A Difficult Month Helps Edam Build Teams Across Land and Sea
October 2018 was a challenging month for Juandy Gerry Edam.
“We were met with many rejections from schools,” Edam, who at the time was one of Ruangguru’s 300 area managers (AM) spread across Indonesia and was based in the City of Manado, North Sulawesi, recounted of the strife he and his team went through in October.
As AM, Edam’s responsibilities consisted of managing six field educational consultants (FEC). His team is one of the clusters in his geographical area of work. They would identify schools in the area, in which he and his FECs would visit, present, and introduce Ruangguru in front of students, teachers, and the school’s principal. Their October target? A lot of new Ruangguru users.
Edam recalled that he and his team didn’t have sales targets before and that trying to achieve them became a big dent in the team’s technical abilities and daily motivations.
They had many quarrels, meetings, and discussions. Fast forward a month later, in came November 2018. It was then announced that Edam’s cluster generated the most users nationally. They received the award for Best National Cluster and Edam was named Best National AM. It truly was a feat.
In June of 2019, Edam received a promotion and became a regional lead, where he oversees a total of 10 clusters in the provinces of North Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Maluku, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua. (That’s a total of 64 people! A tenfold growth!)
Edam remembers that October as one of the greatest professional growth he’s had. He learned and improved his negotiation skills and strategy, especially when choosing which schools his team should visit and how they would approach communications upon the visit. He and his team also upgraded their presentation skills.
“There was a time where we had role-play training continuously, and it was a lot of fun for my team and I even though we sometimes practiced until 11 p.m. and we pretended as if we were presenting in class,” Edam said.
Yet one of the biggest takeaways for Edam was that in order to achieve certain goals, it’s crucial for him, as a leader, to develop and manage the emotional connection between his team members.
Edam works from Manado, but it is not rare that he’d fly and visit other clusters in the many regions he oversees. He believes that part of his responsibility is to maintain cohesion in his teams.
Edam would visit and check the training needs of his team, provide knowledge on the proper administrative procedures for each cluster, or share his insights about identifying schools clusters should visit. His visit has become especially important when a team or team members in the field lack motivation.
“In the process of people development and team building, a leader must reach out to those even in the lowest of ranks and confirms for himself what’s interfering with his team’s performance? What are the challenges on the ground?,” Edam said.
Since he sees significant team improvements with the growth of emotional bond, Edam said that openness drives such bond. Edam would conduct sharing sessions with the AMs he oversees and encourages them to have one with their respective FECs. If the opportunity presents itself, Edam and his team would go out outside of work too, like treating them on a pizza dinner.
Even so, Edam admitted that treading the balance between sewing personal connection and maintaining professional roles is difficult.
There was a time where Edam went too easy, he recounted. He left something unnoticed and trouble ensued. After, he learned that he needs to develop discipline in his team and assert more control. He decided that he would maintain a tighter grip.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. If we’re too rough, they might leave. If we’re too soft, we might be blindsided. We have to be aware of our team’s maturity too,” Edam explained. “I want to build a sense of family in my team, that we’re not simply working here, that we don’t only care about our work, but we also care about each other. We complete each other.”
Edam said he understands that team building and people development are key points in his job. It has become more true and precise, now that he oversees tens of people in different provinces.
“All of our achievements is because of all of our work together,” he added.
Despite the difficulties and turbulences, Edam admitted that he’s experienced massive growth he’s thankful for because of joining Ruangguru.
“I see my work for Ruangguru as a form of prayer for the God Almighty and I believe I work for a noble goal,” Edam said. “When I see a student succeeding or school principals thanking me because they are meeting their targets after using Ruangguru, that’s when I feel satisfied and gratified.”
Edam’s story is one of constant development and adventure. If you’re looking for a role that will foster your skills and help you solve problems like Edam, come aboard. Join #TimRuangguru here.
