The Company - OSMOSIS - and its Organogram
The Community Manager - Caroline Pasmans
Log
My reflection on my work observation experience
What I think? What did I learn?
Truthfully, I learnt tremendously from this work observation. Starting from the very warm reception I received when I entered the building till the pleasant goodbyes I received when I was leaving. Everyone stopped what they were doing to say a warm “hi” to me as Caroline introduced me to them one after the other. When she offered me a desk by her side for the entire day, I felt even more welcomed because it enabled me to observe everything she did appositely. I loved that she was very warm at the start of the day, it helped me relax although I was just meeting her for the first time. The manager also gave me free access to the refreshment and food, she said I could eat and drink at will just like every other employee. I thought that was a very kind gesture because it made me feel like I was really part of the company notwithstanding that I am only a one-day observer. The first impression I got from her and other employees at Osmosis was the first lessons I learnt. “Always make your customer feel special; you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” And this relates to the LOIBM/09 - Customer Orientation & Relation Management.
In the company workspace, what I observed first was that the office spaces were designed in such a way that employees could see and interact with each other; this partly also displays the company's inclination to the cultural dimensions of people orientation and team orientation as the employees were very well interactive with each other, asking each other for help on their tasks, offering each other drinks while they work, etc. I thought that the fact that the staff of the company all engage in small talks was very resourceful as that can always aid team building. Staff could take breaks at will too and this stimulated a feel of support from the management. During their team meeting, their team spirit was obvious in their relationship with each other and from this I learnt that I must never neglect the relevance and advantages of teamwork. I observed very keenly during their team meeting, and part of the things I observed was that these employees got more work done in their work teams than individually. Their reports and feedbacks made this fact evident.
So, what’s my most enjoyable part of the job shadowing experience?
As there was honestly no less enjoyable part of the work observation experience, let me share my most enjoyable part with you. It has to be the recruitment interview session! The Community Manager, two co-founders of the company who were present at work that day and I went to one of the meeting rooms to have the recruitment interview when the interviewee arrived.
Surprisingly, the interview started with some small talks which left me mouth open because I least expected that on a job interview in a professional environment. One of the co-founders then kicked off the interview with an appraisal of the job candidate’s portfolio and CV. The job candidate is a (web) designer who currently does landscaping and prototyping and is looking for some kind of part-time or full time “stable” affiliation.
A few of the many questions the interviewers (my manager and the co-founders) asked the interviewee are: ”Why did you leave your previous job?" "What’s the main objective for you for the next one month if you were to be hired, will you only want to work alone or work with a team?" "Are you a team player?” “How deep do you go with your actual customer validation?” “What/how would you want to feel in Osmosis?" "What do you want from Osmosis?" “What would be your preferred backgrounds for two co-founders you would have if you were to start your own business?” Interestingly, his response to this question I just stated was “a nerd and a cheerleader, completing the tripod, because he views himself as a "hip package" – well-informed but fun in addition to that (not isolated or introverted) like most nerds, too self critic, never stops working and rarely thinks his creation is “good enough” (hence why he’ll be needing a cheerleader). The job candidate also got his turn to ask the company some pivotal questions as well. He asked questions like: "What is the organizational culture of your company?" "What is the salary payment standard of your company - how much do you think I am worth if you were to hire me?", etc.
From the category of questions they asked the job candidate, I learnt that what’s most important to them is to find out if he can be committed to a collective view of work, i.e. if he can work in a team to achieve the company's strategic goals since their organizational culture involves team orientation to a large extent. Obviously he was good at his career competencies, and had presented himself in an irresistibly SMART way through his portfolio and CV. He had also been consistently innovating new designs the past six months which is another basic criteria to work in an innovation company like Osmosis.
The interviewee had launched a voice recording lamp in 2013 and wasn’t very proud of it – felt it wasn’t “good enough”, but when he saw a similar product created by Apple, he started to think his might not have been bad afterall because it was obviously better than what apple had created.
During this interview, I got to know that my manager’s first job always wanted her to be in the recruitment aspect of her job alone – which wasn’t something she was very excited about, so when she realized that she couldn’t go on doing that because it wasn’t all that she wanted in her career, she quit and sort for another job that would entail more of what she wants. She also knew she wanted to create/belong to a culture that was different in the ways that suited her ideal job description and felt relief and accomplishment when she got hired at Osmosis.
The company language culture has changed over the course of the two years of their existence from Dutch to English because if their internationalization (employees from Australia, Germany, Nigeria, etc.). They drew some level of inspiration from organizations like Zalando in terms of passion for their products and their quick delivery timing, like building new ventures within six-months.
I got to understand and learn from exactly what the company means when it says it’s all about innovating in the FINTECH angle of solving societal problems. It is actually giving access of what was previously available to only a small part of the society to a larger part of it, thus, all societal classes and not just the rich. One founder gave example of the problem of lack of electricity in most parts of Africa which results in people using kerosene lanterns. He explained that the solution available for this problem in Africa is the now available solar panels. However, these solar panels are so expensive that mostly only the rich people get access to it, but it is actually better than using the kerosene lanterns which are even more expensive (calculating cost per liter) order than sitting in the dark which will cost them more as they can’t study for school, work on digital appliances, etc. In addition, a fintech development to help solve this problem of cost is the banks’ use of systems that allows the middle class and lower-class members of the society to buy these solar panels also and pay installments over a period of time based on their individual earnings. Nevertheless, a potential fintech innovation in this regard could be an improvement that is made in order to provide an alternative solution that will be very much affordable to all societal classes, which is part of the cores of Osmosis as a company - helping to make the society a better place for everyone in every social class. Osmosis veritably wants to help people make the right choices independent of their cultural backgrounds in order to benefit and add value to the society/world. The new development of all social classes and not just the rich to be able to make mobile bank transactions is a fintech innovation as well.
I also got to know that Europe poses to be a difficult market, so most fintech organizations don’t start up here, they are one of the few that are starting up in recent years.
One of the current ventures of Osmosis, Helder, is one that helps all societal classes with the same (high) quality advice and processes on how to take loans, mortgages, etc. on a more profitable scale, gaining more benefits that usual.
Truthfully, I might not have know that these kinds of innovations are what fintech is all about if I hadn’t been shadowing my manager on the day of this interview, hence why I am very grateful for the opportunity had.
Would I consider having this job when I’m older? Why/why not?
Well, in as much as this job wouldn’t be a first choice if I were to choose, I think I would indeed consider having this job when I’m older because most of the tasks my manager performed are in the areas that I am passionate about. For example, the fact that she writes blogs for the company was totally fascinating to me because I love writing as well. Reading some of her blogs talking about how much she has learnt from all the computer nerds she works with amazed me even more. The kind of enthusiasm I saw her work with too while relating with employees is something else that intrigued me as it’s a HR management job specific competence related to one of my talents as an engaged listener and one who is keen to leading and helping other people. I saw her intently pause her desk work to approach employees as they went about their duties to ask if things were going okay and the experiences and tips from her past which she shared with me during my interview with her were also things I found interesting and relatable to me. One other thing I admired so much in my manager’s strategies for doing her job is one of the interactive sessions she has with each team member every month – BILAT meetings. I thought it was wise to have those meetings and that they must be very productive; the manager concurred and confirmed that it indeed is. I think that with some more training in some competencies and on some of my talents, I could actually make a good Community Manager if I one day decide to work in that facet.
Which competencies are important in my manager’s job? Comparing with the learning outcomes of International Business Management?
Unmatched, “LOIBM/09 - Customer Orientation & Relation Management”, which I have already expounded on above, is the very first skill or competence topping this list. Some others are LOIBM/01 - Management, LOIBM/03 - Inquisitive and Critical Attitude, LOIBM/04 – Enterprise, Accuracy, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation, LOIBM/18 - Intercultural Sensitivity, LOIBM/07 - Language Proficiency and Communication, Organization, Motivation and Enthusiasm, Patience, LOIBM/02 - Strategic Goals, and LO11 - Self-Direction and Professional Development.
My manager shared the fact that she sometimes feels like people take more from her and she in turn receives so much less, hence why she found herself a mentor in the field who invests in her and close friends within and outside of the workplace whom she can vent her displeasures to relieve stress. She told me that sometimes it’s not always natural to be helpful because of how difficult people can be, but it’s part of her job and she loves to do it, so she does it anyway. We can see that this is a clear indication that my manager takes responsibility for her self-direction and professional development.
A combination of LOIBM/01 – Management, LOIBM/02 - Strategic Goals and LOIBM/03 - Inquisitive and Critical Attitude, can be seen in my manager’s decision together with the co-founders to send one of their interns back to her school to take some more classes or find another internship because she wasn’t being as productive as required despite several opportunities to learn and offers of training programs to help her succeed. My manager told me that she had had talks with her to try to find out what the challenge is, but it hasn’t been that helpful as she always said “everything was okay”, even during team meetings when everyone is asked to share how they felt and areas they needed help. As a Community manager, most of what she looks out for is the development of her employees to see that they are the best version of themselves, thus, she strategizes on how to meet the company goals using the human resources employed by the company. She sets strategic goals for herself and helps other employees to do the same.
My manager’s intercultural sensitivity can clearly be seen in the fact that she manages an intercultural community of employees where she’s had to learn more about cultures in order to relate well with them.
The organizational skills of my manager is evident in her daily routine. She constantly plans and organizes everything around her, especially her environment and daily job activities.
I saw her motivation and enthusiasm throughout the day too, in the manner with which she went about her job activities for the day which also included making sure I had a good time shadowing her and that I learnt a lot while doing so.
Revising my SWOT. Which job competencies are part of my strength? Which do I still need to work on?
The competencies in the manager’s job description that are part of my strengths are practically all of them. However, I do not think that I possess them all in the maximum capacity, hence why I need to keep building and developing myself to become more competent in all the areas that I need to be in order to be ready for the job market, while pursuing my goals in life to achieve them.
For example, I sometimes really lack patience and find it difficult to trust teammates to do their work. I mostly find myself doing other people's work after a day or two of leaving it for them to do and them not doing it. As observed from my manager and her relationship with the team at Osmosis, she had this sort of absolute trust in them. And even when they get it wrong many times, she's willing to let them try again provided they're willing to learn - take training courses, etc. I guess this is also one of the problems I have with my teams at IBM. I don't think most of them really want to learn and get the skills and competencies IBM offers to a large degree before they graduate, so I don't see them putting in as much effort as I think I am. Unlike in some other teams I belong to outside of school, like an organization (Xplain Consults)'s editorial team. I and my teammates there work so well together, hand in glove, seeing that our strategic goals are attained.
LOIBM/04 – Enterprise, Accuracy, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation could use some major work too. Most times when I see other people's work, I feel like mine isn't creative enough. I'm mostly never satisfied with my work except I get some strong affirmation from someone else that it's good enough or excellent. I feel this attribute is what helps me to keep pushing myself to be better.
Just like my manager, I am such a visual organizer. I do not like to see anything looking untidy around me, this literally applies to "everything". For example, I would rather make a very clear written schedule on how things would go and who would do what in a team rather than let all the work distribution remain assumed. Everything around me starting from books, school bag, study desk, room, etc. gets a taste of my organizational skills. This is one of my major general strengths.
Another major strength of mine observed from my manager is my communication skills, creative writing, intercultural communication, information dissemination, etc.
Own action points to increase my employability for my future (dream) job.
• Get a professional mentor
• Improve my education and training
• Get a study related work-student job
• Improve my communication by continuing with the related jobs I do in that sphere and going for more training too.
• Keeping up with related resources on the internet
• Improve my teamwork skills
Do I expect my IBM programme to prepare me for a function such as the one observed? In what way do I expect the IBM curriculum to cater for my needs in this way?
Yes, I do expect my IBM program to prepare me for a function such as the one I observed. I expect this from IBM in the competences (LOIBM/01 - Management, LOIBM/03 - Inquisitive and Critical Attitude, LOIBM/04 – Enterprise, Accuracy, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation, LOIBM/18 - Intercultural Sensitivity, LOIBM/07 - Language Proficiency and Communication, Organization, Motivation, Patience and Enthusiasm, LOIBM/02 - Strategic Goals, and LO11 - Self-Direction and Professional Development) that are required for this job. One who claims to already know “it all” is undoubtedly deceiving him/herself and is most likely to remain stagnant in life. We ought to daily keep learning.
IBM can help through the curriculum by making these learning objectives more visible, structured and achievable in the course content.
Interview Report
The manager
I would like to begin this report by first saying that my manager is an exceptional human who works so hard to see her employees succeed. She believes so much in hiring character and talents and then training skill. Now, let me take you through a bit of what I found out about her personal life during my interview with her.
My manager’s name is Caroline Pasmans and she’s 26 years old. Just 26?! Yeah, just 26 and already a manager with about 4 years working experience. That expression you have on your face right now is exactly the same expression I had on mine when she revealed that information to me. Her young but yet so matured personality is one of the things that engulfed me most about her.
Ms Pasmans started off college life at a very young age and Law was her first course of study. In her second year of Law she realized that pursuing a career in law wasn’t going to do her any much good as it wasn’t anywhere close to being a passion for her and wouldn’t aid her in affecting lives the way she wants to. On the other hand, she also didn’t know what it was she wanted in particular, so, she decided to quit and take a two-years sabbatical. She travelled to Russia where she started off a movement that helped teenagers in terms of sexual relationships. For the entire two years she was away in Russia, she faithfully did this despite the challenges she faced from the Russian community.
When she finally decided to go back home to Belgium, she realized from her experiences at Russia that she was very passionate about helping others become the best version of themselves. She saw that some of the talents and competencies of hers in use at her Russian initiative matched that of a HR manager. That was when she decided that she was going to return to school to study Human Resource Management. She graduated from "Karel de Grote Antwerpen" and started off her work life in the HR department of an IT company. A few months afterward, she got tired of always being given the task of recruiting people. According to her, although it’s part of her job description, it isn’t an area she’s passionate about, so she loves to do it as a “part” of her job and not as an “entirety” of her job. She wanted nothing more than to help people develop their talents and skills.
Her Job
Daily at work, my manager carries out her administrative duties, communication duties and management duties; which may include (depending on what needs to be done for the day) people management – monitoring employees work and their development, etc, payment of salaries and wages, payment of bills - hospital bills, insurances, answering and receiving calls from and with business partners and clients, managing the company’s social media platform, writing blog posts, solving problems and resolving conflicts, etc.
As a 26 years old woman, my manager shared that her age and sex at the start of her job loudly wanted to deprive her of having a say in the “world of men” (software engineering/IT) she had gotten herself into, but she never let that happen. With needful assertiveness and knowledge of her self worth, when was able to conquer timidity as she began to lead and learn appositely. She began learning about some terms which were to her nerdy, like benchmarking and MVP, that the software engineers and IT personnel she was at work with use. Sometimes, timidity tends to come in play because of her age and sex (not a lot of women in their field), however, she has learnt over time to be brave and assertive.
To Caroline, the most interesting part of her job is to see and joy in the feeling that her employees have a plan, are willing to think outside the box - go creative, and are working smartly to bring their plans into feasible reality. So, for every project, she oversees plans with employees.
Another very vital thing Caroline pointed out is that planning and time management is a very important skill every manager should acquire to avoid breakdowns. She once had a major one that landed her in the hospital for a couple of days. After then, in as much as she has to work a lot (70 – 80 hours a week) as her company is only a start-up company, she began to take extra measures to avoid another break down. She adjusts her daily planning consistently as systems evolve, and gets support from a few of her colleagues who she can talk to. Yet another strategic move she made after her attack was to get herself a professional mentor to guide her in her career journey.
Some days in the weeks, she works from home and this helps because she can take breaks to get some refreshment in the arms of her loved ones. However, some of the times, things don't go as planned and this is why a manager always has to ready himself or herself for unforseen circumstances by learning and developing strategic tactics on stress management.
The core competencies in my managers job are setting strategic goals, openness and that practice of fairness. In her words "being nice is not always the way, but being fair is." Extreme patience is a core competence of my manager's job as well. She emphasizes not being judgemental and fairness to all. One of her philosophies is to push and help people to become the best version of themselves and not the version she wants them to be. This way they produce better results. She thinks it's only wise to practice what you believe and I couldn't agree any less.
I found out from my manager that the company is very much centred on their mission which is to "make financial services a 5-star experience for everyone". They are primarily company builders in the fintech sector. In order words, they build and develop companies from the scratch; taking care of finding investors and all that comes with it.
Strategy
Ms. Pasmans confirmed to me during the interview that their company does have the human resources help it basically needs, matching their corporate responsibility strategy. However, she thinks they should really hire a senior developer because they often consultants to do the job in those areas. Sometimes what they lack are marketers, but this is merely a rare situation. It was also in this interview that I found out that the company sometimes collaborate with those companies they share office spaces with on projects. This is an added resource to them in a huge way.
Every week, during their Friday team meetings, they use their "Happiness Scores", which I already describes in my reflection, and other team activities to analyze and evaluate their present strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This has proved to be very advantageous to them over time.
To be able to utilize its human resources in helping the company improve, stay competitive, and strategically meet goals, Osmosis uses its human resources to effectively and efficiently meet their strategic goals. They don't let talents and competencies go to waste. In order to achieve this, the manager has constant feedback sessions with their employees and lets them share their concerns and areas of need. The company offers extra training courses to the employees who feel they need it, and also encourage them to get mentors outside the office as they already have one each within, according to hierarchy. She plans and organizes how work gets done too.
The manager and her management environment
The company has a strong organizational culture. The vision is always made clear at the point of hiring and employees are obliged to come aboard with it as their thoughts on the must have been shared and discussed during the recruitment interview.
As a start-up company, they all work really hard and thus have built a culture around outcome orientation. Generally, in respect to dimensions of organizational culture, they are outcome oriented, people oriented, team oriented and innovation and risk taking oriented. They pay attention to each other, laughing and cracking jokes while working really hard to create the fun as they perform their really demanding job. The strong culture makes the manager and the organization at large get more ambitious and focused on achieving their goals. In order to ensure that their organizational culture is quickly imbibed into employees, they use a 360 degrees feedback. It’s mainly implemented by “doing it”. Team building activities help a lot too.
Creativity and Innovation
As a start-up, all of Osmosis’ projects are innovations. So, they challenge their employees to do better. The founders always question things to let people reflect in their actions and take responsibility of their personal development.
One of their accomplishments so far is the HACKATHON (within) that they did for WEMA Bank, Nigeria two years ago. They travelled all the way to Nigeria for this and had an awesome time enjoying the warm weather while they worked. A regular innovative process they carry out is making building blocks for banks, for people to use banks apps for mortgages, loans etc., and monitor their progress.
The company has a lot of innovative frameworks. They have something they call “THE OSMOSIS FRIDGE” where they store them and pull them up one after the other to work on. So, as employees think out ideas during brainstorming sessions or randomly by themselves, they put them in The Osmosis Fridge immediately and refer to them when needful.
Personally, one of the processes she uses to solve problems is the “reciprocity ring” concept (American) where you get everybody in a circle and have each person ask one personal question and lets everyone else compulsorily offer advice and possible solutions to the best of their knowledge and then when everyone has had their turn, the management asks questions which every employee must respond to, to benefit the companies problems. They do this once every two months.
As a parting gift, my manager reiterated to me an honest advice which was like a motto for her It was the advice of always being fair, not judgmental and not blinded by hierarchy. She also suggested that I don’t lose my hobbies (which I never plan on doing anyway) as they can come in handy in times of stress. “As a manager, always be fair. Hierarchy is highly overstated in the world today and it doesn’t help matters that much nowadays” she said. She also highlighted constant feedback and I think this is already something I have come to learn to take serious in the IBM program thus far.
I am absolutely delighted that I got to meet and shadow Ms. Pasmans, the Community manager of Osmosis Antwerp, this experience has made its way to my treasured list of unforgettable experiences.
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