2022 IOTM
SYASYA's
interview
Written By: Dk Syaida Qistina binti Pg Ibrahim (21B3004)
Interviewer: Muhammad Riyanulaiman Effendy bin Mohammad Yazid (20B0120)
With great honour, we announce the Leadership Inspirasee for August 2022 is none other than Nur Amal Batrisyia @ Syasya Binti Hj Mohamad. Syasya is in her 3rd year 2nd semester from UBD School of Business and Economics, majoring in Business Administration.
Syasya’s leadership journey began during her ‘A’ level years as a peer counsellor under Sports and Culture in her first year and as the Vice Captain of her sports house, Indera Putera, in her second year. As she enrolled in UBD, her leadership roles advanced to being a member of Kadet Tentera, a member of Public Relations of UBDSBE Student Council, and a member of UBD’s netball committee.
So, what inspired her to take up a leadership role? Syasya initially wanted exposure in the leadership field simply to realize her own capabilities and potential. However, once she began working in a group setting, she found a passion for working with a large group of people and pushing others to reach their full potential. She firmly believes one is unaware of their own capabilities unless one ventures into new things.
Syasya views herself as a democratic and charismatic leader.
Shesees herself as democratic as she constantly asks for
people’sopinions and ensures their ideas are taken into
account duringdecision-making. She is also charismatic as
she possesses strong engagement skills and is capable of
collaborating with many people. Syasya’s leadership style
involves seeking opinions from others and working with “a bit
of humour”, she says, as she despises being in aserious
situation. This way, by creating a fun working environment,
she is able to attract followers.
embassy. The leadership camp taught them how to pitch their projects, where her team managed to score the grant winner and was asked to execute their project on 15th to 17th July 2022. Syasya claimed that this event was rather satisfying for her as it can inspire the youth and provide a “sense of unity to the community”, she adds.
Syasya claims to be a perfectionist, a strength seen by many but a weakness to her as she says being too much of a perfectionist may drag her into doing unnecessary things. She, too, can be carried away when doing certain things, such as being too focused on academic life. She overcomes these by mentally visualizing the Eisenhower matrix, a time management tool for prioritizing tasks consisting of 4 quadrants divided into urgent and important, urgent but unimportant, not urgent but important, and not urgent and unimportant matters. With the help of this matrix, she can allocate tasks by prioritizing ones that lie in the urgent and important quadrant. Aside from that, she increases productivity by simply taking a break as she believes getting some rest allows her to gain a pressure mindset to be physically and mentally productive.
There is no doubt that Syasya is an exceptional leader. One of her greatest strengths that have shaped her to be the leader she is today is her collaboration skills. She finds joy in working with people from diverse backgrounds as she can gain ideas from different perspectives. Working with others also allows her to gain engagement skills as she believes networking with people is crucial when it comes to leadership.
Throughout her leadership experience, she has faced many challenges, one being teammates losing motivation. Where this is the case, she suggests taking a break and getting back into their social life as she says, “life is not all about work”, claiming that it is unhealthy to have an unbalanced social and work life. By simply stepping back and taking a break, they can return to work feeling refreshed and motivated afterwards. Another way she tackles demotivation is by finding the actual root cause of one’s demotivation. Consequently, she can figure out what she may do to help and remind them that they are on the journey together and that she will always have their back. Syasya tells others to practice gratitude, to be grateful even for the tiniest of achievements as they still connote progress.
Syasya has an optimistic attitude. Even when delivering constructive criticism, her approach is to give positive comments first, such as reminding others what a good job they are doing. She will then provide feedback on what they can improve and end her criticism on a positive note, again reminding them of their progress.
A great leader like her would definitely have some memorable experiences and outstanding achievements. One of them being her first Discovery Year activity, set in January 2022, where she and her partner created a platform under Big BWN called “Let’s Talk Big!”. The project involved interviewing different speakers regarding their various businesses in accordance with 4 teams, namely Womennovation, Entrepreneur, Tempatan, and Zero Waste. Not only did this platform allow others to gain exposure to their businesses, but it also allowed Syasya to gain valuable experience and soft skills such as communication, public speaking, and leadership.
Another achievement she described as her “proudest moment” is her participation in a leadership camp called AdvocaSEA Camp, organized by Sustainable Ocean Alliance in collaboration with the U.S.
Enough about Syasya as a leader, how about Syasya as a person? Her hobbies include working out at the gym as going to the gym every morning kick starts her day, as well as playing netball. Syasya, too, like others, has a support system that she can rely on whenever things go south — her siblings and her close friends. Surrounding herself with people whom she loves and who love her can calm her down whenever she is anxious.
Her hopes and aspirations are none other than simply being a better person each day. Syasya wishes to venture into new things as she is able to explore herself to expand her interests, she hopes to create an impact on people around her and the community, and she aspires to be more socially and environmentally aware of things.
To whoever is just embarking on a leadership journey, Syasya’s advice is to never be afraid of trying new things and to “eliminate what-ifs” as one is unaware of their true potential without discovering new things for themselves. Another piece of advice she shared is to never compare yourself with others. She highlights that the real competition is only between your past and future self.
A quote she shared: “Comparison is the thief of joy”.
Should you have questions for Syasya, drop her a message on Instagram, @syasyamohammad.
