Steering the Wheels with Courage and Teamwork

Prior to the move to the Wuhan office in March 2011 to be part of the Investment and Asset Management team, I was working in Singapore for a few years. During my stay in Singapore, like many locals, I spent most of my weekends in shopping malls. However, after I moved to Wuhan, I took up a new leisure activity - cycling.

Wuhan is divided by Yangtze and Han Rivers into three parts geographically – Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou. There are more than 166 lakes in this city, thus she is given a beautiful name, “City of Hundred Lakes”. Cycling allows me to explore this big city that has many captivating natural greenery, hills and ancient monuments. I also hope to walk into the heart of the city through this leisure activity and experience the local life here.

Courageous Venture

Initially, my parents objected to the idea of me cycling because they have heard many stories of drivers showing bad attitude towards cyclists on the road in Wuhan.

However, their worries were unfounded as the infrastructure here is surprisingly well-developed and cyclist-friendly. Although the roads here are not as well-maintained as those in Singapore, they are unique in their own way. Through my cycling expedition, I discover fascinating streets, shops and hear interesting conversations. However, it also takes me a lot of courage to overcome the obstacles along the way.

The most unforgettable cycling journey I ever had in Wuhan began on Jiangcheng Avenue. I cycled passed Moon Lake, Moshui Lake, Longyang Lake, Taizi Lake, Houguan Lake which finally led me to Zhiyin Lake. There I found our first value homes project in China “The Lakeside” strategically located on its north shore. I was greeted by the serene Zhiyin Lake and the scenery was breathtaking as I embraced the quiet moments by the shore.

As I cycled towards the sales gallery of “The Lakeside”, I was so captivated by its spectacular view and felt so proud of being one of the team members who contributed to this first value homes project in China. I continued cycling around the sales gallery and started reminiscing on those fond memories and good learning experience that I had gained since I came to Wuhan one and a half years ago.

I recalled when I first came to Wuhan, the roads were muddy and there were so many construction sites around with big trucks transporting the construction materials on the road. The locals would often crack a joke that the whole Wuhan city is just like a big construction site.

Teaming, Bonding and Growing

Located in this rapid-growing city is our office in China, Wuhan, which has also come a long way. There were less than ten employees when I first joined the team. It has since grown and there are now sixty of us! Setting up a new team was certainly a challenging task but the opportunity to go through the process proved to be an enriching and exciting experience. Besides putting in my 100% on to my job, I have also been actively involved in many REC (Recreation) Club activities. I would say that 2012 Annual Dinner & Dance and the team building event held in May this year were of great significance to me. When I was nominated by the Management to organise the Dinner and Dance event, I was quite concerned as I had no prior experience. However, Lady of Luck was on my side. Many colleagues came forward with their strong support and assistance. Within a short period of time, we formed a performing team and started our practices after work and during weekends despite a very tight working schedule. Though the practice sessions were tiring but they were full of laughter and joyful moments. Two months of hard work finally paid off when our performance received good feedback from our colleagues. We had a wonderful time and I believed all who attended had a fond memory of this event.

We also had a teambuilding event took place in May last year and we were lucky to be blessed with very good weather. This event was held at Gumen Mountain, a scenic area located in Wuhan Mulan ecotourism area, Yaojia Town. It is 65 kilometres away from Wuhan city center and has a typical landscape of the Stone Forest Scenic. The programme was physically challenging but it was packed with fun-filled activities, such as athletic contest night and crowd-cheering performances. However, this event has also taught me a good lesson that remained unforgettable till today. I was so anxious to win the Best Group award that I broke the game rules unknowingly in one of the games. As a result, my whole team was punished. I felt so guilty and upset but fortunately my team members were very encouraging and they cheered me on. We regained our energy and participated actively and cohesively in the subsequent games. Though we didn’t manage to clinch the overall Best Group award, we have built better team spirit through the process, hence this made it a more meaningful achievement for us. We had the grand finale by the campfire and we sang the night away. We know each other better after the event and appreciate the importance of teamwork be it work or fun.

I have seen myself grow during the past one and a half years. I witnessed the synergy and courage among the team members, under the excellent leadership from the senior management team, in making the first value homes project in China a great success. I am happy to be part of the team and am ready to take on more challenges ahead!

Article is contributed by Ma Wenhui Vinnie, Senior Executive - Investment & Asset Management, CapitaLand China.

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