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BeSchulze
Advisor
Advisor
Co-authored by Reshmi Paul and Bert Schulze

Welcome back to our series about cross generations at the workplace. This time, we’re going to hear from Reshmi how she experiences her everyday life at work with regards to her motivation, communication habits, the role social media plays, and much more.

My name is Reshmi Paul, currently residing in Mannheim, Germany but originating from India.



I have completed by Master of Science from University of Mannheim in the field of Business Informatics. During my studies, I started working with SAP as a working student. After that, I got the opportunity to work with the SAP S/4HANA Product Management and Co-Innovation team @SAP as an early talent. To understand what motivates me, let me start with a quote which always made me run and reflects my point of view well.

 

“Millennials don't want to be managed, they like to be led, coached and mentored. This generation is on fire and ready to go. Are you ready to change the world?”
― Farshad Asl
.


 

The real sense of the quote, in my eyes, lies in the life of all Millennials, independent of working or personal context. When I look back, transition from adolescence to adult is a path of roller coaster summed up with challenges, stress, competition and much more. These challenges made me who I am today and shape my life in all possible spheres.

Let me give some background where I come from to set that in context:

Being raised from a nuclear Indian family, the changes were more evident. Challenges seem to have become a vital part of life to achieve my dreams. The difference in the generation was first noticed when school kid’s questions became a nightmare for teachers. Previously, it was considered that good children never “argue” neither say “no” to adults. This was the time when I started challenging myself to stand in for my own views and fight for my own strength.

This attitude towards life has changed the entire outlook of mine. Everyday new responsibilities came into whether it’s about figuring out the right path of career, towards commitment, looking for a job, etc. As said advices are always free and plenty that paves one’s way, but filtering these advices was my own choice.

Eventually, it became effective as years kept passing by and helped me to choose the career that I always wanted to pursue. I feel millennials are the bundle of techies, networkers, and travellers. Having grown up in the digital era, internet, mobile, and smart gadgets became the necessity of existence also for me. The curiosity of knowing things seems to be running in every drop of blood. My generation never sleeps nor allow anyone else to sleep. We are rather packages of surprises.

 

Motivation and Task that make me run

Let me tell you something about my journey @SAP.  It’s been more than two years now since I’ve started life with SAP – which is my first permanent employer at the same time. The years were a mixture of various emotions and challenges. Emotions ran when switching the departments, leaving old colleagues on the other side excited to meet new fellows. Work seems to be tough, sometimes even undoable, unless completed. Work is a flow of never ending tasks that almost never completes and the challenges that come along to solve is the most exciting part. Sounds paradox, but this is what keeps me moving.

After working as a working student with several teams @SAP, the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Product Management Team helped me grow in several aspects starting to work on multiple projects at a time. This results in changing and constantly adapting to the changes without losing track on outcomes. The challenges going along with it, like new tasks and more interactions with various colleagues spread globally motivates me to a greater extent.

I sometime ask myself, “Well am I doing what I really wanted to do?”, “Is the task I am involved in satisfying me or do I need to consider something new?”. The answer to the questions are quite satisfying. The responsibility that I took and working upon, end to end project managing is what I looked for to start my career. It doesn’t restrict to task and responsibility only but also interesting to work with different generations and multicultural team. It is also amazing to see how the style of communication, approach towards any task, differs across every individual within a team and hence helps me to learn more with every passing day.

From that perspective, it is no indication of disloyalty to ask that question rather than challenging my organisation constantly for even more challenging tasks to personally grow.

The other important thing that motivates me is to add my ideas and play with it in any project I am involved in. It actually helps me to think, broaden my outlook and also drives continuous improvement. The work environment, flexible workplace, and many more adds to the motivation to work for @SAP. This can be well explained with the picture embedded below. The picture proves that the colleagues are not only connected at the workplace but are part of extended life outside @SAP. It helps me personally to know my colleagues better and also connects stronger and also perfectly demonstrates the non-existing borders between work and life as a foundation of my generation´s point of view.

I personally feel that managing work and personal life becomes almost an “Art”. Work is like food and friends are like oxygen. Lack of any of these would cause severe harm to any mankind. This motivates me to run a better life and manage both together.



Social Media and Communication:

When I personally take social media into consideration, I have two ambivalent point of views towards it. When considering my personal life, social media has become one of the most important parts of my life. Orkut was the first social media platform that I used. The over fascinating concept to meet different people across the globe and to reconnect with friends and family grabbed my attention towards it. Later, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. And yes, it’s true I am addicted to social media, I, personally, am very selective when it comes to the point of sharing pictures and videos on Facebook or Instagram, in contrast sharing via WhatsApp goes much easier and also since I am well connected with closed ones via WhatsApp.

On the other hand, during my daily business, I feel that direct face to face communication or phone calls are much easier than writing big text or emails. I appreciate improving the relationship between people, easy communication, interactive and can also learn from the expressions. Social media like Twitter, LinkedIn also popular in any business in order to grow professionally and keep updated with the latest updates and our customers of course.

 

My take

In a nutshell, I feel that the social media appetite at work, is totally depending on individual´s level, independent of generations. When I compare my outlook and my personality with other millennials, I hardly find any fully equal person.

Especially in connecting, communicating with peers and also my personal approach to take over tasks. Growing in the digital era have definitely changed our lifestyle when compared to previous generation but we are all individual with our own perspective.

 

If you want to follow us, you can find us on

Reshmi Paul Twitter @PaulRe25 and  LinkedIn

Bert Schulze Twitter @BeSchulze and LinkedIn