By Cassandra, who completed a 3-month internship stint at Skillseed in the first quarter of 2020.
“What in the world has happened in the past three months?” I’m currently wondering to myself as I write this reflection. Even in a short amount of time, much has happened that has led me to where I am now. Gratitude surmounts the points of discomfort that comes when a learning process is in place, and this piece will be a reflection of that.
Team lunch :) From left to right, clockwise: Faith, Cassandra, Darren, Wilson, Liyana, Huijia, Raine
The bosses who lead by example
I am grateful for many things. I am grateful for my bosses, Huijia and Wilson who have exemplified what it means to be excellent leaders and mentors. From the moment I set foot into Skillseed, they had strongly emphasised the values that the culture of the company was built upon. These values were not only spoken of but done in deeds- something I respected them greatly for. Through my own experiences, strong and healthy leadership has always been difficult to find, especially in organisations. When found, it is like a treasure trove of gold.
While they had exemplified all the values, the one that impacted me the most was: valuing people. I have seen how Huijia and Wilson value people throughout my time here. They have always made it a point to be respectful in their speech no matter who the other party was. This respect extended to being encouraging with their words, and always seeking to understand first before coming in to dispense constructive feedback. Not only have they treated others with respect, but they also value people enough to give feedback for growth to happen and space for that growth to eventuate. As someone who came in hungry to learn, I truly appreciated this.
Through witnessing and experiencing the lived values of Huijia and Wilson, I began to scrutinise my own values, especially in the context of leadership. I have always struggled to admit to myself that I have influence (I prefer to think I’m simply helping people), and because I do not admit to myself I have influence, I’ve never really taken the responsibility and time to examine the values that I was leading with. Things are changing, however. In this season of coming into my own skin of influence, learning from Huijia and Wilson has been a valuable experience.
Businesses aren’t just about the glamour
With absolutely no experience at all in the business/ social enterprise world, I had my first glimpse of it in Skillseed. Behind the glamour is the grind that people often miss. From admin (oh admin, the bane of my brain) to hiring processes to project management and managing partner and stakeholder relationships, I’ve been blessed to be at the frontline of the inner workings of a social enterprise. It has helped me to manage my own expectations for when I start my own business.
The biggest takeaway for me has to be the amount of administrative work that goes into a single project. Administrative work has always been my weakness- it drains me considerably when I attempt it. I had quite a number of opportunities to improve my craft this period, and I realised what was truly required was a perspective shift. My own prejudices towards administrative work were squeezed out of me as I progressed. I had believed that administrative work could never be interesting, satisfying, and purposeful. My work buddy, Li, had a very different take. As someone who excels in administrative work, she sees the latter as the backbone of the company, the great support and driving force to all things revolutionary. Admin is the quiet leader that ensures all things are covered in a company.
Through this renewed lens, the purpose of administrative work was restored for me. I now saw how all the little details fueled the greater picture and it made me excited. My perspective was shifting. Adding to my growth, I realised that there were patterns I could observe and learn from, through a few rounds of administrative work. This process taught me structures of clarification that I could apply. For example, I’ve learned that there are certain basic questions that one could start off asking for any administrative task: Who is this for? Why am I doing this? What is the end goal of this administrative task? Is there anything else I have missed out? These questions have helped me to be more aware of how I was tackling the task.
Being a minimalist has never been part of me. During my time at Skillseed, I have learnt how to become a minimalist in design, work processes and words through all the projects I was given. For example, having been given the opportunity to design collaterals needed for different projects, I’ve had space to observe that the area I was most vulnerable to is the scarcity mindset (i.e. always thinking that nothing is enough and adding unnecessarily more). My best designs always materialised when Wilson questioned me on what could be taken out (I realised it’s never been about what I could add haha!) to cut the design down right to its essence. I was truly learning the art of “less is more” and this process taught me to adopt the mindset of essentialism.
Transitioning
Even though my journey at Skillseed is coming to an end, the experiences and lessons live on in me. As Roy T. Bennett says, “Everyone you meet is a part of your journey, but not all of them are meant to stay in your life. Some people are just passing through to bring you gifts; either they're blessings or lessons.” The Skillseed family has only ever been a blessing to my journey.
Thank you for all the opportunities, effort, and emotional investment that every one of you has sown in me!
- Cassandra, far left