to be trained to take over some booths. Rather than having a group of cadets at each booth, we ended up with only one cadet facilitating each activity. Due to the flurry of activities on the day itself, it was a stressful time for everyone involved but we bit the bullet. 

Despite the hiccups, we made this open house a successful one. In retrospect, I realised that teamwork does make the dream work. I could not imagine having to face the challenges on my own at that point in time. With the support of my committee, we were able to motivate each other to stay the course and persevere to get the job done. Another valuable lesson I learnt is that change is the only constant and that I should always anticipate changes and adapt accordingly. 

From this episode, I also learnt more about myself. I learnt that I can thrive under stress, which made me realise that I do have leadership skills. If I have another opportunity, I will undoubtedly step up to take on the challenges. 

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