July 15, 2015 marked my 2nd
work anniversary. It felt like a short
time, but the amount of lessons learned is probably surmountable –or to put
simply, beyond what I expected. I was very fortunate to choose Project Officer role
at the Young Leaders for Indonesia (YLI) Foundation as my first job out of
college, simply because of the learning curve, the great culture of work, and
the network I had built throughout my time there. As I moved to my 2nd
job in DBS Bank, I wonder if there would ever be a better place than YLI in
terms of working environment –which says much about the culture.
One said that my reality is
twisted because although YLI is a foundation, and contrary to what people have
in mind about non-profit organizations, YLI is very strict on professionalism
and high performance –thanks to McKinsey & Company who safeguarded the
whole operations. On the learning curve, the culture and the network, of course
it was highly influenced by how McKinsey does things.
The non-hierarchical culture,
where everyone, despite of their background and status, will be valued for
their opinion. It is a merit-based organization where politics is hardly to be
found. And that is scarce in Indonesia because most people will be respected
when they are either senior, rich, or with high positions. People would then
work hard to be able to reach the top, without having to worry about being cut
off by someone who does not belong there.
Aside from that, I really
appreciate the feedback culture they implemented. People are taught to be open
to feedback, in fact regard it as a gift. Same thing applies to the giver; they
need to know that giving feedback is actually a favor, and keeping it away from
the people means doing them a disfavor.
And so I met wonderful people
during my time there, people who taught me much about leadership and helped me
build an idea of the ideal leaders and work environment, which later on, sadly,
caused me to struggle grasping the reality.
Working with such great talents,
purpose-driven and highly professional people in the past, I am now very much stressed
out knowing the fact that it was way too difficult finding the same situation
anywhere else under the sun. Worse, my got told me that it was only going to
get worse outside these multinational companies.
Apart from that, however, working
in a commercial institution has helped to balance my social spirit even better.
I am expected to think from many different angles, hit so many birds with one
shot, and try to benefit the business through a social cause. Yes, I took care
of the CSR and Internal Communication unit.
I asked for a different
challenge, and here I am, with a totally different situation: large
organizations with so many stakeholders to take into account, relatively large
team (compared to what I had before), a lot more activities to handle (so yes,
I need to wear many different caps under the two units), more complex
processes, for sure, higher expectations. Nothing is seriously easier. Well, I
guess that’s the idea of a promotion, no?
Yes, I am stressed out. I still
do the things I love most of the time, and I still do things I do not really
like but have to do anyway.
Nevertheless, all these realities
will stay unknown had I not jumped into the real life and continued studying. I
never imagined how hard it is to be independent and make a living. Never had I
imagined the stress level I would be at and honestly this is way beyond what I
thought I could comprehend. Yet, I survived, and still striving to survive each
and every day, with the many challenges. Just hoping I would be able to get
through it and make it out safely.
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