Why your problem is my problem

Technology has enriched us and enabled solutions that improve millions of lives. Unfortunately, the industry of tech has also gained an unfortunate rap for being a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world.

Amid the competition, we should never forget the simple, real value of human collaboration. Long-term success does not rest on the back of one founder or one breakthrough product – but on the strength of teams.

We have a unique expression in Grab that bemuses newcomers. It’s called YPIMP (say, WHY-pim). Or short for, ‘Your problem is my problem’.

It’s a verbal shorthand for collaboration across teams, and the act of solving each other’s problems.

“Don’t worry about that project, we’ll YPIMP it together.”

“Wow, you guys stayed up all night to launch that feature? Classic YPIMP!”

“Resources are tight, but we have to roll this out. Everyone has to YPIMP over the next few weeks, yeah?”

Before you dismiss this as startup jargon, YPIMP is a core organisational value that guides how we think about teamwork at Grab.

Rather than delineating turfs, we solve problems as one. Rather than saying ‘That’s not my job,’ we say, ‘I’ve got your back’.

To be clear, teamwork is not about doing your buddy a “favour” because you like them. Nor is it a calculated move to extract some benefit from them in the future.

It is about delinking success from the Self. (This is one of our other principles; Grab Before Self - will share more next time.) And this happens when people see that the company is working toward a common goal that is bigger than themselves.

When you help someone else do better, everyone gets a lift; Grab as a whole benefits.

Put another way, ‘Your problem is my problem’ really means ‘Your success is my success’.

How Your Problem is My Problem Started

YPIMP started out of necessity.

When @Hooi Ling Tan and I founded Grab in 2012, all we had was a small team of around nine people. We needed to ramp up fast, race to get our ride-hailing app to the market, which means everyone had to juggle multiple tasks and support each other. Like many others, I played the role of founder, salesman, product manager and customer service associate, fielding calls from drivers who, wanted to sign up or needed help with our app.

I have fond memories of staking out at petrol kiosks beside smelly monsoon drains and going from taxi drivers window to window in long taxi queues to show them how to use our app.

One of the many petrol kiosks we stake out at during our early days

When we did our first major server migration, our engineers took point, but everyone else camped out overnight in the office to help them test the app.

When we expanded Grab to other countries, our leaders flew down to offer the local teams support, so that all the leaders could help in tasks like setting up booths and giving out flyers on public streets. Those experiences helped us formulate YPIMP as a company value. The idea that no matter how busy everyone is, help will always be given when needed.

Collaboration was a necessity when we were lean. But it’s taken on a bigger significance now that we have grown.

When you take ownership of someone else’s problems, you see things from their perspective and think about how you can serve and help them do their job better.

This grooms empathetic line managers who understand the challenges their direct reports face. YPIMP reminds them to embrace servant leadership and to actively work for their teams. When managers do this, it energises everyone else to give their best.

A service-oriented mindset also prompts us to consider our customer’s needs and build better products for them. Does our app give drivers more jobs and income opportunities? Are we offering commuters the safest, most reliable transportation and payments platform? This is key because while technology is our business, people are why we got into this business in the first place. We have to constantly out-serve our customers.

How we do what we do

As a company grows, it takes effort to ensure our collaborative values scale up. It starts with the hiring process. Some of the things I look out for in a new candidate:

• Is this person a YPIMPer?
• How willing is this person to humble him or herself, and listen to others’ opinions
• Is this person flexible enough to accommodate varied requests constantly?
• Can the person connect with the ground? Or does he/she move too high up in the clouds?

There are also specific things organisations can do to encourage a culture of collaboration.

We kicked off a programme for new team members to spend an afternoon shadowing Grab drivers, so they are invested in the drivers’ daily pain points. Our teammates and I take every opportunity to talk to our drivers and passengers during Grab rides. We chat with them, find out how they are doing, understand their challenges and listen to their feedback constantly.

At base, YPIMP is about stowing away one’s ego and working for a greater good. Teams will completely fail if in-fighting and one-upmanship are allowed to breed. But serve each other with humility and respect, then Grabbers will rise together.