Become an Exceptional Project Leader with Britney Gu | Project Leader Spotlight

Kicking off the first round of 2022 Project Leader Spotlights, we have Britney Gu, a creative third-year Commerce and Science student who joined 180DC in PC1 2020. With a diverse range of experiences under her belt, Britney will share with us the ins and outs of becoming a successful project leader at 180DC.

Some fun facts about Britney:

💃​Loves dancing

🖌️​Currently working as a Design and Content Creation Intern

​🙋‍♀️​MBTI: ESFP (Entertainer)

Why did you choose to become a Project Leader at 180DC?

In my three project cycles prior to becoming a Project Leader, I have been fortunate to work across multiple teams of extremely passionate and unique consultants. My time here at 180DC has been super rewarding since 180DC’s core value of creating social impact resonates with my own passion for driving both tangible and positive change in the community around us. So naturally, my growth as a consultant has led me to apply for the Project Leader position where I can further explore my passions, but now with a more holistic view of the project.

Can you walk me through your project?

In my current project, my team and I are working for an Australian charity whose core mission is to support individuals and communities with eating disorders and body image issues. Our main task for this project is market scoping since the client wants to establish a new advisory services arm as part of its offerings. So, what 180DC is trying to figure out through the market assessment is whether this initiative will be viable and advance the client’s mission of preventing body image issues and disorders. The project is split into three main streams:

1. We conduct stakeholder research and analysis to determine if the targeted stakeholders will receive value from the client’s new initiative.

2. We conduct a market assessment of all the available services to determine if there is a specific niche that our client can focus on.

3. The final workstream will involve our team investigating stable funding recommendations.

Overall, my team and I have thoroughly enjoyed the project, though it is quite research-heavy. I would also say that the team have gotten quite close so we are definitely keen to present our terms worth of work in the upcoming Social Impact Pitch Night!

Has the work you've been doing as Project Leader been different to what you originally expected?

For the most part, I think that my experience Project Leader is quite similar to what I originally expected because I have gone through the entire consultant program at 180DC as well as held leadership experiences in other societies.

However, I would say that being a Project Leader is definitely a step up since you are overlooking multiple workstreams whilst being the main point of contact between your team and the client. In comparison to my experience as a consultant, I am now looking ahead at the lifecycle of a project rather than focusing on one area, which definitely comes with its own challenges as the project evolves. Some very common questions that I ask myself include “What are the next steps?”, “When do I move on?” and “At what point do I check in on the client?”

Do you have any advice for anyone interested in becoming a Project Leader?

Take that leap of faith and give everything a try! The 180DC experience is like no other and the skills you learn here will go beyond consulting but also permeate all other areas of your life.

Thank you to Britney for joining us for this article! If you would also like to become a project consultant with us, you can also keep updated with 180DC UNSW on our Facebook and LinkedIn.