Women leadership series - In conversation with Ying Fu

How would you introduce yourself?

Hello, I am Fu Ying and I would introduce myself as a program manager, as a driver to lead the team to move forward in the right direction.

Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role?

My whole career so far is within TW and the journey started as a developer, eventually, shifting the role to Delivery lead, Product Owner, Head of Operation, Program manager. Majority of my career is work under multiple culture environments. Which helps me look at things from different angles.

The first time I got a leadership role is quite interesting, it is not an officially "assigned" leadership role. It was the 2nd year I joined TW. There is an NGO project which needs to work with clients from Africa and the UK, and with a group of people from TW Inida. From China, and it was just me and a new hire who have 10 years experience. Given I have longer experience in TW and know about the project, I start to take the ownership and drive the delivery of the work. Even providing suggestions to my teammate.

I saw this as the first time I took the leadership role even though at that time, I didn't feel this way.

What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them?

My top challenge when I was in a leadership role was the balance of growing people and doing things by myself.

As a leader, when I step into an area that I'm not familiar with, I need to build up the team to move things forward instead of doing things by myself (I even can't do it by myself). This will need me to better think about the impact of work and set the right expectations with the team. I'm not overcome them yet.

Still working on it. But I'm more and more patient on this now.

What motivates you?

Ownership motivates me to keep driving the thing forward.

Curiosity motivates me to explore different areas from PS to Operation.

Willing to get things done motivates me to remove blocker and build connections.

Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to?

I don't have a specific role model.

I do learn things from different people. For example: Matheus, he was a very supportive leader who gave space to team members to grow and provide support when they needed it. David, he is great at balancing different parties within TechOps. Jade, putting things better organized. Yuntao, think things from a balanced view, and care about people's career development. Xiaoli, be very clear about what is the target to achieve. Gao Li, very calm and easily takes up new roles.

There are still more people I'm learning from. I can't summarize all of them.

What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style?

Leadership means responsibility, means good influence to others. My leadership style is more empowering, creating a safe space and opportunities for team members to leverage their strength and desire. Through supporting their success to make me and the team successful.

What would be your advice to young leaders?

People are always important.

Always think about how to support your people's success and make the work successful.