Why I love my job in Circles.Life?
It’s December 2020, and come next May, it will be my 5th year in Circles.Life. I was having a conversation with some of my team members about our ‘Whys’, and it was also a point of self-reflection about why I am still very much in tune with what I’m doing. Many would ask, ‘You’re working so hard, is it even worth it?’, ‘I’m sure there are better places out there in the market’, ‘Do they even pay you what you should be getting’ etc etc. They are not wrong about some of the statements I’ve heard throughout the years. But bear with me as I pen down my thoughts as I try to rationalise my own ‘Why’ in this company.
Circles.Life is not perfect, but we are trying
Current employees in the company would know that in Circles.Life, we face many challenges on a daily basis, be it reacting to the market, rushing for time (“Time is our enemy” quoting from a colleague), miscommunication from team members.. I could go on. These little things do frustrate the team, creates tension, brings down motivation of the employees as it constantly feels like we’re not evolving or changing. What most people don’t actually see, is while we acknowledge that there are issues, we are actually fixing it in parallel as well. We know and see the inherent issues, and we are deploying fixes for it in time to come. We are not perfect and everyone is still learning, but I know and have the confidence that we are trying to fix it. This is something that I truly appreciate about this company, because not all companies are willing to even listen to its employees. What goes behind the scenes in analysing the issues, coming up with solutions, experimenting and failing and trying again, is something that may not be apparent or largely visible (yet), but its all happening.
In the last few years, I’ve seen us evolve into different shapes and forms, and we’re still evolving. This is also part of ‘growing pains’ where we are moving forward and past processes do not work anymore. This is a tough process of unlearning and relearning things, but I know we are actively moving towards a much better and efficient future. We have to.
Circles.Life believes in their employees
If there is one company in the world that I’d always be grateful for, it’ll be Circles.Life. From the time I entered 4.5 years ago up till today, I’ve not seen a company that has been so willing and open in allowing their employees this much freedom and flexibility. Be it learning skills, taking on different responsibilities, picking up completely new skills, or just having the ability to ‘do your own thing’, I’ve seen it all here. And I’d like to imagine that this is rare, but it also needs to happen both ways. I’ve learnt that in Circles.Life, you determine what you want to learn and do. You chase for the things you want, and Circles.Life will provide that avenue for you. In anything. Any aspect. Want to change a department? You can - but it is also on yourself to hustle and learn fast to match up to expectations. You’d like a change in job scope? For sure - but you need to know what you’re looking to change to, and we’ll make that happen. Senior leaders and head of departments have also been willing to support and mentor anytime as long as you are clear in your learning path, and this has spurred me on in so many ways.
Throughout my stint here, I’ve changed roles and responsibilities multiple times, and I appreciate the fact that I am allowed to do so because without that freedom, I wouldn’t have learnt as much as I could til this very day. That being said, we know that this environment is really not for everyone. It takes a completely different mindset to fully grasp the ways of working in Circles.Life, because we are atypical in many ways. But once you’re able to understand that, the company (world) is your playing ground to become whoever you want to be. As long as you remember your roots and how you’ve become who you are today, the journey is yours to take.
Circles.Life is heading in the right direction for customers
I’d like to again emphasize that we are not perfect, but I truly believe that we are on the right direction to a much better playing field globally as we take on a 10x focus on our customers. Structurally, both externally and internally. This means that while we are still on the way, the path that we are taking forward is something that I truly have conviction on. Having the customers central to everything we do, is going to be crucial to our success from here onwards. The initiatives that we’ve been allowed to take, be it community, VoC and more, these are all part of the efforts to steer ourselves to the right direction for the customers. In this time and age, customer experience is what will make us win, and I’m really confident that we will get there.
So much more work to do, mindsets to change, processes to evolve, but as long as we keep that top of mind from here on, we will be better, in weeks, months, years to come. This is an exciting time, especially for my team as we are central to this focus. Brand experience is going to fuel us forward and I cannot wait to continue being a part of this legacy.
I could actually go on all day about my whys, but I guess this pretty much sums up why I’m still in Circles.Life, and why I’d probably be pushing as hard as I’ve been doing for the coming years. Feel free to approach me if there are any questions!