5 minutes with Lorna Stellakis

Get to know Q2Q’s organisational development director, Lorna Stellakis, with our quickfire Q&A.

• Describe your role at Q2Q in one paragraph
  My role is essentially to support Andrew (the MD) with defining the overall business strategy and financial budgeting. I’m then responsible for designing and delivering cost effective process and organisational change strategies, and managing positive change to back Q2Q’s future growth plans.

I work alongside the rest of the team to ensure continuous improvement is happening within our organisational performance. This is largely achieved through both individual and team coaching, to make sure everyone is on the same page with prioritising the customer and working collaboratively and efficiently.

• What’s your favourite part of the job?
  I really enjoy analysing the data that’s driven from tickets raised by our customers. By looking for patterns within these issues and working together with the team and clients, we don’t just fix existing problems, but also put in preventative measures so that they aren’t repeated.
• What does it take to be a great organisational development director?
  The key for me is asking the right questions. My favourite is always “what would great look like”, which is how I tackle any situation or problem. Keeping the attention on where you want to get to always delivers better, faster, and more sustainable improvements – it helps ensure the team stay focused on where we’re heading, rather than getting bogged down when things aren’t quite working. I visualise in detail how they could work better in the future, then make a plan for how to get there.
• If your colleagues could sum you up in one word, which word would they use?
  Not surprisingly, it would be efficient!
• What did you want to be when you were growing up?
  An actor.
• The phone rings and it’s your dream enquiry – who would the client be?
  We have clients that span across many different sectors, all with varying requirements, which keeps things interesting and challenging. But a call from Richard Branson would be fun!
• What’s the biggest IT challenge facing SMEs in the current business climate?
  I’m not from an IT background, so my observation as a relative newbie would be that IT has almost become too technical. Many customers don’t want to get caught up in all the detail and jargon – they simply want solutions that suit their business and work efficiently.
• If you could change one thing about the IT sector, what would it be?
  Following on from the last question, I’d like to see the IT sector putting more focus on really listening to and communicating with the customer. By translating solutions into non-technical language – which is standard practice for us at Q2Q – the customer instantly feels more comfortable. Plus, it gives them confidence that they’re paying for an effective service, rather than being bamboozled by tech-speak!
• What are your hopes for Q2Q over the next 12 months?
  We’ve been extremely busy over the past few months taking on several new clients. And with a couple more in the pipeline, we’re already ahead of our planned growth for this financial year, which is great news for the business. My focus remains on working with the team to improve efficiencies, which becomes even more important as we continue to grow.

• If you could pick any 3 words to describe Q2Q, what would they be?
  Friendly, honest and straight-talking.