Need to kick-start your creativity? Change lanes on the same road
My boss likes to say that every day is a school day. This doesn’t mean “go out and learn,” it means — learn in your own backyard. In the environment of the global “big quit,” I wonder how many people are looking for inspiration without needing to leave what’s familiar. Recently, I had the pleasure of experiencing a “day in the life” of colleagues within my company. What they taught me might help you remember that passion can be borrowed.
Seeing someone else do what they love is a good way to top up your own motivation.
As a communicator, I know a little bit about a lot of business across the company, but I rarely get to dive deep. Determined to safely try something new, I shadowed two people. Add to that a special request on my annual goals that I would understand our customers better, I sought advice from Cytiva’s Customer Service organization. When I met Tiago and Ana, I knew I would find experts.
The first thing I learned about Customer Service is to reject the common representation of someone with a headset on, answering a telephone inquiry. That’s not what the team does. Customer Service is more than being on the other end of the line, or an email, for our customers, who are pharmaceutical manufacturers, researchers, and scientists. Customer service representatives are like the traders on a stock market — seeing what can be solved quickly, what should be addressed by an account manager, and… drumroll please: Are the products going to the right place? Great. Next question: Is the money going to the right place?
When I met him, Tiago Silvestre greeted me with a warm and relaxed smile. That’s funny because the pace of his daily work is, in a word, HIGH. He is focused on team — planning, knowing who is where, knowing where customer pain points are at that time. What’s true at 9am is not necessarily true at 3pm for Tiago. But don’t worry, he’s on it. If he needs to replace a person serving customers in Portugal and Spain with someone who usually handles customers in France, he can do that.
Ana Barbeiro is on Tiago’s team. The speed of her fingers over the keyboard, working between two large monitors, is a sight to behold. This is not to mention the speed of her brain — as she is narrating to me in English, she is writing in either Spanish or Portuguese, making calculations in dates, addresses, and comparing templates to the customer documents coming her way. If she has a spare moment, she uses it to see if she can help a teammate get their work done faster. Constantly moving forward, Ana made me feel breathless with admiration!
True to the scientific theory, my learning revealed even more gaps. Knowing a little bit about a lot can only take you so far. After a short time with Ana and Tiago, I felt a personal connection to customers I’ve never met, through their energy and dedication. I understood that behind the scenes work is a story unto itself. I got ideas about how to manage my team’s workload, how to better check in and have an overview of major priorities, and how to time-block to manage small stuff in chunks, then devote focused time to the big stuff. It sounds so simple but I wasn’t doing it before, to be honest.
Both Ana and Tiago shared an enduring spark, and devotion for providing a superior customer experience. Now, I am even more curious about other people’s day jobs, and what makes them tick. Their passion feeds mine. Who knows… maybe I’ll come knocking on your door!
