‘Respecting individuality and acknowledging strengths’: How Ayushi builds a happy and productive team
Meet Ayushi Singh, Senior Engineering Manager at Urban Company, who joined us almost two years ago, in July 2021.
In her free time, Ayushi loves to travel, paint and sketch. Like most of us, she enjoys watching TV series and movies to relax and unwind. Occasionally, she also enjoys reading non-fiction books, mostly on nutrition and personal growth.
Read on to find out how Ayushi leads and motivates her team.
What was your journey to joining Urban Company, and how have you grown since joining?
I started my career with Flipkart in 2013 as a front-end developer working on their Windows application. Over the course of 8 years, I worked on multiple domains and technologies, which helped me grow immensely from a fresher to an experienced software professional.
In mid 2021, I was presented with an opportunity to join UC as an engineering leader for their partner e-commerce business. Moving on from Flipkart after 8 years was a big decision for me, but speaking with and getting to know the leadership team allowed me to become familiar with their cultural values and the immense opportunities in the organization and the market. This erased all my hesitation and made it a very smooth transition.
In the last one and a half years at UC, my team has grown multiple-fold. As my team has scaled up, my own leadership skills and experience have grown.
On the technical front, I’ve had the opportunity to solve many challenges in building systems that work at scale. Along with the growth of core partner side product sales, we are venturing into the completely unknown and exciting path of selling the products directly to our customers.
I’m learning new things every day, and I’m excited about the growth opportunities that are available to me and my team.
What is something unique about your team here?
The best thing about my team is that we are a very closely-knit group. We work together to solve hard problems, and we hang out together while having fun. This allows my team members to have great teamwork and collaboration.
Everyone on my team is a go-getter. They don’t mind getting their hands wet with code that belongs to other teams if it means that we’ll be able to deliver on team commitments faster.
They feel a sense of belonging to the team, are committed to their work, and really care about the success of the organization.
What is the most common challenge that managers face while leading teams?
At times, leaders have a fixed way of working, and they apply the same recipe to everyone. Getting over this is one of the biggest challenges leaders face while leading teams.
Understanding that every person is different and acknowledging their strengths and growth points at an individual level is very important.
Projects will keep changing, but the team and every individual’s strengths are what define the team’s success. So spending time with the team at both a personal and professional level regularly is a key to building a happy and productive team.
What’s your personal mantra, and where did it come from?
Actually, there are two, and I personally feel very strongly about both of them.
A team is built on the foundation of trust and respect.
Having a relationship with the team, where they trust each other and are aiming for a common goal and vision, has always helped me. I have always been a person who starts with getting to know an individual at a personal level before working with them on defining their growth plan.
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.
This quote by Phil Jackson really resonates for me. Over the years, I have realized that great products can’t be built by a single person. Every successful product has a successful team behind it, and everyone plays a crucial role in it. So having a team that communicates and works effortlessly together is very important.
What is a piece of advice you give to new managers at Urban Company?
Building a culture of psychological safety within the team is very important. This can only happen when there is a feeling of mutual trust between each member of the team.
One of the most important things a new leader can do is connect with individuals and listen to them with an open mind to understand their views and expectations. This will help in building a transparent relationship with the team so that they can rely on you when they face challenges.
Understanding the “why” is very important.
While working on projects, new managers often get into the habit of focusing purely on execution without ensuring that the team is aligned on the vision.
Ensuring that team members understand the long term goals and the reasoning behind any big choices being made will go a long way in keeping the team motivated and on-track.
Sounds like fun?
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