No challenge is too much for Head of General Affairs, Noviana Widyas Ningrum

Noviana’s Growth Journey

Noviana Widyas Ningrum is the Head of General Affairs, G4S Indonesia. Her role involves managing all of the business’s assets, including buildings and vehicles, across Indonesia, and is responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of workplace services and corporate travel arrangements. She also leads a team of two professionals who support the execution of General Affairs functions nationwide. It’s a position she describes as challenging, rewarding and fun.

“On a typical day I might get a report that we need to conduct maintenance in an office, while also receiving notice that we have a broken vehicle. I never know what challenge will arise or what problem will be thrown at me, and there is fun in that”, she explained.

It is a position that represents an impressive growth journey from her first role at G4S seven years ago, when she worked as the PA to Indonesia’s Managing Director.

“In my first position I assisted the Managing Director in some communications related tasks. So later, when the business wanted to develop an online and social media presence, I was given the opportunity to work on our external communications,” she said.

Noviana’s next career move combined her communications and organisational skills to good effect in HR Digital Transformation. Here she led digitalisation initiatives to improve efficiency in recruitment and employee engagement.

“I would say that every career transition has prepared me for the next one. For example, in my days as a Personal Assistant, I was exposed to leadership, how to make a decision and how to manage a team. And then in my role in External Communications, I learned how important good communication is, and relationship management, both with colleagues across departments and with external stakeholders. In my role in HR Digital Transformation, I also learned more about project management and about how the system works. All of that combined helped me to get to where I am today.”

Noviana’s Advice to Anyone Wanting to Build Their Career

“My advice for anyone looking to move forward in their career is to be ready to take on new challenges, and make friends with your colleagues across departments, because your next opportunity could come from anywhere.”

She added that taking advantage of training opportunities and support can also help enhance career growth. She said: “G4S is really supportive of your career development, and always encourages internal talents. This includes sharing job vacancies internally before publishing it externally, and also providing training”.

She said: “I have taken part in leadership training, and also communications training. Recently we had English Day, to support colleagues to speak and write English more confidently in our day-to-day jobs, and especially in writing emails.”

What's Next for Noviana?

Looking ahead, Noviana anticipates growing her career across borders. She said: “My next career goal is to expand beyond the Indonesian or local market and contribute at a regional or even global level.”

She continued: “I would like to collaborate with more colleagues from different countries, and continue learning from an international perspective, while at the same time bringing insight and best practices from Indonesia to support the global organisation.”