Directing the Annual Party was to be one of my last acts in the Wangfujing centre, and in mid-January, I transferred to the Wangjing centre, the smallest one in Beijing, along with my manager.
Late January - From Wangfujing to Wangjing
Prior to my transfer to Wangfujing (which means Prince Fu’s Well by the way), I was a Service Team Supervisor in a smaller centre, and one day my then manager told me the Wangfujing centre wanted me. Always excited by new challenges, I was very happy to transfer; It was at a time when I felt I needed a change of scenery and I also wanted more responsibility.
So when I was told that I’d transfer a 2nd time away from Wangfujing just a few months after arriving, I was surprised to say the least…
Big Challenges in Korea-town
It turned out that my new manager was in line for a promotion and as he would be spending a lot of his time out of the centre in his new role, he could only manage a smaller centre - this was the reason he was transferring but why me too?
In the new centre, he also needed someone to manage the day-to-day operations of the centre whilst he was away doing visits to other centres, and he picked me as that person to help him run the centre - I guessed it also helped that I was the only foreign Supervisor in Beijing and so ’stuck out’ a bit from the other Supervisors in the city.
After being told of the situation (and that I’d be kind of managing the new centre part-time), I quickly realised that it’d be a great opportunity to:
1. learn and develop key management skills such as communication, planning, and project management.
2. get management experience in China and improve the CV.
3. earn more and save more for a rainy day.
4. hire, develop and manage foreign and local staff.
5. do something else other than teaching full-time.
6. land a Service Manager position and try out those Dilbert theories.
My manager and I moved to the company’s centre in Wangjing, a district to the north-east of the city, and also known as ‘Korea-town’. The centre itself was much smaller and was much quieter than the flagship centre we were both previously at.
The new centre posed its own challenges and many challenges there were. Almost everything about the centre needed an overhaul; the teaching material, some of the staff, the practices and systems, the culture o the centre, and the habits of the students as well as staff.
Sink or swim
Nonetheless, we set about getting stuck into the challenges and within a few months we were starting to see progress and positive results. The days when I was the lone manager in the centre really helped me to build my confidence, communication skills, and my knowledge of the practices within the company.
‘Sink or swim’ is often the culture in young companies (such as the one I’m at) without a proper, tried-and-tested career development plan for it’s staff, but sometimes I find getting thrown in at the deep end is the best way to learn.
As the months passed, the performance of the centre improved in all aspects and I was starting to gain a more complete understanding of the Service Manager job. Whilst I never considered an English teaching job as anything more than a way of earning money, I started to believe that the SM job was definitely worth going for.
However, in 2009, the company decided that it wouldn’t expand it’s operations (i.e. open new centres) and would instead focus on consolidating it’s position as the leading English language institution in China. This wasn’t good news for me as it meant I’d have to wait for a year before any new centres would be open - if they would open any more…
Non-work related - J in Beijing for Spring Festival
In non-work related activities, for the 2nd year in a row, J came to visit me for Spring Festival and again it was a welcome way to spend the holiday. Spring Festival is the biggest holiday in China and everyone gets about a week off work.
We spent the time making dumplings (a traditional custom during the holiday), trying out different restaurants, drinking, and checking out the coolest (and coldest!) places in Beijing.
When J left to return to Korea, and life returned to normal but it wouldn’t be so long before we could see each other again.
