August 2017: The Remote Internship
The hiatus from the Jakarta Roundtable Meeting with US 44th President Barack Obama through Obama Foundation had worn out.
The next real question is, how do I move forward?
And often time I look so much to the future that I forget the present.
This is where my internship nicely touches the subject, and taught me valuable life lessons.
I was fortunate that the work arrangement was remote, hence allowing me to actually be in Jakarta while enjoying a few travels to Philippines and Singapore for work.
And it was good to take that little break at home – where you get to meet your family, and to enjoy that from the hustles and business of the school – it’s one of the perk you can get when you are taking December class!
And the travel allows me to actually work while looking at other things, and take things into perspectives… got the chance to actually visit Manila and Cebu, as well as Singapore before going back to school. I actually met an INSEADer in Manila (for the first time because he’s a Singy starter), met an old friend from my exchange program in Cebu… and it was all great. Reconnecting with friends, and actually had my very first trivia night and won it! (Not that I was useful, I was just the lucky kitten haha).
So of course what is important is the actual internship. So I interned at Grow 360, a tech startup that basically creates a personal development platform which centralises on feedback that can be used by institutions (check it out at www.grow360.com – it is great and user-friendly!).
I had the privilege to learn about tech, and growing as an individual to transition myself to a different setting as someone entirely new to a team.
There are three major learnings that I felt were very important from my internship:
- A certain degree of “overcommunication” works in maintaining client relationship.
Clients always want to know what is going on – it is important to always make sure that they feel safe. Therefore, not only building personal relationship matters – but constantly communicating what goes on and how we, as the provider, got this – would put the client at ease and increase their confidence at us.
- Steady, not speedy
I initially had thought that working in a start-up would basically put me in a pedestal of huge uncertainty in such a speed. But I was proven wrong – Grow360’s culture truly reflects its primary purpose of product – growth. And at times, growth is not about speed, but about steady progress. The way the culture of the company was run by Rudi Ramin, the founder (also an INSEAD GEMBA Alumni), was great. He truly wanted his team to grow, therefore he always tries to ensure things are running steadily, but surely.
- What matters: simple conduciveness
People run things very differently, in any dimensions of style and tone. What matters is that simple space to have. Every individual should be given a certain level of space. That is what is obtained by the remote work, and I learned this a great deal from Anne, my direct manager. She is great in giving that required space, and allowing me to breathe in, before I breathe out and finally continuing whatever I’m working on. Therefore, it is extremely important to have that.
This is one of the perks of joining December class – you have that chance to reflect through your summer break, whatever you are doing at the end of the day, even if it’s not internship! It was truly a pleasure to be able to learn from great people in the tech startup. ????
