Introduction

In this essay, I will be reflecting on a project done in collaboration with a sports team, who approached Crevio with the goal of increasing their sponsorship sales. In this essay, I will be covering the background of how this project came to be, what kind of mistakes happened during this project, what I learned through this project and reflecting, what I could have done differently.

Approaching the Team

This project came to life at the very beginning of our company’s journey. We were submitting an open letter for possible job opportunities in different platforms and a sports team approached us with an offer to acquire sponsorships. A couple weeks later, their general manager came and gave us an introduction about their team, the assignment, and the collaboration offer that they were willing to give us. Our team was excited about the offer, and quite quickly we were able to form a project team willing to start working on the project. We signed a contract with the team a few weeks later and started working on the project.

Project Team

The project team consisted of multiple team members in the beginning. Having a large project team, we were able to create a lead list with possible clientele to contact. However, the actual contacting of the clients proved to be challenging with only a few members being able to speak the necessary language. I believe that cold calls and contacting customers on such a matter was the biggest steppingstone for many and therefore we couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity while we still had the momentum for a fresh project.

Lack of Clear Leadership

When we began, a member of our team was the contact person for the team, causing them to be elected as a project leader for this project. However, they weren’t that invested and driven to oversee the project, since they also had a lot of other things on their plate. Therefore, there was no-one to look after the project and drive the members to make progress, causing the project to slowly fade away. This wasn’t the project leader’s fault by any means, but it has taught me the importance of a driven leader. If a project leader takes on responsibility just for the sake of helping others rather than being motivated for the task, it can end up being the downfall of the project.

Second Chance

The project went on for a season with minimal progress on the matter. After the season, we had a meeting with the general manager, where they expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment in the project team. And rightfully so. Even though we didn’t have any mandatory selling requirements, our effort was a disappointment to both parties involved. However, with slight alterations to our contract, we were able to gain a second chance to prove ourselves. At this stage, we had switched the project leader, and I took the responsibility to guide this project forward.

Momentum

When we got our second chance with the team, our project group and the whole team was drastically smaller. Our project group consisted of three people now, however, they were all strong players and I had faith that with this small yet strong team we could finally make some progress. We had multiple meetings at the beginning and started creating an idea of what we wanted to achieve in the next months. Yet, due to delays with the marketing materials and a lack of initiative on our part, we again lost momentum with the process. At this point, one of our members left for exchange and our small project team became even smaller.

Same Downfall

After our trio became a duo, I initially felt that we could still make this project work. However, I quickly realized that both of us were involved in multiple different projects and personally, I didn’t have the energy and enthusiasm to get the projects wheels rolling again. Again, we had fallen into the same trap as last year with the project leader taking responsibility without first analyzing their capabilities to push this project forward. We were again in the same situation as last year, a project leader who’s not contributing to the progress of the project and a team who’s waiting for the leader to take the initiative.

Ending the Partnership

After realizing that again we had fallen into the same situation, I reached out to a group of students who were specifically interested in working with sports teams and offered them the opportunity to work with the team. However, they didn’t have the resources at the time, and I was faced with the reality that it would be better to end this partnership. I personally felt disappointed in my leadership of this project, and it started to affect my thinking as well. It’s like having an unfinished task that you weren’t doing, even though you were supposed to. I contacted the general manager of the team and explained the situation. They were understandably disappointed, but they understood the situation and we parted on good terms.

Reflections and Learnings

Through this project, it has become clearer to me how big of a difference a leader makes. The project leader needs to be driven and motivated to push the project forward. I find that usually the people who take the responsibility of leadership are the ones who enjoy helping people and being of aid. However, those people need to understand the burden that they are taking and evaluate their competence to perform that role that is required of them.

Personally, I find myself often in a situation where I’m asked to be a part of a project or a group and previously, it has been hard to say no. It’s in my nature to help others and aid people in need. However, it has become clear that sometimes I need to put myself on priority and understand that I can’t stretch myself in so many places that I can’t focus on myself anymore. Especially for me, I find it vital that I have enough room to breathe to be productive and make leaps in projects that I’m involved in.

Overall, this project, though one might call it a failure, has taught me many things about myself and my team. The most important lessons often come from the worst experiences and those are the lessons that truly develop one another. Through these mistakes, we can evolve and grow as individuals and entrepreneurs.