Jin-su Park - My Power Grids Story

"While working in ABB Korea GBS Finance, I was able to observe overall businesses and among them, Power Grids fascinated me the most. Most people tend to avoid difficult issues and try not to take any risk on themselves. What I felt from Power Grids was different. Power Grids’ people take actions promptly, takes full responsibility, and always proactive. I am sure that it came from its own team spirit and mentality. Leaders and managers are not afraid of handling new challenges (even if they might feel something wrong, they always give positive view and energy). Power Grids always moves fast, thinks correctly, and looks for reasonable and efficient ways.

Most of all, I can easily hear ‘Boss culture’, ‘politics in workplace’ from many of my friends. (I have experienced it also). Based on hierarchy, the boss takes all the authority and does not listen to the staff and makes arbitrary decisions. Hence, it causes politics just to agree with whatever the boss says without any reasonableness. It brings down the organization.

However, as far as I have experienced in Power Grids Korea, there is nothing like that. Boss and managers try to listen to the voice of employees and communicate to each other for issues and topics. I was so impressed when my boss had a session and listened to the questions as much as he could in order to reduce any worries and give information where Power Grids would go and welfare plans, and took individual interviews again to share and talk. Then I did feel that the management really do care. It made me admire the way Power Grids Korea work & I am very proud to be a part of it now.

If you watch Korean drama or movies, Korean people look very stressed against heavy workload and hierarchical culture in workplaces. In Power Grids Korea, it is different. We look for finding a way to be better. If there are new solutions to be improved, we dare to try and adapt. We have equal opportunities and a comfortable atmosphere to share opinions to create value and enhance efficiency. We respect each other and cooperation is our key culture. These things make us finish work on time and set up work and life balance and get happiness being Power Grids. Plus, some foreigners said Korean people have ‘fast fast’ culture. It seems too rushing in all the ways and could be considered in a negative way. But in our workplace, I think it is one of our strong points. (We) do not make pending items and clear it right away through aggressive approaches. There is nothing quite much better even if we keep it few hours or days. ‘Do it right and quickly’: that is what our team has.

To be honest, as a finance team, it is hard to demonstrate how I can contribute to sustainable energy / decarbonizing the world. But I do believe that if I support my customers correctly and there is no wasted energy, it would save cost and resources. Then, we could invest more for our factory to create sustainable energy and find the best way to decarbonize the world.

Harmony (teamwork), Sincerity (toward customers, colleagues, and society at large), and Pioneering Spirit (continuing to take on new challenges even after experiencing failure). It is known as the Hitachi Founding Spirit. And I can say it does match with what Power Grids have. I believe that the collaboration of our experience and technology will develop our bright future."