In week one of my Leadership in Action Project with Logos NGO in Poznań, I focused on settling into a new cultural and organisational context while laying the groundwork for my six-week digital marketing consultancy project. Navigating my first solo travel experience and adapting quickly to a different working rhythm and multilingual office environment strengthened my confidence and resilience. This transition also pushed me to build relationships early, which supported effective collaboration and helped me integrate into the team.
From a delivery perspective, I began the diagnostic phase of the project by conducting an initial marketing audit and producing an early findings report, alongside a wider research document to inform future communications strategy. This directly supports my overall LIA purpose of strengthening Logos NGO’s digital marketing and social media presence to better connect with young people and promote Erasmus+ opportunities. It also aligns with my Week 1 milestones across my SMART goals: understanding organisational priorities, reviewing current messaging, gathering platform and campaign context, and identifying existing communication tools and materials. Additionally, I was also a focus group participant surrounding a cybersecurity and digital safety project and it was super fascinating to hear other student perspectives around this, and we concluded the EU shouldn't produce an information leaflet regarding this as not enough young people would engage with the physical media.
Key learning points this week were largely about adaptability and quality control. I adjusted to new communication norms (e.g., utilising WhatsApp over email), recognised important platform and regulatory differences in the European context (including the role of Telegram and constraints around TikTok), and learned to manage practical issues such as inconsistent template formatting when creating branded content. These experiences reinforced that delivering high-impact outputs will require both strategic thinking and reliable execution processes.
In terms of leadership development, the values most visible in my practice were Brave and Curious: showing up through proactive relationship-building, asking questions, and engaging openly with unfamiliar systems. I also relied heavily on performance and people capacities: applying critical thinking in my audit work, and contributing in discussions where I supported others to participate and shared new perspectives. Overall, Week 1 established a strong foundation for the strategic work to follow, while clarifying where I need to step forward with greater confidence as I move into deeper organisational development and strategy design in Week 2.