Global Shapers – One of the most amazing opportunities I have ever been given
Caroline Fischer joined Global Shapers: Generation 2015. In this blog she reflects on the Arcadis Global Shapers experience. Read more about her journey below:
I’m back in the US after my Globalshapers trip to the Netherlands. What a trip! After working for 3 months with our virtual work teams, group ambassadors, and AGLF buddies it was great to finally meet all Global Shapers in person!
After kicking off the face-to-face program on Saturday, we all got to work in different workflow groups. I was working in “The GS Show” group. We organized and planned the kick off night for the AGLF: ‘The Golden Journey’. While the workload was demanding (we would stay up until the wee hours of the morning), we all enjoyed the work. And of course, the final product of the GS Show being unveiled to the AGLF showed just that.
Even after working late into the morning, I still found some time almost every night to stay up an extra hour with my awesome roommate Lauren Lamp. We would discuss how our different business lines were addressing similar situations in different ways back in the US. We talked about ways we thought our business lines could collaborate to help improve our already efficient ways of doing business, in addition to having a general sharing of knowledge that could benefit both business lines. Following that it was off to bed to make sure we could get some sleep before our 6:45 wake up for sports!
In addition to working in our workflow groups we also got to do personal development assignments by meeting the executive board, exploring our MBTI personalities and participating in a leadership workshop. I found the MBTI personality workshop to be particularly interesting. After working in our workflow groups for a couple of days, I found some of us had personalities that didn’t mesh perfectly on a team. After going to the MBTI personality workshop we found we had similar personalities, while a well-rounded work team has the different personalities to balance each other out.
At the end of the week before leaving, together in groups we went to Arcadis themed escape rooms. I found these challenging, interesting and well-designed. I will refrain from explaining more in case you are ever lucky enough to get to enter into one of these rooms!
Overall the experience was amazing. On top of getting to meet several individuals from the AGLF and being able to explain areas that I thought we could improve in our business to them, I met 96 other young, energetic and amazing Arcadians that I hope I will remain close to in the remainder of my career at Arcadis. The experience was one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever been given and I feel blessed to have been selected to participate with my 99 amazing colleagues. Go Global Shapers Go!
Caroline Fischer (Arcadis North America)