Empowerment in uncertainty
- Aoyumi Jung
- Jul 1, 2020
- 5 min read
01 July 2020
This is my second week of internship at JUMP! In this blog, I will share my rambling on values penetrated throughout the journey with JUMP! As a young Vietnamese person, I have had a couple of times to step in the working environment of start-up organizations and youth-led community projects. The common characteristic between the two is the flexibility to play with our creativity yet things are mostly messy in the process of collaboration in team and outcome measurement. There is a big knowledge and skillset gap that I wish to build and practice is the working culture. Partly for this, my summer 2020 converged at JUMP! to dive into a multi-national organization of experiential education. Some people laughed and ask what I could do with an online internship. I smile saying it is an adventure to discover human connection and personal mastery.
Value interns as rockstars with detailed self-development plan
The first and foremost important task for us as an intern is to set goals and expectations of the internship. What I love is to have straightforward conversations with my manager, Perrin Duncan, to speak in detail of my objectives and clarify what JUMP! can offer to help me meet the target. I thought my written application and long interview already explained well on my intention and the reason behind it. Yet everything needs to put down into an explanatory document, importantly, it is a thoughtful set of objectives including a plan to achieve and evaluation approach. I have to share that document with my teammate before talking to Perrin. We exchange some similar objectives and different hope at the same time. Perhaps, that is the great point of being collaborative in the diversity of perspectives. The context containing us not to see each other in person but pushes us to emerge together as people who love a sense of learning and business.
Based on our goals, Perrin tries to connect us to the ideal environment catering our needs. For example, I am interested in learning about experiential education values and facilitation methods so I will be attending some training sessions for facilitators. My teammate is leading the initiative of revamping the theoretical sections on the website into some innovative posts because she likes exploring such organizational theories.
2. Autonomy and empowerment
At first, we started by familiarizing ourselves with basic ideas of the Marketing and Communication Department. Our manager always provides detailed information to us through emails and WhatsApp. We were introduced to the Global team by sharing self-introduction on 3 topics (my objectives at JUMP!, 3 fun facts bout myself and what inspires me). After goal-setting, we investigated in all JUMP! Communication channels (Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram) and give feedback on their operation according to Plus and Delta points. The task means our contributions are valued and see how much we understand JUMP! communication activities.
Every day is a joyful day with the tasks that we are assigned from Perrin. The assignments, however, allows us to take autonomy to innovate as the way we want. We receive a running to-do-list every week that I can divide them into a smaller scale for gradual progress. I feel empowered whenever we have some concern or request, Perrin will ask us to discuss among the intern team and make the decision by ourselves. We set the group norms, agreement upon a typical platform to work (Google Drive instead of Asana), who do what in Instagram management, etc. Though being required to work for 40 hours per week, we have a right to work flexibly within our own space. There is no pressure to meet the deadline or to reach up to the working hour expectation at all. Plus, Perrin pressed on the importance of collaboration between 2 interns instead of taking tasks as a competition. We were clarified to be on the same page at mindset and way forward.
3. Space for conversational connection
Check-in call with teammates
I would highly recommend this “assignment” for any organization that work remotely for the time being. It is powerful for teammates to stay connected and motivated together. The daily check-in call is up to us to decide so we take it as a casual report time and get to know each other. We share our learning points and some difficulties if facing, by that, we can give feedback on how to improve them. My teammates are from Abu Dhabi and Canada, full of energy and interesting worldviews which give me indeed an inspiration. We don’t have to talk about work all the time so we are free to update our life about friendship, cultures or summer plan, etc. I can’t wait to have more conversations with the young minds everyday.
Check-in call with JUMP! people
I am blessed to have the opportunity to reach out to one Global member per week to have a get-to-know-you call. It is the space to learn more from people’s stories that I don’t work directly with. It is part of the intern’s benefits rather than responsibility. Whoever I have reached out to is incredible for their greater level of thinking and life-experience. Calling with them is always a highlight of my day for being exposed to the dynamics of the conversations. Some loved talking about adventure interests, some gave advice on how I want to fulfill my internship, some simply shared their views towards my sharing. And, all of the voice embraces educational values to reflect on my thinking and understand JUMP! better. Everyone at JUMP! has a passion for art, body movement and adventures. Among the whole sky of personalities, what is common is their positive energy and sympathetic attitude.
Reflect on the journey of empowerment and self-development
At the end of the day, for me, empowerment is felt right from a simple act- having conversations together. We just need to have a space to practice the right of expression and beyond what we think we can say. As the conversations go, the vulnerable self of individuals come out beautifully, which is stimulated by hearts of compassion and inspiration. How miraculous to constantly find that empowerment in every project and communication moment at JUMP! Self-empowerment goes along with the recognition of leadership, guiding me to take initiatives and empower others to join hands.
As such, there are hidden potentials that need external “ignition” to get on fire, if not, youths might bear doubts of our capabilities and the power of their voice. That’s what I used to go through when living as an invisible individual in my other university in Vietnam. The most outstanding cause of my depression is the lack of empowerment in class, interpreted as human suppression. I later found a name to the scenario where students do not dare to speak up called “the culture of silence” by a Brazilian philosopher, Paulo Freire. Stacey Jones had an insightful blog investigating Paulo’s brilliant concepts on how “adopt critical consciousness for lasting change”. Her blog resonates with the current context of many youths in the world and my history. I never felt I could ask any question in the lecture hall among hundreds of classmates even though teachers ask “Any questions?” It is not how I am inspired to raise my voice, it should be from their genuine care towards students. I realize that the tittle of “educator” does not mean that all precious values like learning, acceptance or connection are practiced along, vice versa, those who are humble to learn from any individuals and an open mind to welcome differences deserve more than just a title.
In retrospect
On the recent conversation with Stacy, I learned that I can make myself empowered. It doesn’t have to be the empowerment brought by anyone. We have the ability to make our identity be seen and heard. Everyone is one unique self but we have to walk through similar trajectories comprising growing up, facing strange events and realizing what is our ultimate goals to live. Eventually, it is thanks to empowerment from ourselves and other human beings that we are able to deal with uncertainty, failure and complexity to strive for the better.
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