Crafting a Career Path

Hi Zoe! Can you tell us a bit about the background story of your current role?

I landed my current role in DailyMotion as head of Ad operations as a continuation of my career progression. It's a nice surprise where I'm at right now, but I wouldn't say that it was all luck. There was definitely some planning, getting curious, and chats with my managers then and now. Currently, we are a team of two in APAC and globally, we are 15.

Navigating the Global Team Terrain

What would be the obstacle to managing a global team?

I would say we have a diverse group of people. As we work in ad operations, we work with the salespeople and they take care of local markets in APAC. We are in a pretty complex setting where we talk in terminologies, and that's one hurdle.

The second is the need to understand cultural backgrounds. For instance, English might not be the first language for my colleagues. In the beginning, when we were still trying to understand what works best and which format works best, that's what was challenging.

How the Influence/Impact Matrix Helps Prioritization

How did your mindset shift after the Stakeholder Essentials sprint?

It’s really good to be able to visualize ways of engagement and priorities toward different types of stakeholders. As we work collaboratively with different functions and teams, prioritization is key to being able to strike a balance between work completion and people’s satisfaction.

With the influence/impact visualization chart, I identified gaps where I have been a little bit more absent. For example, keeping the stakeholders informed about things that actually don't have an impact or influence can make them feel seen and supported.

I find the visualization chart particularly helpful for new managers to navigate through their new responsibilities and stakeholders that come along in their career progression.

Applying the Art of Delegation

What framework from the sprint you would use now and then?

What came to my mind immediately is delegation. The importance of obtaining buy-in when delegating is not an automatic muscle for me.

I suppose that in Asia, where it is not in the culture to explicitly display resistance of the work that has been assigned, managers do not really know how employees truly feel when receiving a piece of work. However, by providing context and obtaining buy-in, I believe that everyone would understand where they fit in as part of the bigger picture. And as a result, creating a work environment where one can experience a sense of meaning in what they do.

Empowering Leaders through NewCampus Sprints

Glad you found it helpful! Is there anything that you feel like we missed out on in the questions that you want to share with others before we go?

I would say that at NewCampus, the Management Essentials and Stakeholder Essentials sprints are conducted in a way that celebrates feminine power - leadership that is empowering, nurturing, and warm. Something that is different from the traditional leadership styles. NewCampus creates space for new leaders to get in tune with ourselves, activating our natural leader from within.

To me, that's really powerful because the world is diverse and complex, and we can only broaden the possibilities with a diverse set of leaders and leadership styles.

Being an alumni of NewCampus is truly just the beginning of unveiling who I’d like to become.