It’s well documented that people put more energy into something they love and are passionate about, compared something they feel they must do. When it comes to business, happy teams are more productive – a culture all organisations should strive to foster.
Knowing how passionate I am about ensuring our clients have exactly the right IT tools to grow their company, people are often surprised to hear that I was sceptical when I joined the Q2Q IT team for the very first time.
My background is in the world of fashion retail, so – understandably – I didn’t think it would be possible to get excited about all-things IT support. How wrong I was!
Continuous improvement
Applying my love for continuous improvement to client accounts, delivering great customer service and empowering colleagues take responsibility for their workloads by harnessing their key strengths, gives me fire in my belly!
It’s my curiosity around what drives people which leads to me regularly asking probing questions of the team. In turn, this provides great insight into how to get the best out of each member – by understanding what they enjoy, in and out of work.
It might sound a little strange at first, but you really should love your customers – and colleagues. Make it your mission to know their likes and dislikes, find out the nuances of each, and adapt your personality to every situation.
Very early on in my career, I worked for a clothing retailer that designed garments for older women. One of the most important things I learnt there was that the business really understood who our target customer was – her lifestyle, hobbies and interests. Each piece was suited to the occasions which might fill her diary, so much so, that we genuinely felt she was part of the team!
Know your customer
This is an approach which we’ve adopted here at Q2Q. We aim to build an environment in which we’re constantly learning from – and listening to – our clients. We’re not afraid to ‘go the extra mile’ in order to really dig into common SME IT issues, and offer advice which makes day-to-day life run smoothly.
We pride ourselves on becoming an extension of their team – and not just ‘the IT guys.’ Of course, we get the job done – but we’re about much more than that. It fills me with happiness to know that my colleagues enjoy coming to work because of that reason.
We’re a tight-knit team, have our own inside jokes and it’s safe to say we’re genuine friends. In a recent conversation with one of our support analysts, he reiterated how lucky he felt to be working with us – and sees his role Q2Q as a career, rather than simply a job. As you can imagine, this made me feel very proud!
So, while I know very little about IT – and the nuances of tech is definitely not something which gets me out of bed in a morning – I love leading the team, ensuring they are happy, and therefore, productive.
