Getting Serious Into The Business Programme
It must have been a hard decision, but you finally made it! It’s juggling time now between work, family and the classes. Must have been nervous on day one in school. That would have eased by now knowing your colleagues are sharing the same concerns while comradeship starts to build. You want to succeed. You want to do your best. The MBA programme is a great way to discover your hidden strengths. But how to find the momentum and graduate with flying colours? Few tips here may help:
Learn time management
By now you’ve probably figured that an MBA programme is a delicate balancing act that clearly favours those who can multi-task. Learn to prioritise while multi-tasking. As weeks passed, the workload starts to pile but so are the opportunities to learn and enjoy yourself. The best way to manage the barrage of stimuli in the business class is to steer your time and be strategic.
Learn to work in a group
Business programmes require study groups and team projects. Group work encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills. But without careful planning and facilitation, group work can be frustrating. Everyone must play their role. Insist on professional, civil conduct between and among your team mates. Respect differences and create an inclusive environment. By pooling resources and dealing with differences of opinion that arise, groupwork can develop a more sophisticated product than you could as individuals.
Learn to read dry text quickly
There’s just so much to read. You have always been in execution at work and now is the time to change that mode to reading. Reading is a huge part of business class coursework. In addition to a textbook, you will also have other required reading materials, such as case studies and lecture notes. Learning how to read a lot of dry text quickly will help you in each one of your classes. Speed reading is an art and science and must be developed so that you can learn how to skim text and assess what is important and what is not.
Learn to network
Networking is a big part of the business school experience. It usually starts with an assignment. Working with other students in your class is a great way to network and get team experience. Start talking and open-up about your team’s business idea and get feedback. Often this exercise will result with incredible snowball effect of networking. For new MBA students, finding time to network can be a challenge. However, it is very important that you incorporate networking into your schedule. The contacts you meet in business class be it your colleagues, the lecturers or the industry contacts can last a lifetime and may be the connection to chase your dreams.
Reach out
Times may come when you feel overwhelmed and wonder if you had made the right choice because you are finding it difficult to cope. Don’t keep to yourself. Reach out for help! Once you do, you will realise there are others in the same boat as you and, no, no one will judge you for it. Some parts of the curriculum may get tough and or parts of it too technical. Create or join a study group, where your colleagues help each with their strengths and expertise.
