Ok. Ok. Um Hi everyone and welcome to the series of Fireside Chats by the Women Tech Network. We invite phenomenal women and outstanding um representatives of the female tech community to empower you uh in your career growth.My name is Vaselina and I'm the marketing and content manager at the Women Tech Network. Today. I'm actually replacing our CEO Anna Radowski for this fireside chat as she's tackling the organization of our Up Fund Women's at Global Awards 2020. Uh by the way, you still have time to nominate yourselves or other deserving women until October 29th. And um today for our fireside chat, we have a very special guest. Her name is Alexandria Syska or all of her short. And uh she is the director of customer Centricity at OLX Group that is a global marketplace network that serves more than 350 million people per month. Alexandra is a passionate customer experience practitioner and a business leader. Today, we'll be talking about customer Centricity, career changes and leadership.

Welcome Ola and thank you so much for joining us today. How are you doing?

Thank you for the introduction, a very comprehensive one. A lot. But, yeah, doing very good and, and, um, hi to you and hi to everyone who's listening to, uh, to, to us. I'm really happy to be with you, uh, here today.

Uh, thank you so much for joining us and, uh, we will be happy to hear from anybody to tuning in here, uh, or, uh, live on Facebook and youtube. So feel free to chat with us and share your feelings or if something resonates with you in the chat or uh to ask questions because we will have a Q and A session uh in the end of the talk. Uh But now I feel like we can just uh begin with a few questions to Ola. Um So the first thing that I wanted to ask you regards your talk during the Women Tech Global Conference, uh back then we learned that 80% of companies believe that they deliver superior customer experience, but in fact, only 8% of customers agree to that statement. So can you please tell us uh what customer Centricity is and why it could improve this gap in the data?

Yeah, of course, of course. I, I really love the topic and I'm super passionate about uh about the topic. Fortunately, the data point uh was taken from a report already uh some time ago. So hopefully now when we would do the same statistics in 2020 that would change a bit. Uh But what is really customer Centricity. And, and if you type that in Google, you will find so many definitions, how I like to describe it and how I understand it. It's really work by working back from a customer. So understanding what customer wants, what they need uh and creating the product and the services that actually answer those uh those customer needs. Uh and, and what is also important in, in customer, in creating customer simplicity or great and to customer experience, it's really thinking about this end to end component. So making sure that we don't only focus on the incom a obviously because technology, it's all about the app and about the product and such, but we also connected with our marketing activities and the customer support and the sales activities. So, however, the customer interacts with us with our company, there is really that end to end experience and that's really important when you wanna create this delightful and smooth and nice uh customer experience or be customer centric.

Thank you for that. Um And how do you think uh how does a customer centric approach bring value to a company?

So, in many ways, and there are many people sometimes bring customer experience versus revenue and and ask the the organization and people to choose either or, but that's actually not the choice that we should make because being customer uh centric and then providing great customer experience brings business results to the company.

And so there was a lot of research done and that shows that the customer, great customer experience provide the outlet in revenue. Customers are buying more are buying different products from our company. So we're getting uh from one hand, uh bigger revenue. On the other hand, our customers are probably recommending us to other people. So we are getting new customers. And also once we provide a custom, great customer experience, our cost to serve is decreasing. I'm thinking for example about a customer contact centers. So if, if your experience is smooth, you don't have to call, you don't have to engage. So the cost uh that the company has is decreasing. Um And yeah, and there are also many statistics and reports showing that the customer satisfaction is correlated or actually employee satisfaction is correlated with customer satisfaction. So it's also good to think about that a uh aspect and we say happy employees are happy customers, happy customers are happy employees in many cases. So there is definitely also a tangible impact for the business. Uh When you talk and drive the topic,

talking about the organization and the employees, um you did talk to us a lot uh during the Women Tech Global conference about the core principles that a company or an organization needs to undertake so that they uh create a customer centric strategy. And you did mention five which were vision innovating products and services, breaking the silo, measuring and culture. So what I wonder is uh would you share briefly some examples of how OLX uh as a company addresses each one of those five principles towards achieving that customer centric approach?

Yeah. Yeah, sure, sure. Happy to share and happy to bring uh some uh uh examples at the sake of time, there's gonna be some examples. Uh But starting from the first one that you mentioned the vision, it's actually very interesting because today we had our old friends when we, when we discuss the vision and we discussed it new vision, uh we have before, but we also refreshed it uh that vision and the vision will be coming back from what customers want and what customers are telling us that it was almost the base to build our vision.

We also took into account uh our employee, our or how and what our employees being. Uh but, but, but the customer is definitely the one that drives a lot uh how, how we think about the vision and what we put as our end vision. Um And this is our vision is in North story. So whenever we go into the business, we are taking the the vision and the North story and translate it to the different business unit. And that's also translated to the different themes and um four different things because what is really important is to have a vision, but also make sure that the vision is translated and understood by every employee in the organization so the employee can act on it. And then you mentioned the second one, uh innovative, building, innovative products and services. Uh And here, uh I, I think every company is trying to crack it and some companies do better, some things to improve. And we are also, we have a lot of improvements that, that are very innovative. We are, there are still some gas that we wanted to feel to make sure this this customer experience is great. But uh what we essentially do, we do come uh from the customers. So we do a lot of research at the beginning to understand what are the opportunities, what are the needs.

And then uh we deal with prototype, we talk to customers again, we do A B testing to make sure that the product really fulfills and answer those needs of our customer and the potential pain points as well. And then we only market it and bring it to the product, to the market. Sorry, the product to the market. Uh And the, and the, and what is also important that's connected with the second part, we're breaking the silos is that the way we are creating the product and trying to be innovative and and ahead and, and quick. Uh it's actually connected with the way we work because we have a close collaboration between product engineering, obviously, uh but also design uh customer research analytics team. So those teams really work together to deliver those uh features, products and services that customer love and the fourth one correctly, you mentioned the measuring system. Um And I think it's really important that uh that we actually understand how, what we are doing, influence the pain points or, or generally influence or address the pain points or influence our customers and building the voice of customer that on one hand allows you to, to connect multiples forces of feedback to analyze them in the structure way.

So our employees don't have to go to 10 different teams and, and try to connect all dots, but you almost provide them that tool. And it's also very important from one hand to, to know what your customers are talking, to pick up the most important insights to them um take into production almost. Uh but also once it's being produced and production and it's deployed, uh it, it's, it's very important to also understand and to measure if actually those improvements that we did remove the needles in terms of customer satisfaction or the, or the number of customer or whatever or the KPIS.

And this is also something that we are doing uh at OE and, and the fourth one, well, the fifth one that would be about and it's actually a a topic by itself. So some people said uh culture eat strategy for breakfast, uh many cases might be true. Uh But what we are doing at Oe, we actually have a lot of cultural initiatives around um embedding the customer Centricity, the concept into employee journey, making sure that the people um understand and really feel uh what does it mean to the customer sent the work back from customers?

So from things like having one of our values is actually work back from customers. So it already send a signal uh to the organization. We also do a lot of uh educational activities. So for example, we are about to launch the customer experience, uh coffee breaks, virtual coffee breaks where we want to bring people from different organizations to talk about customer Centricity and share the best practices. We also designed a workshop, the have a day workshop where we allow our employees to uh to basically put themselves into customer service experience. And we have also called back to customer uh to really feel and, and to materialize and, and not only have the avatar but the human uh that you are creating products to or for. Uh yeah. So quite quite many activities. We also have a customer coordinator where employees can go and listen to what the customers uh told us while talking to our customer support and the sales teams. It's really a couple of them in the organization. I think I mentioned in my presentation that, that that one resonates quite well with the audience. We also have a happy customer wall. So basically a wall in the office where you put a quote coming from a customer uh customers. So yeah, it's just a couple of those.

Uh but uh but yeah, makes a difference.

I think that that was very, very uh Susy there. Um Talking about again, customer Centricity, um I kinda wanna bring it into the diversity. Uh the a little bit. Um How do you ensure that your customer Centricity strategy actually fits a diverse audience and is inclusive of different customers when working on realizing the five principle you just mentioned.

Yeah. So um we do a lot of research to understand our customers and the, and the part of understanding our customers is also understanding certain segments. So actually knowing what are the segments or what are the personas that we are dealing with and by building those and especially the need bases, profiles, uh We are able to understand what are the groups of the customers that are buying our products, you know, how different they are from each other and what are the needs and how we can tackle those needs.

And then we, we take also those insights further into creating into product creation.

OK. Um And then how can diversity of thought in your organization itself be beneficial to that customer Centricity, transformation and strategy?

I think it's actually super beneficial and, and actually at all, like we are really focusing on those two topics, diversity and inclusion and customer Centricity. Um And, and I, I see a great connections between those because uh our customers are very diverse. We are the global organization.

We have customers coming from 30 different countries, also very different backgrounds, also a different education level, uh you know, different way of thought. Uh So also different behaviors and actually, we also want to have those customers uh being um well, our employees representing our customers for those cus customers being represented by our employees. So that's why diversity and inclusion making sure that, that whoever we are selling our products to uh are and those people are diversified. Uh making sure that this diversity we have in the organization really helps to build the empathy uh and have that empathy in the organization and then create uh take it to the next level to actually build the solutions based on understanding and the empathy that we have towards our customers.

So I think th those two topics are super important and actually super uh might be also super interrelated

uh talking about uh since you say that divers in inclusion is uh really big for OLX. Uh Do you have any initiatives uh that you undertake at the top of your mind that you could share? I think it could be useful for uh you know, for our audience to know what other companies do.

Yes. Yes, sure, sure, sure. So um there it is a big topic and there are many initiatives that we are doing at all. A so starting from, from this almost hard initiative I can classify it like that. So looking at, you know, how much we pay versus what's the gender looking at? Uh how are we assessing our employees based on the gen gender or based on, on, on other factors and making sure that we actually are, are fair in, in what we pay to women and what we pay to men in terms of gen gender diversity and inequality. At the same with the evaluation process, we are looking into actually how does it look from the perspective of numbers and, and, and the marks that we are giving to different employees. And so this is one aspect that that really changed. And so once we discovered there are some biases, uh we actually work to improve them. On the other hand, there are also a lot of educational activities that are happening. So we have trainings about biases and then the whole leadership is undertaking that that program and the training to understand what what it is to have unconscious biases, what kind of unconscious biases we might have because obviously, until you don't discover those you cannot act on them.

And so we have a lot of learning programs around around that topic. We also uh launch um I am remarkable training. So this is the a training you might uh uh heard about it or also experience it. That's a training that was designed by Google and then uh the Google employees that really require that actually uh that's quite a movement now, not even a training, but the whole movement uh around diversity and inclusion, it started uh and targets women, but now it's much bigger.

Uh And actually, we also run the set of those trainings and workshops and movements in our, in our organization. So this is just some of them that immediately come to my mind.

Uh Do you have uh any impressions which one work uh maybe better or manage to achieve uh more results at this point? At least of, of your programs?

Yeah. So here we would definitely, we should invite those of my colleague who is to be writing that at all lens. But uh from from what I could see the initiatives around the, the hard one if I can call it like that. So obviously, uh analyzing it data and understanding if there is any pay gap and then improving the pay gap, those are really the the things that move the needle immediately because you can see the difference if you are underpaid employee. So the same with the performance management understanding, you know, how, how biases influence the marks and actually correcting correcting those. That's something that really makes a difference. But I think also mindsets are a bit more difficult to, to check. Uh But uh we have engagement survey and engagement survey, we also check how employees feel about diversity and inclusion. If they feel they are actually we have a diverse environment and inclusion is there. We also see that there are differences there, but it's hard to say what, which initiative exactly is that for there? Uh But I would also say that that the, the uh the other campaigns that we are doing around the topic that really increase the visibility and, and that, and understanding and it make many, many people think about the topic and those people per se, maybe uh maybe wouldn't think about it or I wouldn't think that deeply uh as uh thanks to all those initiatives that were happening across the organization.

So we covered a few initiatives that could be done in a company to, you know, talk about diversity. Um What I was wondering is as a customer Centricity expert, do you see specific steps or trends that companies should follow to make female customers feel more understood or connect with a product or service

better? Yeah, that's a very interesting one. I have to say um I have to say that thinking about uh or like in, in, in our research, uh There is one very interesting case where we discovered that in one of uh our countries. Um Actually, there are so many um more men users than women users. Uh And usually we have more or less similar customer base. I think that's where one country it is very much different towards men. And then we uh started digging deeper into why and, and, and how, and, and and basically why, how it t to drive it. And we discover interestingly that it's actually not only, it's not necessarily men, there are women behind men accounts because they feel from one and uh more uh um by willing to negotiate if the profile is the man profile negotiating, we talking to a man. But also when giving a product because in uh not in every country we have pay and she so sometimes you have to meet with the person to, to draw or to give the product. And we also discover that woman doesn't necessarily feel safe and they prefer the another man, a friend, colleague, husband, a partner to be with them. So it was super interesting discovery.

Um um That's, you know, you see the profile of a man, but at the end, it is the woman and I think it's, it really depends on the product. It really, really depends on the product, how you can tackle that segment. But in our case, we learned that actually security and safety, the it's super important and to tackle the segment of women in that country, we need to make sure that we can actually provide and, and maybe even uh and include the solution like we have pay and ship in many countries.

And now it's spending more and more that doesn't uh doesn't require from a woman to go and to see and, and the, the solution allows us to ship and pay. Um offline. So this is one of the things. And also in India, when we did our research, we discover a similar pattern that as the oe historically, it's classified, we are moving and moving more and more towards fully fed uh Ecommerce platform. But historically, and many people love it, but it's actually classified that it's local that you can meet other person exchange the good seed before buying. But uh but we also discovered that in India, that uh might uh cause some anxieties. So also we address it with, with the solutions uh that are additional to the product as such.

That's really interesting because like uh my knowledge is that generally the um females are actually the bigger part of the consumers online or is that the research that I knew? So this was surprising to, to hear, is it at all possible for, for you to share? Have you actually made the discovery or is that like maybe something that, that you cannot delve into?

I have to share high level. But that was actually I said we do a lot of research. So we invite our customers to try product and to really see how they are using the product. And actually sometimes we are one research, we are discovering uh other, other comments or other needs of the customers. And with that one, from one hand, we saw statistics. So we saw uh so they data not statistics, the fact that data we saw uh we were able to track how many men and women are actually opening accounts in that country. So it was very easy. And then uh we while also discovering and doing other researches, we already got those signals that that actually might be. It's not like that. And then as the next step, we did also a research when we had in this with a customer to uncover and to understand why it is like that

the power of data, we have power

and power and talking to our customers.

Uh I wanted to ask you a little bit now. Um we've covered a lot of customer Centricity. Uh but we also kind of want to talk about career changes in leadership. And one thing um that we noticed is before OLX, you worked at mckinsey and you started as a junior research analyst there and went as far up as a manager and expert of customer experience service. Uh What we were wondering what I was wondering is what career advice you wish you had had back then when you were a junior analyst.

Yeah, I actually remember one that, that I had but I deploy only later on uh later in my career. I still at Mackenzie, but, but not from the beginning, I would say, and I really encourage everyone to, to do the same. It was make your own Mackenzie. Uh So I, I think the company offers a lot of possibilities and you can really almost create your own path and it doesn't have to be, you know, like your own mckinzie, it could be make your own wherever you work. Uh Because I deeply believe that in every workplace, whatever job you have, and even if the job description is super clear, there is always a path for you to do something else to do something or more to be involved. If you are working in CX or sales or data and your data analyst, you can be involved in and diversity and included in areas if this is what, where your passion is or you can go extra um step and be involved in the woman in tech community or anything else. So I think within the working environment, but also outside the work, working environment, you can always make your own. I and you can add the name of the uh of your company to focus on, on the company or even going outside. Uh And I think that's important to keep in mind that there's always opportunity opportunity to go beyond, you know, the box where you think you are and, and follow your passion and see what else you can do and how else you can help the department or the customers or whatever, whatever your passion lies and it is.

And I think it's, it's super important to take that into account when you are thinking about your career path.

Thank you for that. Uh Another thing that um, I wondered, is you spent quite a while there so many years and you grew so much in your career there. What motivated you to make a career change from mckinsey to rlx?

Yeah. Well, it, it, it was a great place to work. Um, many excellent people that I met, uh, and I had the opportunity to work with but at some point I felt it's time. It was, it was already long and, and, you know, we want to try those things and I started there working after university and at some point I thought, well, it's, it's great, it's good. Uh But it, it's actually good to also see, you know, other working environments and experience also other working environments and other uh other companies. But, but also what triggers me is to that feeling and that need of having the end to end ownership for I think, and I knew that I wanted to uh pursue customer simplicity or customer experiences, a career path. Uh But, uh but yeah, but in every consulting company, you jump on a certain project, sometimes it's two months, sometimes it's 12, sometimes it's four or three, but usually it's a part of the long journey that the company is undertaking that you can observe. Uh and uh and when you leave and you are working for that department or being the head or director of the department, it's really something that you can shape and you see the growth and you see the long term impact.

So that's also something that uh that, that is great and one of the points that, that I felt I wanna check and try on uh and yeah, and then the change came, I can't

but talking about challenges, um that's something that I'm wondering now when you say it, what was the most challenging part of making that jump from one to the other and wanting to have more ownership to a project and that

process. Yeah, I think uh and, and at some point and then in whatever organization you feel after a couple of years, I believe you feel quite comfortable because however challenging, more stressful environment it is, I think at some point we just crack and we understand how to swim in that river.

Uh So in that working environment where we are, and I think the most difficult was just to deciding that from the good place where you are, you wanna actually try something else because obviously, it's much easier to say I, I have a change if you feel not, well, where you are, in my case, I, I was feeling good, but I just felt OK, maybe it's time to do something else for the next step.

So I think that the feeling of it's so comfortable here was gonna be an unknown uh later or at the other place. Uh was the, was the most difficult thing to, to decide for a change. But I think this is the changes about it. So, so yeah, uncovering this question mark and then discovering if this is something for you and obviously you can always go ahead and, and change something guys.

Another challenge that I'm curious about is uh what is the most challenging thing or several of the challenging things you had to face as a woman in a leadership position, whether it was back in mckinsey or now at Oox. Now,

I have to say I was, I was quite lucky because I really work with um with a lot of people that, that were leaders that were great. And for a long time, I haven't really, I feel that, you know, I'm struggling or it's difficult. On the other hand, now, looking back and I'm thinking also about the current environment and different organizations that I work with during project, et cetera fortunately or unfortunately, but I guess unfortunately, for diversity and inclusion, uh it's still in the top, top parts of the organization.

There are a lot of white males uh especially in the European organization. And indeed, as, as a woman, you sometimes have to really step up from your way of, of, of being, to adjust the beach to their way of, of being of the male group. And I know that and, and I truly also believe that we should try to change the environment to also accept us as we are. On the other hand, if you are one and there are 10 people there over there, two women and you know, eight people there, it's a bit more difficult. So at some point or at least short term, you have to have it change and you have to, you know, speak up more and you have to really sit at the table and you have to, uh, act and make sure that your voice is heard. Actually. It's always, but you just sometimes have to put perhaps more effort into that. Um And yeah, and there are a couple of other smaller things that at some point I start noticing and, and yeah, I felt, OK, that's maybe not my natural way or state, but it feels like it's good to, yeah, or I need to adjust which not necessarily should be like that, right?

Because diversity and improvement is about making sure that everyone can be at the best in the best natural state and, and shape the environment and work together.

I think that's why you said that beautifully. And I think it's gonna make a very good uh transition to our next question, which is, which is I noticed that you're passionate about mentoring and that you are a mentor yourself. So why should women seek mentors? And uh what's the best way to connect with them as, as a woman that wants to be mentored?

Yeah, but I think it's a super important topic and again, it, it's sometimes, and I'm happy that we are discussing that. And I'm also happy that this topic somehow is maybe not everywhere, but it's in a lot of places and it's actually acknowledged to be important because it is. And I also have a feeling that as women, we sometimes I don't know if we were too shy, maybe we don't feel like it's needed. Maybe we somehow don't know how to approach those people that we want to be our mentors. Uh But I think it's super important because mentors and many times become sponsors as over people that the work environment where from one hand, advise you on the other hand, also promote you and it's really important to have sponsors in your work environment. So people that will think about you that at the right moment will involve you in certain things will pass to you the right opportunities, et cetera. So I think from that perspective in the work environment, it's really important but also outside just just, just to actually just, it's not just but to exchange with people that or are more experienced or have a different skill set that you uh so exchange and learn from each other.

I think it's a, it's a very, very powerful tool um to use to grow and, and to uh sometimes probe on certain decisions that we want to take because it's great to uh to hear advices of other people. Of course, you can take it or leave it uh But it's always good to have a different perspective. Um And how you can do that. Uh So, luckily, and unfortunately, now there are so many possibilities. So if you think uh about outside work environment, we have women in tech and you guys have a mentoring program, uh We have a mentoring club. Uh That, that is also a great reason in it with a lot of tech people involved and you can sign up for free and you have a great set of mentors from different uh bigger, smaller, very well known tech companies. Uh and also even using linkedin, you know, if you see someone that you really would like to connect with, why not to try, maybe out 10 out of 10 people will say no, but that one person, the 10 person would say yes, of course. I know it and you never know it, it's, it's also a great tool to, to think about and using that uh in that way. And I'm not saying to stop people here.

And I think there are many people there that would be also happy to connect and to exchange. And uh in the work environment, many companies have, have mentoring programs. And I think this is the easiest way to, to enter. And I really encourage uh our employers to have such a programs. Um especially that I said what I noticed and I know that not every case is different, but I notice that women tend not to have that. And I guess it's, it's also backed up by my numbers, but that women tend not to have that many uh mentors as men. Uh But yeah, but seeking, even if you don't have a program, try to seek for, for mentors individually. So the person that you like talking to or that you connected to and I bet I, I've never seen someone say no, I don't want to be a mentor. It might be that at some point the relationship will fade or, or maybe it's not gonna be as strong as, as, as you wish, but I really never heard anyone say no to mentoring. So they have a big percent of chances that the person will say yes and it's always worth trying,

you know, it's interesting. Um Well, thank you for, for being so comprehensive. Um It's interesting what you said that, yeah, we can connect and just reaching out. Um I've, I've been talking to women a little bit about mentoring and how they find mentors and how they seek them out and what they say, uh they have two problems. Usually one is, I guess the major one is actually finding women that are uh at a higher up in their career ladder journey uh than, than they are. So being able to talk to women who are more experienced than them. And also kind of like getting those unique tips from them that are not going to be something that we can all read in a book and share with each other and kind of developing an eco chamber of sorts. Um So I know it's gonna be very specific and very unique for everybody. But if you had to be approached by somebody as a, you know, you have a lot of experience at this point in your career. If you had to be approached by somebody, how uh whether at work or outside of work, maybe on linkedin. Uh How would you like to be approached? Maybe that will give some confidence to our audience today of how to approach other women or you even?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Uh Well, I'm super open. So please ping me on linkedin. I'm also part of mentoring club. So you, you can find me there and those are the most natural ways I would say maybe not linkedin. It, it doesn't have to be natural for everyone but the places like women in tech mentoring uh or mentoring club, those are the places where people really want to be um mentors for you. So, so there it's, it's very no brainer just, just go and subscribe. Uh And you can maybe vaselina say more about women in impact mentoring. I can talk more about the Mandarin Club. Uh But, but this is almost no entry barrier, a type of a thing. Um I think linkedin, if you find someone that you, you really like from the profile or the speaker that you heard. I think it's always nice to, to, to write a message. Hey, I heard you speaking. It was really inspiring or this is what I like. Uh And, and of course, depending on what's the person agenda, how people present that person, people type of person, the person is. Um and many other factors you might get a response or not. But I think with such a note, uh also pining to something that the person has on the on the profile or maybe conference or where you met. Uh it always increase your chances to connect.

And I think, well, as easy as it is at the end, if it's a workplace, it's just, you know, why not to send a message or why not to have a Zoom call, um introductory zoom call or, you know, find a person in the office, hopefully if you are still in the offices or who will ever come back to the offices.

Uh because that's a face to face conduct, actually, in those cases, it's probably the easiest. Uh but, but yeah, actually just, just do it, just do it. And I'm, I'm pretty sure that many people will be very open for such interactions. And actually, you, you, you mentioned an interesting thing because you said woman, but I I cannot find or that other women are having challenges with finding women on the uh on the high level in the hierarchy, but actually it doesn't have to be a woman. I mean, it's great and I truly believe in women supporting women, but it can be totally men. I mean, even different perspective, it can bring so much value to, to how you think and how you want to solve the problem or challenge, et cetera.

Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean, we do talk a lot how we need to include men in the conversation and maybe that will give them better perspective as well of the challenges that we feel that we experience. OK. So talking about that, um you do mentor in leadership and, and team management uh besides customer Centricity. And what I wonder is, do you have some evergreen best tips uh that you could give to women in tech who are looking to lead and manage their teams better?

Yeah. Golden, golden advices. Golden

rules.

No, I, I think there are many but what I personally believe in it from one hand and get to know your team. So think about your team, not only as a person in the job title, but really as a person. So as a human being that uh has passions, hobbies, certain family situation like working late evening, eat jogging, I don't know in the land break or or so and understanding uh who are your team members from one hand will allow you to connect deeper. And obviously, when you have openness, every conversation um and problem solving, it's much easier and more pleasant for both parties. But also when you think about how your team works with the operating model, almost, it's so much easier to schedule a certain meetings or think about, you know, what people like doing and how they like doing and how you can run the team as a whole entity if you actually know what are the preferences of your team members.

So I think that human patch helps you as a person, but also helps you to navigate the work of the whole team. And so definitely, uh we would recommend that um and then the second one, apply, you know, apply coaching, apply to management. But I would say just enough. So make sure that people have the space to basically drive the things. So I would say we have a nice saying that, that I heard a couple of times and it's freedom within a framework, which is basically what I want to describe. So we have a goal and the goal should be there and there should be another star we should have ors so people know um our team members know where we are aiming and what we want to reach, but it's great to give that freedom within the framework. So, um yeah, every person can decide how exactly. Um and I think last, but not least it's about uh recognition, which is super important from one hand to recognize, you know, even saying, thank you, great job, like a very casual thing, um your team members and the achievements of the team, but also making sure that we give people and the team and individuals actually the space to shine on on where wherever that opportunity is.

So at the all hands of the company, at the all hands of the department or maybe, I don't know, connecting with a certain level of leadership that, that will bring exposure to that person. And I think that part is very important and especially for, for women because sometimes we tend to think that the great work will defend itself. But actually being exposed to the core people in the company or to the core product in the company also uh guess from one hand, a lot of that provides the experience, helps to build the network but but also provides a visibility and I think the role of managers should be also to help the whole team and, and individuals from the team to actually shine on different stages.

That's great.

Thank you again for another comprehensive overview. Uh Talking about Golden rules. Uh we talked about how women in tech could lead and manage better. Uh But what about women who wanna get to a leadership position? Like, do you have any again, golden rules there that we can share right now with the audience?

Yeah. Yeah. And here again, I can just, just give you my tips. What gonna wet there are definitely um yeah, a lot of rules there. But what I found interesting and important throughout my career, it from one hand, think about your brand, think about what you want to stand for, this, this person, individual branding. It's also very important. So you send a message to the people that you work with. But also think about what, what kind of message that should be, what you want to stand for and what, yeah, and align it with, with your strengths and, and with the way with the ex you wanna be with your expertise and then sit at the table and really sit at the payroll. And so there was, I think in linen, there was an example of the woman uh of the meeting with the woman, there was not enough space at the table and the woman to get her and sat next to the wall. Uh And I have to say I saw it, I really saw it and uh and sometimes we might want to do that because it's so cozy, but sit at the table because from even a power perspective, it's, it's so easier to speak when you are sitting next to, to the people and in, in, in the middle of the action.

Uh but also uh treating it metaphor metaphorically what was even more important. It's to be at those important meetings to be, you know, one of the decision making. And depending on which level you are. And especially when you are thinking about moving to a leadership networking and connecting with right people and making sure that you can contribute that you, that you drive, impact, that you also communicate. Uh that impact is really important. Um And yeah, yeah. And the last one is a bit cliche, but it work smart, not hard, but because women are such a hard workers and I'm not saying men are not, but I think we have the tendency to think that you have 10 tasks and 10 priorities and we are so busy and that we, we did, we do a great job.

Uh and that will defend itself but actually not always. So sometimes it's much better to say, hey, those are my three top priorities because those products really bring impact and that would also bring me visibility or allows me to get closer to my personal goal um or develop the skill that I want and really focus on on those and make sure obviously that everything else is covered.

So you don't neglect anything that that needs to also happen. But I would say rather focus on those three important, bringing impact projects than and other little things and, and helping everyone on the way with those. And I'm not saying not help, help to make sure that your priorities that you have those three or four or two things that you want to focus on and its impact and you can impact to the company for them.

Do you, do you have anecdotes like that from your own personal experience where you, you know, realize that maybe you shouldn't do 10 things but you chose like just a couple and that change your career.

Yes, of course. Of course. It's a bit difficult now to remember what exactly those were. But I think for years I was like, ok, great. So let's help everyone. Let's do that and that and multitasking and it's a great skill and it is a great skill, but maybe actually not, not always. So I definitely have those situations where I had so many things and I felt well, it's great and, and, and but at some point, I was so busy that I couldn't focus on those two more, more most important projects. And those two projects that I knew that will provide me exposure, will allow me to get promoted, will also connect me with, with people that I want to be connected and what's most important. They were also those things that, that I liked um as versus many others that I had to do. But I also like, but maybe, you know, I could move them for later, I could move it, move them or get some help from other people. So really thinking about and at some point, you know, I also remember that having those many things to do the prioritization help but also involving other people really helps because at some point together, you can do so much more and there are so many people that actually might like something that you don't like or might just have a better expertise in a certain project or initiative that you are running and maybe it's good to involve them or even, you know, be involved and give them the uh the leadership on those.

So definitely, definitely, I, but I, I was there and I also uh experience that. Uh but uh yeah, and I took it as a learning for, for next steps in the future

is that also like, maybe it's something you struggle with something I've struggled with in the past. It sometimes when you are in a leadership position of sorts and you do have to delegate like, how do you, if you have felt that or for those who feel, how do you overcome this fear that if you're not on top of everything, uh somehow, you know, you might not, the work might not speak as loudly for you as, as possible.

Yeah. And so I think that freedom within the framework that really has so from one hand building. Um But trust needs to be gained obviously, but uh I'd rather feel that you should start from a trust. Uh And, and trust your team until people prove that you shouldn't, rather than not trust until they prove that you should. Although we have a tendency to, to a second one and I'm pretty sure that I also, yeah, brought into situations that I show the second tendency, but I think showing the trust in, in the team and giving them space to work while still, you know, knowing our OKRS and making sure that, you know, who is responsible for certain okr uh what are the tasks, you know, what are the deadlines and, and just stay on the top in the way that you, you have a weekly meetings or you have daily meetings, depending how big is your team or what kind of scope you are working on and doing a quick check ins.

Well, you understand, you know, where we are standing, what are the big challenges that you can team to resolve and that provides you this control or you at least know what, what is happening. So whoever you approach your uh you know where you are, you can also check how your team is doing, you can help your team, which is also important to unblock certain things, but you don't do that little multitasking all over. And I actually noticed that when you do that multitasking, then people feel like their ownership is taken back and they can actually not to deliver the certain that the quality they used to or do some extra things because they have to play a part knowing that there is someone who will do something.

So sometimes that multitasking is actually bringing um yeah, more bad than good.

Yeah, II I can understand that. Um Do you, did you have mentors of your own that really helped you kind of evolve in your career? Uh And how, how did you connect with them? Uh OK. I feel like we might be a slight issue with connection. Uh Let's see, sorry about that. Everybody. Oh, there we are. Uh we have you back. Welcome back. Did you manage

your technology? Huh?

Yes. Mm So

your question was about uh mentors, right? Yes.

I, I was just curious if you had a mentor of your own or many maybe uh and how you connected with them, uh how they helped you evolve like at your work?

Uh Yes, I did. I did. Although I have to say that this mentor is the mentorship master actually be getting me mentors and being open and, and approaching people that I would like them to be mentored for me. I'm still working on. I would say it's, it's apart from, yeah, sometimes doesn't depend where you are in your career. But I do uh I do have a couple of people that were my mentors over those last few years and I actually connected with majority of them through work so naturally or actually not naturally. But those were the people that I work with. And at some point actually, there was a project and they left the project or our paths didn't cross um on the day to day basis. But still we get to connect and we had such a great connection also on personal level. Because for me, the personal level, it is very important when you talk about this mentorship and relationship. And actually we keep being in touch and, and having these informal coffees actually schedule coffees but not necessarily about the project or, or the work that we are doing together, but rather about, I don't know that the challenge that I had or just, you know, chitchat, et cetera.

And so that, that it's important to keep that relationship and making sure that, you know, it's, it's also personal. Um, but sometimes, you know, it doesn't have to be even a big topic that you want to discuss, sometimes having coffee or even coffee online, coffee chat or just, you know, being in touch with that person that also helps to keep that relationship and, and, and move on with it even when you leave the workplace, that's actually another stop, uh, for the relationship.

But, uh, but they are definitely a way that there are ways when you can continue how you can continue

it. Yeah, I can, I can relate to that as well. I've had certain mentors and I've even changed the industries, but I still keep in touch because somehow even cross industry, it's very helpful to have these people who have a lot of experience. Um, right now, I think it's a great time to take some of the questions that people have been writing. Uh we have um Harvey. Um I'm sure if that's not the right pronunciation, everybody. So uh please bear with me. Um So she asks why are changing career path? If you have chosen wrong career, the wrong career, how can we deal with it and how uh can we go with the flow? OK.

Change, you choose the right wrong career and you want to change

basically, or at least to deal with it. And yeah, that, that's what you ask, how, how can we deal with it. So I'm guessing how to, to accept it and then make maybe another career move.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, well, there are always two ways, right? Where you accept that it's wrong and you just go on because I don't know why would you, but there might be circumstances. But I think a much better solution is to say, hey, this is not exactly the career. That's, that's, well, I've, I've chosen, that's great and let me take the learning. But let's also think, let, let me think about the next steps. And I think that's almost the moment of truth where, which is very important to say, hey, whatever I can lose and maybe I'm on the leadership position already and I think this is the moment where you have to decide. OK, do I wanna follow this leadership and still be in that field that maybe doesn't interest me or I wanna stop and maybe take a step back and think about what I really want to do. And I think that that moment it's really important. So you from one hand, understand what are your strengths, what you wanna do? And maybe you already know because for those years being at the, uh, the different career or the person, have you understood what you wanna do? And I think that seeking for a change, it's the thing to do and even sometimes it, it might not look that shiny and it's so different and, but people do change and people really do change.

I have a friend, she was uh producing um TV shows and now she's a yoga teacher and, and she was in a super corporate working 18 hours and now she's a yoga teacher and, and meditation, she's teaching meditation. So I saw people that had those uh really, you know, very different career paths and the change. And I think it's, it's about, about understanding what you wanna do about making your plan. So being realistic of how you can get it. So obviously, uh perhaps or obviously not, obviously, perhaps you have to take a step back. You have to learn, you have to study a course, et cetera. Create your network, apply for 100 jobs, maybe you don't get it and then you do something else and then you get it and uh and and so on, but be really persistent about it. And I am sure that with uh or bigger steps or smaller steps that you can get into uh into the career that will make you happy.

Thank you for that. I'm sure part of. Thank you as well. Uh We have another question from uh Ninni and I believe that was in more relation to your jump from, well, not jump, jump but transition from mckenzie to OLX. Um Is, was there, I guess, was there some skills you didn't have experience in? And uh how did you make sure that you succeeded in your new role? Uh Lacking those, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. So I think um the biggest question mark when I was changing, it's uh because consulting is a certain environment and you have uh a large and broad skill set. But uh what you sometimes might not have is the way to, to really go deeper into operations also because many projects are shorter and you touch a certain part of, of the whole transformation. If it's a transformation or you actually jump from a topic to topic, it, it really depends, but I think that the biggest threat here is that you leave you go. Um And it also depends, of course, from which position to which position you go and uh and, and which stage you are and, and what's the jump now, you might also jump to on the leadership position. So then probably this operation factor you have to understand, but you don't have to do it but I think this is always this, this also changed and you need to be able to provide and understand, learn very quickly and, and keep up with private people or learn from people that, that were in that industry or in those jobs already for some time.

And, but also there is um a shift in what you are doing and how do you have to approach things because here you have this end to end ownership and you also need to understand better the certain part of the organization, if you are a functional leader or the business et cetera, and you need to understand how it works.

Uh And perhaps you already have some understanding. But the, yeah, really, it is so deep um as, as the people that work there for a long, long time. Um Yeah, and there is always obviously a different leadership team that you have to get to know and you have to adjust. But I think working with so many stakeholders in a consulting environment, you also learn how to cope with that.

Thank you for that. Uh We have a two parter actually uh from Aparna. Uh So she asked what are various various leadership styles that are best suited for uh customer Centricity? So if you want, we can do the first part and then uh the second part of that question,

well, it's hard to say that there is one leadership style that work. Yeah, really? Because actually you know, it's, it's not really a topic as such that, that tells you or, um, help, helps you to, to understand which type of leadership. I think you have to answer to yourself what kind of leader you wanna be and it's not dependent on wherever you are working with the customer in topics or sales topic or customer support topic or, I don't know, being a business, uh, business leader. Um, so I would, I would a bit distinguish those two topics, but I would say, yeah, for me, for me, what is important is to make sure that people that I work with, um they are heard and I'm, I'm really willing and open to hear other voices and to make sure that the team members can contribute and they also feel recognized and they feel there is value in what they do and how they do that.

Um um yeah, and creating that inclusive environment, obviously, there are certain decisions that you need to make a quick and you need to make. But, but creating that open environment where people can also value and respect it. That's for me, a very important thing. But I guess it's, it's, you know, it's not only uh tied to customer Centricity but rather to the personal style and environment where you work.

That's great. Thank you for that. And um the second part actually is something that we discussed already, but uh now in a tighter uh frame, so we talked about how uh a leader can make uh can support their team better. Uh But Aparna also asks uh about some tips on how a leader can manage their team better. Now, in the challenging environment that we are in with the pandemic and everything and, and it's everything is shifting very quickly. Yeah,

you mean the COVID times? So the online environment mostly. Yeah, that's super challenging. I've been here understanding and focusing on the well being of our team members. It's, it's crucial and important and um I still feel and I myself also need this human touch. Uh And even if it's not touch, uh you know, really touching another prison, not exactly what I mean, but making sure that we still connect on the personal, on a human level. And I think what is important here is make sure that you have that personal conversations uh and personal interactions as frequently as needed with, with the team members, with your actually individuals on the individual level to understand, you know, where they are. So how do they cope with the situation of having probably five hours of zoom every week, every day uh sitting in the same uh you know, place where they perhaps eat dinner or, or so um So yeah, so understanding how do they feel and then of course, finding solution on how you can help them.

That's one thing but also creating some sense of community, even if it's online or even if the times are as they are and that could be done obviously personalized. Great. But I think we are close to second wave or let's see what happens. Uh But, but even online, you can have, uh we had actually with the team the after hour drinks. So at six o'clock or seven o'clock, we, we cheered and we sat together just to ch chat with a cup of tea or a drink or water in hand. Um And you can do a cooking class. I also know teams that did actually not even a class, but the cooking activities together. Uh And there are many ideas that, that you can bring to life. But I think uh the point I want to make is that actually connecting with people on the personal level to understand how do they feel and how you can help them or how company can help them. But also boosting that, that connection within the team. Uh Yeah, those type of social activities and maybe even, you know, beyond the team in the bigger communities, if you work with many teams or in the office. And we also have something that we call mixer where we actually uh welcome new joiners with some interactive activities uh via zoom. So everything is possible.

Uh And obviously, then there are certain things that come into picture like like professional organizations that help employees in those uh tough times. We actually have one that we work with ATS maybe your organization as well. I know they're tight with time. So, here I was tough.

Oh, no, it was, I think it was a wonderful, uh especially the mixer thing. Uh As I, I think it's always hard to be the new person. Um I think we can maybe squeeze in a last question. Uh And maybe you can um answer about your expertise in career changes in terms of education because we have uh Mehana who says she's a computer science student, but she wishes to do an MB A. Uh So she's asking how good is it for my career to divert from a computer science course to an MB A and where I don't have coding environment.

Hm That's interesting one. I, I actually uh computer science is so not my field because uh I study economics and management. Uh So it's hard to, for me to say. So MB A was, was fully aligned with what, what I think, but I would say a bit depending on what you want. But uh and you know, you have a hard skills or skills around computer science. MB A would provide you from one hand networking on the other broader business skills that actually can be a great package. Uh If you want to then grow also as a leader, as a, as a manager than as a leader in the field where you are. That could be, you know, a great selling point. Um When you are doing interview and uh or even using that skill, it doesn't have to be a selling point as start. But the skill set that you will get also from MB A and, and how you connect it with the computer science skill set and everything. What you learned there might be actually a great value proposition for your future employer. Um or yeah, future career path. So I wouldn't necessarily be afraid of that if you're interested in that. Yeah, I, you probably should go ahead but you might also talk to someone from the field surviving.

No, I, I think you're right, but also I guess it also matters what uh what Mehanna wants to do with her future. Um But thank you again for uh putting your expertise into that frame. Um We are uh pretty much at the end of our time but still, uh what is your final message uh for the women who are listening to us? Uh

Well, uh be yourself, be furious and try actually change environment around you. Uh but not uh do not change yourself unless there is a certain feedback and obviously something that you want to focus on. But actually, I think that women movement where we collectively try to make sure that environment where we work, it's all kind and inclusive, that should be uh rather our direction than changing ourselves to adjust to environment that it's not. And I hope we can make it uh together uh with that great woman in tech network and the whole move.

Thank you so much and thank you for the fantastic chat. Uh I feel like I learned a lot and I can even put it into work tomorrow for that, especially on the customer Centricity front. Um And guys, everyone who are joining us right now, uh feel free to go to the networking area and you can benefit from one on one networking with uh our audience here on hoping and ola if you have the time, we of course, would love you to join that as well and meet some of the, the people who just listen to your talk.

Uh One on one, not exactly face to face. Um But yeah, I hope all of you enjoyed the chat and uh we would love to hear from you in the, in the comments uh or on our social media. And um I just wanna mention that you can also join us for another fireside chat on October 21st. Uh We'll be hosting Alexandria Butler. She's a senior senior program manager in Twitter, speaker and freedom fighter. Uh And we'll be talking about career growth and career branding.

Uh So today we talked about career changes and then we're gonna move on with that. Uh Meanwhile, I'd like to take a moment also to just remind everybody that uh the Women Global Awards are happening on December 3rd uh And the nominations are open till October 29th. Uh So feel free to nominate yourself or somebody else. Um And I think it's time for some networking now. So whoever wants to please feel free to join Ola? Thank you again so much for joining

us today. Thank you so much for running the conversation and thank you everyone who joined them for all your questions. So happy. Thank you for

you. Thank you everybody and bye now. Bye

bye.