By Owen Havercroft, GMIM2026
One of the things I have learned in my years living abroad is that diverse groups work best, and it’s one of the reasons I chose to study at LBS. At LBS, study groups are one of the highlights of the experience, as they allow the diversity and international background of the cohort to shine through.
At first, I was quite nervous about what study group I would be allocated to, but once I met everybody, I knew I was in safe hands for the rest of the term. My term 1 study group consisted of people from China, India, France, Germany, Chile, and myself, from Mexico. Everyone had different backgrounds and career goals, ranging from fashion modelling and engineering to hedge funds and even a national champion of a board game. This was not only interesting on a personal level, but also extremely useful for projects, as it allowed a variety of ideas and approaches to the same task.
We quickly built a comfortable environment amongst ourselves, mainly through courses and events that LBS organized specifically to help you get to know your study group. This included activities off-campus and a course where, with the help of a professional, we discussed our backgrounds, priorities, strengths, the environments we work best in, and generally how to get the best out of each other.
This immediately led to some helpful realisations. Some people were focused on getting the best grade and aiming for a perfect project, while others were more focused on job applications and were satisfied as long as everything was correct. While surprising at first, it was great to find this out early rather than months later. Everyone explained their point of view, why grades were so important or why they might not be. This understanding helped us manage expectations and decide how tasks would be allocated.
I had many great experiences in this group. Sometimes the group was so eager to start working that if I was busy for a couple of hours, I would come back to find that several parts had already been taken and there was nothing left to do. This happened often, and was part of our earlier agreement: we wouldn’t arbitrarily divide a project seven different ways if the task didn’t call for it. We all wanted to avoid stitching unrelated parts together later and trying to make them make sense.
We also understood that everyone has a different schedule. Some people were simply busier than others, and this led to a culture where everyone would self-allocate as much as they could and wanted to do. If someone contributed less one week, we all knew they would take over more work the next. This flexibility allowed each person to choose tasks they enjoyed or were able to do at that moment.
I will always remember Scott having to leave group meetings early because he had online interviews from China, or Garance editing a video we had to film while getting her hair done at a modelling shoot in Paris. I also remember asking to take on a large part of an assignment myself and having to gain the trust of Johanna, our perfectionist German teammate. Despite some initial hesitation, I was able to earn that trust after showing my part. This is all to show that despite our different mentalities, and everything going on in everyone’s lives, we always made the time to work. LBS supports you a lot, but working with people is always tricky, and some study groups struggle more than others. In general, my advice would be to focus on clear communication and building trust early. From my experience, the study groups that felt comfortable with each other performed the best.
It is always better to tell your team that you do not know how to do a certain task, or that you won’t be able to submit on time, than to overpromise and not deliver.
While I am sad that my time with this study group has come to an end, I look forward to being surprised by my next group and building a culture where everyone feels comfortable, is eager to contribute, and of course, get to better know a whole new group of interesting people.
I will never forget my first study group at LBS. Here’s to Study Group 37: Olivia, Yufei, Scott, Johanna, Garance and Samkit. Thank you for a great first term!