Customer Excellence
Based on an episode with Gilda McKenzie 🇧🇿🇭🇳
Welcome to Latinx in Power, a podcast aiming to help to demystify tech, the way we do that is by interviewing Latinx and Caribbean leaders all over the world to hear their perspective and insights.
We talked with Gilda McKenzie (she/her) has honed her expertise in the telecommunications industry for four years, consistently refining her skills in Customer Service, Sales, Telecommunications, and Team Organization. Through her extensive experience, she has acquired a deep understanding of the intricacies of the industry, as well as an unparalleled ability to deliver exceptional results.
In this episode, Gilda shared her background and how she got started in the telecommunications industry. She will talk about her skills in customer service and how she has developed and refined these skills over time.
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Do you identify yourself as a Latina?
I wouldn’t necessarily identify myself as Latina, as I was born and raised in Belize. Belize is located in Central America, and we are the only English-speaking country in Central America. However, we are filled with many diverse cultures, so I would identify myself as a Creole person. I’m mixed with Belizean as well as Honduran from my mother’s side. As geographically, we are located in the Americas, but not included in Latin America.
What it means to me to be a Latina would mostly come from experiencing the culture and exposure that I got from my mother. That’s how I feel connected to the community, with sharing the love from my mom’s roots, eating the traditional food, the music, and overall upbringing.
Can you tell us about your background and how you got started in the telecommunications industry?
I started off working at one of the call centers here in Belize. Call centers are a type of business that uses telecommunication technology to operate. While telecommunications is like a broader field that encompasses the technology and systems used in the call centers, throughout the years of working there, I received multiple training in PCI compliance, cybersecurity, and even for HIPAA violations.
With these skills acquired, I was able to work with different clients that allowed us to provide services to their companies. I was also transferred to a tech account, and they were able to train us to assist our customers accurately.
For me, I feel like the call centers here in Belize are beneficial because, being truthful, I did not study IT or I wasn’t even sure how I ended up here in the industry. But given the experience and the ability to train, because they train us for these campaigns, that’s how I gained my experience.
I’m a bilingual representative, I’m able to work in either field. And that’s the part that creates diversity. I know for the most part, recently, I was working as a technical support specialist where I was assisting our customers through chats in Spanish. I was doing bilingual chats and customer support.
How do you balance the needs of your customers, team members, and stakeholders in your work? What strategies have you found most effective for managing priorities?
I really like this question because as a person that was able to grow and climb up the ladder to a leadership position. One of the goals is to train your team efficiently to the point where they believe that they can function without you. For me, I love being able to say that the person grew from under me and they were able to get promoted or even transferred to another department.
When it comes to my customers, I know what it’s like not getting the most satisfactory service, which is why I ensure that my team displays all the best customer service, they display empathy. We also ensure that all our customers are happy with the solution that we provide for them.
One of the important things for me with my stakeholders is to let them know that the metrics that they provided to us are met, and it’s guaranteed. I also try my best to manage all my work by ensuring the use of time management and being detail-oriented so I don’t fall behind.
What are your strategies in terms of prioritization? Which advice would you give to someone?
From my experience, it’s being able to understand specifically what are your metrics and what are your key point indicators. And that would basically help you outline what your day is going to be like. If you know that these are certain metrics that you need to meet within a certain time frame, I’m going to know. Okay. In the morning session, I know that I have an hour to review emails. Whether there were incoming emails from yesterday or incoming emails from this morning, I’m going to sort those out in folders.
I’m a really detailed person. I like to keep things very organized. You organize your emails in different folders, that is one way to help you throughout the day. It’s more like to guide you. I also keep a notebook with me, so I jot down little notes on what I’m going to do if I need to review anything with my agents if I need to review anything on the account that’s pending, or all the little things. I just tried to write them down so I can keep it in a format, and that was what was able to help me.
Can you talk more about the volunteer work that you have been involved in?
I am in a group called POWA here in Belize. It stands for Productive Organization for Women in Action. I’ve actually been a member since I was only 12 years old. It was organized by Ms. Michelle Irvin, and when it started, it was for little girls in the community to participate in sessions dealing with self-esteem, healthy relationships, sex and sexuality, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
We also engage in the Garifuna Settlement Day, which is an activity in Belize celebrated on November 19th. As we participate in the ceremonies, we sing the cultural songs, we participate in cleaning activities within the town. I try to be an active member in my community. For example, I’ve participated in becoming a peer educator through POWA. I assisted with the National Emergency Management Organization of Belize in conducting the Vulnerability Assessment Survey in 2014.
How was your process since you have volunteered for a long time and found a community that you like and like to help as well?
I’ve always been an activist. When I found these organizations, I’m like, “This is where I belong.” For example, here we have the Red Cross, and here in Belize. I am currently in the process of applying, so I can be another volunteer member for them. For me, I love helping people, I love trying my best to assist others. And if there’s something that I have learned, I definitely want to spread this information and even educate another peer. That’s why I try my best to become a big sister in the community.
Which advice would you give to someone just deciding up in their careers and how they can build a strong foundation for success in the industry? Which advice would you give?
One of the best pieces of advice that I could give someone is to be teachable and to be proactive and to also use the power of networking to your advantage. One of the ways to establish a strong foundation for success in this industry is to be able to be credible to complete training that is available to you, whether it’s something from within your organization or even from external resources. Now that we’re advancing in a technological era, you can be certified from places such as Google or Coursera, and being certified puts you at a high advantage along with your skills as well as experience.
From experience, I can tell you that even though I may sound confident, sometimes I get really shy with public speaking or having to present something in front of a large crowd. So, what I end up training myself to do is to ensure that if you are unsure or you’re trying to ask for assistance and you don’t know how to get it across, is to write it down. There’s absolutely no wrong way in writing down your question and meeting your peer or your boss on a one-to-one level like, “Hey, I would appreciate it if this is something that we could review or we can go over.” And they’re always willing to help. That is something that I’ve learned in this industry. You may not have started in there expecting to learn tech, but once you’re in, someone will always show you the ropes and guide you.
Do you have any personal goals or aspirations that you’re currently working towards that you like to share with us?
Right now, one of my personal goals that I’m currently working towards is to gain a little bit more exposure and be able to freelance independently for other clients within the US, and being able to provide my services from here in Belize. I’m also working, like I mentioned earlier, and becoming a big sister for the young women in my community, or even virtually for someone that needs someone to talk to. I try to make myself available for someone that just needs a listening ear, whether it could be about mental health or overall taboo topics that people would normally stay away from.
How do you usually start this conversation about mental health when you’re trying to help someone? Which advice would you give, I guess, for someone who wants to talk about it with their family?
For me, I know that I personally struggle with anxiety and depression. I’ve had numerous panic attacks in public, and it was very difficult to explain to people that I wasn’t able to properly process my emotions where I couldn’t articulate my words properly. I did a lot of reading. I also did therapy, and I tried to make my peers know that there’s no shame in asking for help. I read a lot of self-help books that helped me. I did different coping mechanisms at home. I write a lot. I journal, I write poems, and I share it amongst my friends. And we kind of support each other in that way.
I remember as young as being 13/14 years old, I sat down with my dad one day and I tried to explain to him that, “Hey, I feel like I’m depressed,” and to which you know the older generation’s response was, “What do you have to be depressed about? You have food, you have shelter. What is there to be depressed about?” And that made me close off myself a little bit. But I was like If I don’t speak on it, he’ll never understand. So, I had to explain it to him.
It took a while for him to get there, but I sat down and I explained to him that this is what I’m feeling. “And yes, even though you’re providing this for me, there are other reasons externally why I’m being affected. And it took him to actually see me being vulnerable to understand because I feel like with mental health, we tend to portray the strong outlook out there that we’re okay, when in reality we’re battling the storm inside. I try to let those around me understand that they don’t have to, that I’m here to help them and we’ll do it together, even if you don’t know how we’ll figure it out.
Which resource helped you in your journey? Is there anything you want to share with us?
I’ve definitely read several self-help books. I’ve had a couple of faces, currently in here, industry, and the topic that we’re on. I once read an excerpt from one of my peer-to-boss-trainings and I wanted to read more about it. So, I just tried to google it to see where I was able to find it and I stumbled across this book called Peer Today, Boss Tomorrow: Navigating Your Changing Role by Laura E. Bernstein. And I think that it’s essential that when you’re transitioning into a new role, that you’re going to feel a bit queasy. And just in the early stages, especially when those that you’ve built bonds with or even those friendships will feel like they would change. They shouldn’t change in your new position, like your friends. They would be able to respect your new boundary and understand the new pressure that you’ll be under because I can share from personal experience.
When I started in this industry, I was really young, I was 19 and within the first six months, I had grown up the ladder and I got a team lead position. Now, the people that were working under me were older than me, they had more experience than me. Some of them even felt intimidated by how I could possibly get that position. So, you feel very nervous, you feel a little bit intimidated. There’s even instances where you have to do a coaching session with your agents that used to be your friends or those hard discussions about disciplinary actions where you feel really guilty. But one thing that I’ve understood is that nothing should change. If they’re really your friends, they would understand the boundaries that come at work, and at the end of the day, it’s a job. So that’s one of the books. It’s called Peer Today, Boss Tomorrow: Navigating Your Changing Role.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast. We will have more interviews with amazing Latinx leaders the first Tuesday of every month. Check out our website Latinx In Power to hear more. Don’t forget to share comments and feedback, always with kindness. See you soon.
Additional Reading Mentioned in the Interview
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilda-mckenzie-58ab18224/
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