Exploring the One KBTG Culture Ep. 4: One Team
We Before Me
Earn trust and focus on the issue, not the person
Empathy listening and provide constructive challenges
Think and act as one team
In any human endeavor, whether it’s sports, music, business or politics, everyone knows that teamwork is necessary for wonderful accomplishments. And the bigger the goal, the stronger the team needs to be. As an African proverb goes, “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”, we KBTG are going to need a kick-ass team because we want to go farther than anyone else. To become the number one tech company in Southeast Asia, a team that loses energy after producing a few short-term outcomes is no good. To fulfill our grand vision, we need a top-performing team driven by consistent commitment and passion that can endure and overcome even the roughest storms of hardship. That’s why unity is so important. It ensures continuity and stability that will enable a team to reach heights one person can only dream of achieving. Teamwork is the blueprint for long-lasting success of any organization.
One way to determine a team’s greatness is to measure its longevity. For something to be outstanding, it has to stand the test of time. And that’s the kind of team we want to create. While there are many amazing examples of teamwork throughout history, it would be too obvious to talk about sports team or an ensemble of any kind. Therefore, in this episode, let’s turn to the natural world and learn about unity from a team of magnificent giants that have truly demonstrated prolonged success by surviving every threat in nature and lived for thousands of years.
Giant Sequoia
Located mostly on the Western slopes of Sierra Nevada in California, giant sequoias are known as the world’s most massive trees. They can grow up to 100 meters, weigh over 6,000 tons and live more than 3,000 years. One reason behind their achievement of such longevity is their design built to withstand natural enemies of the forest such are insects, fungi, wind and fire. Giant sequoias have sturdy trunks that resist even the strongest winds. Their fire-resistant bark is rich in tannin, a natural substance that repels most insects and releases chemicals that protect them against fungi.
However, another vital secret to their success in the natural world is teamwork. Despite their incredible height, surprisingly giant sequoias have a shallow root system of about 3 meters deep. So how is it possible that they rarely fall over?
We Before Me
One reason why giant sequoias are able to remain unshaken by nature’s harshest forces is they stabilize each other by spreading out their roots laterally and intertwining with the roots of other neighboring trees. This unique root system allows the trees to withstand floods and even hurricanes. By merging their roots and staying connected, they help each other grow and survive.
We often associated teamwork with competition. As humans, we have a tendency to compete against each other and as a result we created a society where there are two teams: the winners and the losers. As a society, we value winning as superior to losing. We treat success and failure as separate categories. Victors celebrate their glory and receive all the spotlight while the defeated are ignored.
In contrast, for giant sequoia trees, the strong join together to support the weak. While the law of natural selection suggests they should be competing, it doesn’t make evolutionary sense for trees to be individualists who conquer resources for themselves. Trees live longest and reproduce most in a healthy stable forest. Without neighboring trees, giant sequoias become vulnerable. It makes us wonder… if the weak helps sustain the strong, are they really weak at all? Or are they strong in their own way?
When viewed from the outside, these trees seem to be growing independently. However, upon looking beneath the surface, we can see that their roots are interconnected and share nutrients and water with one another. And interestingly, Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia who studied webs of root and fungi in the Arctic, temperate and coastal forests of North America for nearly three decades, observed that resources tend to flow from the oldest and biggest trees to the youngest and smallest.
Everything is done for the betterment of the whole. It’s important to recognize that each person is not built the same. Strength can be seen in many shapes or forms. Combining everyone’s unique strength is what makes the team — the community or even the society — strong.
The Beauty of Unity
The beauty of trees is that they just are. They don’t pass judgment and say “that tree is weak, let’s exclude them and not send any nutrients there”. They focus on the issue, not the individual and they think and act as one team with the only ulterior motive of surviving together. It’s almost like instinctively, they know that united they are stronger.
When I visited Sequoia National Park for the first time last year, I was filled with awe and wonder at the beauty and grandeur of the giant trees. Their magnificent size reminded me how small and insignificant we humans are compared to the vastness of nature. It was truly a humbling and magical experience. Their calming presence made me feel like they are these guardians that have been watching over us. They looked like gentle ancient giants who through a life filled with centuries of experience, hold a vast store of wisdom that can guide us. It felt like they were saying to me “everything is going to be alright. We survived hundreds and thousands of years. We lived a long, splendid life. We prevailed over all obstacles and so can you”. My spirit was completely refreshed. Even though they cannot move or talk, somehow I felt warmth and compassion overflowing from them. I was so inspired, encouraged and simply couldn’t stop smiling. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I highly recommend for anyone.
As I walked around the park surrounded by these behemoths, in my heart I felt tremendous respect and profound gratitude towards the giant sequoias for never giving up on living all these centuries and allowing me to meet them. I deeply thanked them for letting me witness such elegance that could never be fully captured through any painting or picture. I think this is something crucial we can learn from these trees. Because they support each other, they are able to live this long and grow to this astonishing size. If the giant sequoias decided to keep resources to themselves and survive alone while leaving others to die, we might only be able to see one or two today. And we would never get to enjoy this spectacle in its full abundance. It’s like they are trying to convey to us the message that life becomes more beautiful when you stand tall together. Because the trees focus on surviving together and not abandoning anyone, they are able to create this stunning work of art that has inspired countless people. They teach us the lesson that this how when you have a great team that works together, you can accomplish great things.
When a team is strong, every challenge becomes constructive
The concept of teamwork isn’t only limited to those on our side. On a deeper level, unity is a power that can transcend even our opposition. A team filled with strong capable members working together can form a harmonious relationship with obstructive forces and use them to create value. The ability to turn difficulties into a propelling force for growth is another important factor that sets giant sequoias apart and allows them to outlive other species of trees.
As mentioned earlier, fire is a huge obstacle to other species of trees. But not for giant sequoias. Capable of growing up to 46cm thick, their extremely fibrous bark not only resists burning but also insulates the trees against the fire’s heat. Even if the fire penetrates the trees’ living tissue, new growth can heal the scar. In fact, fire plays an important role in the giant sequoia’s ecosystem. Without fire, they cannot reproduce. Fire gives the trees three things they need for regeneration. First, they punch a hole in the forest, allowing more light and water for seedlings to grow. Second, they heat up their serotinous cones, causing them to dry out and create openings for their seeds to be released. Lastly, the fire clears away all the undergrowth that compete for the abundant sunlight and prepares bare mineral soil young sequoias need for germination.
Wildfires wipe out competition from other species of trees, allowing the sequoias to thrive. In fact, they have adapted to wildfires by timing the release of their seeds to coincide with fire, which creates ideal conditions for successful regeneration. While fire is synonymous with death, for sequoias it is a time of rebirth. Just like the mythological creature Phoenix, sequoias are literally reborn from the ashes of flames. Because of their incredible strength and endurance, what seemed to be a force of destruction turns into a source of rejuvenation. Refusing to be defeated, the giant sequoias takes fire, one of the greatest enemies, as the opportunity for them to grow anew.
One Team
Giant sequoias is the image of unity that comes to my mind when I look at KBTG. Holding themselves high like proud warriors who survive countless wars and waves of changes, that’s how unstoppable we want KBTG to be. We have many ambitious goals ahead. And for such a grand undertaking, ironclad unity is indispensable. Therefore, we strive to create a culture where everyone genuinely supports each other and advance together as One Team:
- Team meetings: every KBTG team, whether it’s our cyber security, infrastructure, design and many others, will have either a daily standup meeting or weekly meeting where the team members can catch up with others to see the progress of their work and their current plans. When someone struggles with their work, our team meetings ensure that their teammates and supervisor are aware of the situation so that those who have experience or skill set for that exact issues can jump in and lend support.
- Cross-team collaborations: to create a system, many teamwork doesn’t just mean working closely with your team, but with other teams as well. This can mean teams at KBTG, KBank, and partners. Employing Agile methodology, we set up squads comprising members from across organization who plays a part in their respective project to help them collaborate more easily, accelerating their work. Whenever we talk to the project team and pose a question “what are the key to the success of their projects?”, they will always say “teamwork” because it’s what they genuinely believe in.
- Buddy system: KBTG has a great support system where during the first six months of working as a new joiner, each employee is assigned a buddy who will be their go-to person for anything they need. Should they have a question, they know who to consult.
- Townhall: Serving as a platform to summarize organization success and relaying the directions we are pursuing as one team, our townhalls are a powerful company-wide gathering that roars with vitality and dynamism where each individual returns to the spirit of the One Team. We all have diverse characters and personalities, but the one root that connects us is our identity as KBTG. Our townhall is a space where each person reaffirms that foundation.
Just like the relationship between the giant sequoias, ultimately the One Team simply means there is no hierarchy between us. Although we play different roles, whether you are an executive or a new joiner, everyone at KBTG is equally important. This is especially evident in our leadership team who are always listening to the employees’ feedback and constantly making improvements on the work process. They genuinely incorporate employee experience as part of our business goals. Regardless of their position or background, we treat our people with the belief each individual is worthy of infinite respect and filled with limitless potential, as if they are the Group Chairman of KBTG himself. That’s the secret to our unity.
We have explored different aspects of One KBTG culture, from One Step Ahead, to One Goal, and now One Team. But how does our core values all tie in together? What does “becoming the best” mean to us?
Next Episode
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