No longer a privileged student

Truly, I am faced with a steep learning curve in Standard Chartered Bank, involving not only financial knowledge but people knowledge. It’s not at all about the quality of work I produce because that is largely within my realm of control. Instead, it’s about managing people at my workplace. Things are no longer as straightforward as they were in school. No one will tell you what is right or wrong. In fact, there’s no right or wrong. In reality, we all know we live in an imperfect world. Hence, knowing how to manage these imperfections is crucial. This is where EQ comes into the picture, more so than IQ. IQ only gets us through the door but it does not account for the uncertainties in life; EQ does.

Coming from operations, I deal with more people than one would think. Unlike other BAs in my programme who stay in a particular business much longer, I rotate close to every month, constantly having to adapt to new teams, bosses, processes, and environment. Every time, it is a whole new experience and challenge. Every day, I am learning to cope with different team dynamics, individual working styles, attitudes and personalities. Indeed, these people do not usually behave the way you wish they would. Otherwise, I would say we live in a perfect world.

On top of projects and daily work, my work revolves around questioning, “why things are being done in this manner”, “how we can better improve processes”. Piecing bits and pieces of information from different groups of people to form a larger sensible picture of the bank and thereafter making sense of it all. Having to deliver a management review presentation at the end of every rotation stresses out me quite a great deal as I have to factor in considerations such as: “ what the bosses want to hear, what my colleagues want to hear, what is good for the company and the purpose of the presentation”. A lot of times, they are in conflict, making it almost impossible to get the message across to these diverse people effectively at the same time.

Coincidentally, I received an interesting course lately– how to facilitate events to achieve its stated objectives. It exposed me to 4 different types of learning styles, namely Activist, Pragmatist, Reflector and Theorist. I scored the highest in “reflector”, followed closely by “Pragmatists”.

As a reflector, I prefer to keep a low profile in discussions, to observe and listen before I make any contribution. When pressured, I can think on my feet to a certain extent but I must say I feel really uncomfortable in such situations. I rather have time to ponder over issues that have been raised, do some thorough research and analysis before I make my stand. :)

The noise, the action and the energy... what do you make out of it?

With high stress levels, work life balance doesn’t come naturally. A lot of effort is required. I have been juggling with studying for CFA, undertaking greater responsibility at work, staying fit, spending time with my love, family and friends… and not forgetting my little dog. I hope I don’t burn out. It’s not helping when I’m working in this unnamed department which is seriously draining my energy level. I’m glad I’m here for only a month else I wouldn’t know who I will become. Concurrently, I have recently taken on this really messy reconciliation project from another department which stresses me out big time as it requires lots of VBA work (which I am really bad at) and understanding nature of all structured product bookings. I relish the challenge though.

Now, someone has to suck it all up for a greater goal and that someone is me. Anyway, everyone has to be this someone every now and then.

I guess any job can be boring after a while; I am taking a lot of measures to counteract the negative forces/feeling I face here. I tell myself, I have to keep cool at all times! Stay happy and enthusiastic! There is always a choice about the way we do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself. We can choose the attitude we bring to work which can help determine the way we are at work. It’s simple to understand but so difficult to act upon and make it sustainable.

Now, kick me in the butt!

Vices at work

I never like to get myself involved in polictics. In fact, I used to despise people who play politics. I thought that if you have the substance, you'll fare better if not as well than those who play politics. Sadly, this is not the case at the workplace where competition is pervasive.

As a new member of my organsation, I have learnt a lot just by observing and assessing the political landscape. Much of it is subtle and unspoken, but nearly everyone is competing for something or the other; opportunities, recognition, status, compensation, manpower, space, budgets etc.

I believe sooner or later, some politicking is required to get me to my destination.

Fix IT

Hmm.. so I happen to read about some sob stories and thought about the all problems the people around me have. Here's some tips from me.

All of us somehow have insecurities and issues we wished we could change about ourselves. There is really little point in wallowing in self-pity. Man, we can’t run away from the fact that there are just some things about us we just can’t change. Nevertheless, we can still maximize the value of ourselves by overcoming or fixing those things that are within our power to change. It's never too late to start today.