Effective and Supportive Teamwork through Trust, Respect, and Communication

Adapting to working on a different time zone has its share of challenges. But as an offshore Finance & Operations team from ASW Vietnam has shown, the spirit of teamwork helps them to succeed. Read more about how they perform their duties diligently and deliver great results.

1. Hi Team! Please introduce yourselves and tell us about your work and what do you enjoy outside work?

Sophie: My name is Sophie Le and I have been with ASW for more than 4 years, running the Finance & Operations Team for an Australian wealth management firm. I enjoy listening to old music in a completely quiet place, watching comedy TV shows with my family, eating hot and spicy food, and shopping.

Brian: My name is Tam (Brian) Tieu. I have been working as a Finance & Operations Officer since December 2018. My main role is taking care of the Investment Administration and some Internal Operation tasks. I like playing badminton, going to the gym, and swimming.

Annie: My name is An Nguyen Ngoc Thien but people call me Annie. I have been with the team for 5 months as a Finance & Operations Officer. I enjoy painting and hanging out with my friends during the weekend.

Emma: My name is Thuy Trang (Emma). I have been working with the team for more than a year now as a Finance & Operations Officer. I love to cook and collect children’s books.

Tracy: My name is Tracy Nguyen. I’ve been with ASW for more than 4 years and I am currently a Finance & Operations Officer. I enjoy shopping, travelling, and hanging out with my friends and colleagues.

2. What are the usual challenges that you encounter? What do you enjoy most about your work?

Sophie: At team level, some of the work challenges are the time lags between HCMC and Sydney which occasionally affects our ability to process work immediately in real time. But these challenges are completely dominated by many other aspects of my job that I really enjoy doing. Going bilingual everyday keeps me up to date with the international business language. It is also an on-job learning curve for me to learn new things about the investment world.

Emma: What I love is that I can enhance my knowledge and learn new skills to develop myself. Ours is a company with a great culture. I always receive help and encouragement from my colleagues in Vietnam and Australia.

3. How would you describe yourselves as a team? What is the secret of your teamwork?

Sophie: Everyone in the team is a great team player with unique personalities and competitive advantages, forming a strong and capable Finance & Operations team. One of our key strategies towards great teamwork is to follow the well-known saying about leadership: to maximize people’s strengths and make their weaknesses irrelevant.

Brian: I can describe myself as a supportive member with a “can do” attitude. The secret of our teamwork is “respect” for all members.

Annie: I’m very collaborative and have always preferred to work in groups to deliver quality results. I believe encouragement, recognition, and support are key to building an effective team. My co-workers and my manager are really supportive whenever I need advice.

4. How do you motivate yourself and each other at work, especially during this pandemic?

Sophie: One of the ways we motivate each other for both personal and team growth is to recognise excellent performances and take any past mistakes as lessons learned for improvement. The idea of self-motivation and peer-motivation further challenged us when Covid-19 pandemic hit. We talk about how we try to look at the positive side of the crisis from our own lens.

Tracy: Back when we were still in office, we would go out for team lunch or for coffee to recognise excellent performances and discuss mistakes for improvements. During this pandemic time, our team conversations include sharing so we can encourage each other to look at the positive side and not let the negative things affect us. We also appreciate that we are still able to work full-time.

5. What important lessons have you learned working together as a team?

Brian: The important lessons that I learned is communication between team members because if I do not communicate well enough, there will be a gap to work effectively.

Annie: I have learned that “trust among team members is the foundation of effective teamwork.” When we trust each other’s abilities and skills, it allows us to comfortably work with each other and builds good relationships to foster teamwork.

Tracy: Working as a team has taught me to be more understanding and that cooperation between team members is very important to keep the team running efficiently and effectively.

6. Thanks for your time! Is there anything else you’d like to share with your fellow ASW colleagues since we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary?

Sophie: I am very thrilled and honoured to witness ASW’s 10th year milestone. Although I only started with the company 4 years ago, I have already seen how fast-paced the company has grown in scale year on year. This is just amazing! I wish the 10th year anniversary will open another decade ahead with more success and greater prosperity for all businesses ASW has been and will be doing in the future!

Annie: Congratulations ASW on your 10th Anniversary! Wishing more success and achievements in the upcoming future! I hope we can meet each other soon to celebrate this very big occasion.