As leaders strive to balance both their personal lives and their careers, they also recognize that their team members need a similar duality. Consequently, a team ends up truly working well together when they have relationships with each other in and out of the office, as a more personal connection is where real trust and camaraderie can form and catalyze results in the form of efficient and effective work. Grant Thornton Indonesia’s female leaders have been committed to building the best teams they can, and a significant facet of achieving this objective is through building a work community that is not only healthy, but warm and welcoming.
One individual who champions the ideals of a comfortable work environment, both on and off the clock, is Finance and Accounting Director, Aslina Budianto. She is constantly bringing people around her together whether during or after office hours. From dinners together to weekend excursions out of town, Aslina is focused on cultivating an atmosphere where people can truly get to know each other and be comfortable with one another. She credits her beginnings as an auditor for getting Aslina out of her shell; in starting her career as a junior auditor, being pushed to interact with clients on various projects gave her the skills to speak with more confidence, as well as make friends and display a more extroverted side of herself. Despite the sometimes uncomfortable responsibilities managing the firm’s finances can entail, Aslina is still able to form a multitude of personal relationships with the people around her, and she emphasizes the importance of keeping work and personal matters separate. She explains that though she has a stricter, hard-nosed approach to her job, she won’t hold grudges in her heart against anyone, and she doesn’t let any mistakes or shortcomings from other people on the job bleed into their friendship.
While there are certain boundaries that are necessary between the business and personal aspects of a relationship, getting to know team members outside of the office will certainly enhance the productivity and effectiveness of the group overall. Human Capital Director, Emme Tarigan is keenly aware of this, making sure to develop deeper ties with the people she works with for both their sake and hers. In fact, Emme considers the trust of the people she works directly with and for to be the key to her success, as through her experiences throughout her career, she’s found that as long as her direct superiors will believe in her and they are on the same page, she will be much more prepared to make the tough decisions that comes with the responsibilities she has been given because the people she is under are on her side. Consequently, Emme practices the same path to success when it comes to the team members working under her, making a consistent effort to spend time with the people on her team and frequently going out of her way up to her team’s floor to have lunch with them, as well as even planning to move her office up to their floor permanently so she can be more involved in the office community and camaraderie. In addition, Emme also tries her best to impart this desire on to those who work under her, encouraging them to immerse themselves in the company and mingle with other divisions. She explains that not only is it beneficial for the office as a whole, but it also places the Human Capital division with an ear to the ground and privy to concerns that employees might be hesitant to communicate directly with Management. Emme also maintains trust between her and her team by being transparent in her actions and decisions, understanding that if you’re not honest with other people, then you can’t expect them to be honest with you.
While the principles Emme applies to her professional and personal relationships with her team members are excellent rules of thumb throughout all divisions, the audit service line has a different kind of pressure placed on them when they undergo peak season, which takes place from January to April. For Head of Audit and Assurance, Hanny Prasetyo, she realized that her team was not as close as it used to be due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people from the office and hindering them from developing relationships with one another. To counter this issue, Hanny spoke to her team about gathering together for the purpose of bonding and team building, and eventually, they held an internal event commemorating the beginning of peak season, with people performing live music, joking around, and having fun while getting to know each other. Hanny feels that this element of the workplace is prioritized throughout the firm, pointing out that Grant Thornton Indonesia’s habits are less individualistic and more collaborative, which proves to be different compared to larger organizations. While these more prominent companies have a reputation for being more cutthroat and competitive when fighting for positions within these respective workplaces, Hanny believes that Grant Thornton fosters a healthier environment where there is more harmony and less conflict regarding movement up the company ladder.
Because of this focus towards the relationships between each individual at Grant Thornton Indonesia, whether at or out of the office, there is a holistic approach to development within the firm as our female leaders prioritize both professional growth and personal connections. From Emme’s efforts to spend lunches with her team to Hanny’s internal team events to lift their spirits during team season, our female leaders have laid out the blueprint to nurturing and building a strong, healthy work community, and a constructive atmosphere where team members can thrive and grow together instead of against each other. This camaraderie doesn’t just extend to the people under them, as our female leaders also carve out a piece of their busy schedules to meet up as a group and deepen their relationships with each other, whether it be dinner once every few months or just spending quality time together. This deliberate focus towards developing a connection between individuals is what allows our female leaders to successfully cultivate a welcoming and productive atmosphere for team members to grow and to thrive, both on and off the clock.