Florence Pivert
Lea-Isabelle Proulx

Cooperation with University staff

Our experience started a few months before our assignment itself: over the weeks building to our assignment, we received great support from Ms. Charmaine Jansen (Lecturer, Environmental Health Sciences, NUST) & Ms. Felicitas Tjandero (Secretary, HOD/Environmental Health Sciences, NUST). We had a call with both of them and several e-mail exchanges to ensure we understood the type of environment we would be teaching in. Ms. Jansen also used this opportunity to share some insights on the 4th year class and curriculum and explained her expectations regarding the Business Cases we had to draft for the class to work on over the course of the 2 weeks. In addition we used these calls to clarify the material that was available on-site and what we had to bring ourselves, the class set-up we would have for the week, etc.

We had great support and flexibility from Mr Nico Smit, a member of the International Relation group at NUST. Mr Smit was available before our assignment to inform us about our transfer and our accommodation on-site. He was also the 1st person we met at NUST, presenting us to the Faculty members and Lecturers with whom we would be working for the period of our assignment. Mr Smit was a key contact for us while at NUST, ensuring we were briefed on security matters, knew where to go for (grocery) shopping and how to circulate on the campus between our Faculty and our accommodation. Both Ms. Tjandero and Mr Smit were always available to answer e-mails, text messages or to meet in person and support us by answering our questions, providing us with additional material, or helping us find our way around the campus – their continuous support allowed us to concentrate on the assignment and our students specifically, while on-site at NUST. Ms. Jansen was a key person for us on-site - meeting with us before the classes so we could review and align on the specific objectives of each class and also discuss her specific involvement during the class. We also had the pleasure and the honour to welcome Prof. Dr Khan, Dean of the Faculty as well as Mrs Tjivikua, Director of Institutional Planning, for the 2nd panel presentation. For both of them, it was an opportunity to see the value of having B360 experts doing lectures for their students.

Cooperation with students

Although we were not able to connect with our students ahead of our assignment, we made sure to connect with the previous B360 lecturer, Joe Wildfire, who taught the class. He shared with us his experience with the students and curriculum from the previous year. To start building our “own” connection with the students, in the 1st class we started with an ice breaker allowing us to get to know them better as people, rather than as students. We also made sure we participated actively in this ice breaker so they could also get to know us as “Lea” and “Florence” (or “Miss Lea” and “Miss Florence”) rather than 2 additional guest lecturers. Starting our 2-week assignment that way influenced the rest of the time we spent together as we felt the relationship went beyond just Lecturer-students but as people having interest and goals outside of the classroom. Throughout our time with the students, we had the chance to facilitate engaging class discussions, where the students even proposed additional exercises to ensure everyone understood the concept that was being discussed.

By splitting the time between lectures, team work, team exercises and presentations, the students got deeply involved in their respective business cases -discussing not only within their team but also engaging with other teams to hear about different thinking and to challenge/be challenged on their own strategic thinking. We also were able to see a shift in mindset: going from a competitive mindset at the beginning, to a more collaborative mindset by the end of the 2nd week, understanding the impact and value of discussing with other people, building your network and seeking external input to help you move forward with your project. We really appreciated the effort and engagement from the students when they prepared their 2 panel presentations. For each of them it was certainly a personal challenge but their willingness to make an impact was a key success driver.

Impact and win-win - Lea Proulx

The students had a great impact on me: by sharing about themselves, their life and their ambitions I got to learn a lot about the opportunities and challenges they have currently as students and also the ones they will have later in their professional life in the current context in Namibia. Having more insights into the opportunities and challenges they would face in their next steps toward their professional life helped us design the lectures to ensure we were building their self-confidence and self-awareness. Spending time with the students, specifically the female students, learning about their personal situation, also helped me put things in perspective in my life, both on the personal and professional sides. It’s always humbling to hear someone’s story and how she’s managing being a daughter, a mother while at the same time a full-time student, working on herself to ensure she can provide a better life for her family.

I also hope I had a great impact on the students over these 2 weeks. Based on the feedback they shared with us, I was proud to hear about their understanding of team work and how important it is to work as a team and the synergy you can create within your team to ensure you are moving forward in the right direction. Several students also mentioned they now understand better the importance of communication and clear messages and the impact a face-to-face communication can have more than an e-mail. Finally, as the students had to present almost on a daily basis during these 2 weeks, we were able to see a change in their presentation style: more confidence when talking to the audience, better eye contact and also an engaging and confident body language.

Impact and win-win - Florence Pivert

The students as well as the entire experience had a great impact on me. Observing their willingness to learn and to grow and at the same time managing the daily difficulties they face (even just affording transportation and food) was an additional driver for us to design impactful lectures. Debriefing with Lea twice a day (during lunch & in the evening), our main focus was: “how we can prepare them for their future professional life, especially given the high unemployment rate in Namibia. How can they be, day after day, more self-confident and self-aware about their potential and their areas for development? How do we ensure that every session will be an opportunity to learn through experience for them?”

On the professional side, they deeply helped me to develop Servant Leadership behaviours, such as coaching, coordinating (not directing) a group’s effort, and empowering team members to develop their responsibilities in order to deliver the case studies they were working on. Thanks to all of the students, I understand even better how essential it is to focus on employees at the early stage of their career to help them become aware of their potential for growth as soon as possible. And, the students also helped me get a new perspective regarding Diversity & Inclusion: I was so impressed to see all of them developing a collaboration mindset, accepting different perspectives, and helping each other in order to all be successful. On the personal side, being a mother of two students of similar ages, they gave me some keys to better understand this generation and at the same time I could gain perspective on luck and privilege in different environments. I hope and believe that Lea & I made an impact: the second panel presentation as well as the one-to-one feedback/coaching session at the end of the second week were two key opportunities for the students to see how they progressed in their strategic thinking, ability to connect dots, speaking up, presentation skills and self-confidence. They told me they are more aware of their own potential and that the 2 weeks were inspiring for them. I’m convinced that I met during those two weeks the future generation of Namibian leaders.

Personal message - Lea Proulx

Having the chance to go to NUST as a guest lecturer for 2 weeks was an incredible experience for me from a professional but also a personal point of view. Being able to share my knowledge of Project Management with young adults finishing their Bachelor degree and getting ready to start their career as Environmental Health Practitioner allowed me to support and coach these students in developing their strategic thinking: not seeing everything in terms of templates and trying to fit new information into old structures, but rather understanding the objectives of your project and think how you can best work with your team to deliver successfully. Seeing the students shift from a competitive mindset to a collaboration mindset made me really proud to be part of this shift. From a personal point of view, this opportunity allowed me to do something outside of my comfort zone. Embracing this experience made me realize that sometimes I’m the one preventing myself from exploring new horizons. If I just go and try, I will meet incredible new people, experience new things and learn from the people around me, such as the other B360 Guest Lecturers and the students, and also learn about myself, and the kind of things I can achieve if I dare to take the 1st step into a new adventure!

Personal message - Florence Pivert

I could have never imagined to have such fantastic opportunity to spend 2 weeks as a guest lecturer at the Namibian University of Technology & science (NUST) and I’m deeply grateful for that. 
Supporting and coaching 14 students who want to grow to become “better or good leaders” (one of their expectations) was at the same time inspiring, energizing and refreshing. Sharing my passion for Talent development, growth mindset and great leadership with the next generation of Namibian leaders was extremely rewarding.

We would both like to thank Mai-Lise Nguyen (Roche) and Sabina Balmer (B360): Thanks to you we spent 2 unforgettable weeks with Fillipus, Ndeshi, John, Evey, Victoria, Petrus, Liina, Ndapewa, Phillippe, Petrina, Tangi, Teopolina, Jene, Ndinelago - 14 young and promising leaders. We hope they will continue to trust that they have their future in their hands, in their minds and in their hearts.