Story of our Excellence Officer – Miss. Haya Mustafa

First job always holds a special place in the heart as well as in life. The job becomes even more special if the employer is Kaizen AMS. I am very grateful to Kaizen’s leadership for making me a part of this beautiful family where each employee is treated with utmost respect, kindness, and dignity -like a family member.

When I joined Kaizen AMS in November last year as Excellence Officer, I had ‘butterflies in my stomach’, i.e.  I was very nervous. I was complete stranger to the corporate environment. Like any other person, I also had hundreds of questions in my mind about my manager and co-workers and the work environment, however, all my confusion and dilemmas were solved once-in-for-all when I went to the Kaizen office. My line manager, Mrs. Vidya Cawa conducted my induction and introduced me to the leadership and my co-workers. Everyone behaved with me in such a manner that they know me for years. My coworkers and my manager aligned all my mandatory trainings and made me understand all the rules, regulations, and norms of the company. 

Kaizen AMS is a highly diverse organization. On my first day, I got the opportunity to meet people from 5 continents. It was indeed an unforgettable experience. I met people from India, Russia, Africa, Lebanon,  Philippines, Pakistan, and several other nations and learned a lot about their nations, cultures, traditions, behaviours, cultural differences, etc. For me, it was like a world tour in 7 hours. I can say proudly that I have connections in every part of the world. I could have never expected the start of my professional career in such a beautiful manner.

I joined Kaizen as an Excellence Officer. In my daily job, I am responsible for serving the residents of 150+ Kaizen Managed communities which come from across the globe. It is indeed an incredible experience interacting with people from so many cultures and backgrounds. Before joining Kaizen AMS, I knew only 2 languages i.e. – Arabic & English; however in less than a year of joining Kaizen and spending time with a global workforce, I have learned 4 new languages i.e. Russian, Hindi, Spanish, and French. Although I am not an expert speaker but somehow I can comprehend well in these languages. Thanks to Kaizen for making me a multilingual personality. I wish one day I meet all my fellow Kaizeners in their respective countries and spend time with their beautiful families. 

Now let me talk about my job role and team. I am part of the Communications Excellence team. I am responsible for solving some of the pressing challenges faced by our stakeholders. It gives me immense pleasure to serve Kaizen’s stakeholders and bring smiles on their faces every day. We say in Arabic, ‘Khidmat Alnaas hi Khidmat Allah’ – which means ‘to serve people is to serve god’. I feel in my daily job I get an opportunity to serve God every day.  My job and the positive feedback I receive from the stakeholders keeps my motivation levels high.

My team members make my journey with Kaizen even more memorable. Each team member motivates me and encourages me to do something different from the previous day. My line manager Vidya – who hails from India, is a blend of Indian wisdom with Arabic modesty. She is very quick to analyze the challenges I might face and provide her expert opinion. Her support helps me in resolving the clients’ queries much faster and live up to the Kaizen AMS’ vision ‘to Create Memorable Experiences and Communities’. My manager has always been my wonder woman. She has always been by my side whenever I needed her assistance. Vidya is doing an ultimate job of imparting her valuable learning and teachings to the team and empowering them in becoming the leaders of tomorrow. 

Another unique aspect of working with Kaizen AMS is it respects the suggestions and opinions of every employee irrespective of their position in the hierarchy. I have seen many of my suggestions turning into reality in the last half-year and reaping the benefits for my team as well as for the company and its stakeholders. This provides an employee a true experience of being a leader or a CEO and makes the person feel more confident in taking up the next role. This also encourages the employees to come up with new ideas for the greater good of everyone.  

At Kaizen, every day is an opportunity for ‘Continuous Improvement’ and learning new things. After joining Kaizen, I have seen myself solving complex problems and becoming a problem solver which I was not earlier. I have started ‘deep-diving into the root cause’ and have started ‘challenging the status quo (two of the core values of Kaizen). I have started analyzing the business needs more deeply and reaching the most viable solution. I have seen myself becoming more patient and turning from a person who always used to pick a safe side to a real risk-taker. This happened because Kaizen provided me with a platform to showcase my talent and skills. I would like to thank the top leadership – Fadi Nwilati, Alex Voytov, and Sara Nwilati for nurturing a culture where employees feel empowered to learn new things improve every day, and grow in their professional careers. Kaizeners truly personifies the values that the Kaizen brand represents.

My experience with Kaizen is a long story. This is just the first chapter. Rest is still unwritten.  I hope one day I will complete this story and I am sure it will be one of the most alluring stories and will make the readers enthusiastic about working with Kaizen AMS.