Join me to listen to the inspiring career to date of Chara - 10 years at DDC has seen Chara take on roles in sales, customer service, Team Leader, Quality, Chat, Social media, Change & C.I, Client services & Chara shares the impact post-natal depression had on her in what is an inspiring episode.
[00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Get Out of Wrap. Today I'm
[00:00:05] joined by Shara Lee Pidditt who is a senior subject matter expert at DDC
[00:00:11] Outsourcing and DDC Big Friends of Mine and I've had the pleasure of talking to
[00:00:17] Shara a few times now so I'm really looking forward to this Shara thank you
[00:00:21] very much for joining. You're welcome thank you for having me. I know we've
[00:00:26] spoken before around your career and about DDC and we'll get into that but
[00:00:34] where did it all start for you? How come you're here today and you don't have to
[00:00:39] say that Chrissie forced you into it.
[00:00:42] Blasted Chrissie. No, bless it. So yeah I'm here today because I've been encouraged
[00:00:48] to be here today because apparently my story might be quite interesting to other
[00:00:53] people in our industry so yeah I guess it all started nearly 10 years ago so in
[00:01:00] June I'll have been at DDC OS for 10 years and before I came to DDC I actually
[00:01:07] was a Sunday counter girl. I used to work on makeup and beauty counters at
[00:01:12] the weekend and I was studying. I didn't know what I wanted to do when
[00:01:15] I left school and so I thought well I've got to do something if I'm
[00:01:19] doing something I might as well do something that I actually enjoy doing
[00:01:22] so I picked beauty and I went into a holistic and spa therapy after I did my
[00:01:27] initial beauty course and then it kind of after I'd qualified I thought well
[00:01:33] I've spent all that time training I need to sort of pursue it so I had an
[00:01:38] opportunity after I'd finished my training to go and work in a spa and
[00:01:42] only worked there for a couple of months and I'd left boots to go there
[00:01:46] and I actually ended up on less working hours there. It was at the
[00:01:50] time where nil our contracts were a really big thing. I ended up having less
[00:01:54] hours there than I had got previously when I was doing the sort of silver
[00:01:58] service waitressing Sunday girl sort of hybrid so at that point I'd moved out
[00:02:02] really young and I literally just needed bills and enough to sort of be
[00:02:06] able to go and have a pint, play pool and that was basically it so I'd
[00:02:11] obviously started looking at that point for something that was a bit more
[00:02:13] of a stable income and then the opportunity to be a sales advisor in
[00:02:18] a contact centre came up at DVC and I'd never done contact centre work before
[00:02:23] it had always been like this was 19 so very start of my career and I sort of
[00:02:28] thought it's not going to be that much different. I've done it face to face
[00:02:31] you know it will basically be the same and I can remember my interview
[00:02:36] they'd asked me a question about what motivates me because this was a sales
[00:02:40] job so what motivates me at work and at that very different answer now if
[00:02:45] you ask me but at that time I was 19 I had a house to pay for I wanted to be
[00:02:49] able to survive basically so I'd kind of just said money which is the best
[00:02:54] answer if you're sort of applying for a sales job as I say very different
[00:02:58] answer if you ask me now the same question but at the time it was just
[00:03:01] I needed money I needed as many hours I could physically grab my hands on
[00:03:06] get my hands on and that's what it gave me it was a full hour contract
[00:03:10] potential for bonus and that's kind of how I got into contact centre and
[00:03:14] yeah then a very long journey I suppose from there so I can start talking
[00:03:19] through what happened next or any questions.
[00:03:23] That first because like you I had a flat to pay for in London and I was
[00:03:30] looking through jobs and I was I was looking going can I do I think I
[00:03:35] can do this because that wasn't my I wasn't thinking oh will I make a
[00:03:39] career out of this?
[00:03:40] I was so scared I was scared I was like can't be that different but I was
[00:03:44] terrified I was like but I thought I'd never get through the interview I
[00:03:49] didn't think I'd be able to even answer the questions because I don't really
[00:03:51] add I'd got the Silver Service waitress in job for a friend because
[00:03:56] they'd already worked there I felt like very much imposter syndrome I felt
[00:04:00] like I flunked the interview for working on the beauty counters and
[00:04:03] didn't understand how I'd even ended up there for a few years so I was
[00:04:07] terrified when I actually got called for an interview I was like oh my god
[00:04:10] they're going to hate me they're going to be like you're not
[00:04:12] professional enough to work in an office like go back to the sort of
[00:04:15] shock floor so it's a massive culture shock for me walking through
[00:04:19] the doors of my contacts and having to wear office clothes which was
[00:04:23] at the time it was very sort of pre-COVID obviously we've sort of
[00:04:27] relaxed a little bit with the hybrid working but at the time it was
[00:04:29] very much I used to wear my little blazer jacket and yeah I was
[00:04:33] really scared walking into that interview obviously not now I've
[00:04:36] been here 10 years but um culture shock massive
[00:04:40] can you remember those first few that first experience of coming in
[00:04:45] because did you did you have expectations or not or were you
[00:04:49] just kind of like oh I kind of did can you remember that there
[00:04:53] used to be a show I can't remember where it was based now but it
[00:04:56] was like I think it used to be called the contact center or the
[00:04:58] call center and it was a show Welsh guy never Welsh yes yeah
[00:05:02] that was the perspective that I had walking into a contact center
[00:05:06] like that I mean it wasn't all of that there was a bit because it
[00:05:10] was salesy so we used to you know throw balls around and have
[00:05:13] radio on in between the dialer and stuff at that point but yeah I
[00:05:17] think the biggest change as well I was fairly comfortable and
[00:05:20] settled in sales but then I moved into customer services and
[00:05:24] it wasn't until my career basically shifted as soon as I moved
[00:05:28] from sales into customer services and I thought God why
[00:05:31] did they even hire me for sales like I made born and bred for
[00:05:35] customer services and yeah that's kind of where the rest of my
[00:05:39] career then sort of spiraled into what it is now but yeah I
[00:05:42] had a sort of that was the image that I'd had as people
[00:05:46] skipping over there like the headset wires and yeah eating
[00:05:50] snacks at your desk banter so yeah walking out of a
[00:05:54] everybody's glaring at you environment on a shop floor or
[00:05:58] having one on one you know in a spa it's one on one so if
[00:06:02] you you're a bit too rough on their shoulders that you're the
[00:06:06] only person to sort of blame going into this massive team where
[00:06:09] you're all dependent on each other from a morale perspective
[00:06:12] and get massive change not exactly what I expected because
[00:06:16] I had such an informal view of what it would be but I think
[00:06:20] it definitely lived up to some expectations in terms of the
[00:06:22] team vibes and yeah yeah and I'm here 10 years later so
[00:06:27] clearly I know this this this move from sales to customer
[00:06:32] service how did that happen so in contact centre so I was selling
[00:06:36] gas and electric but at this point so I knew a little bit
[00:06:39] about gas and electric but when I say a little bit I knew the
[00:06:41] bare basics to be able to get the sale over the line like
[00:06:44] what's a kilowatt hour and how do we charge you the bill to
[00:06:47] be able to explain to somebody that we're going to save
[00:06:49] your money and get my sale and essentially that was all
[00:06:52] to get my commission and get my bonus so I knew and I learned
[00:06:55] what I needed to learn to be able to earn my bonus which is
[00:06:57] what I was there for but that was it then we won a contract
[00:07:02] which was actually our first ever energy utilities customer
[00:07:05] service contact centre contract though myself and another lady
[00:07:09] were asked to support that onboarding as like the first
[00:07:12] two customer service agents that grew rapid like rapidly
[00:07:17] I was really proud of what that became to be part of it was
[00:07:20] huge as a great success really enjoyed it and I kind of
[00:07:23] because we'd been there since day one I had to learn that
[00:07:27] worked really closely with the client learning the industry
[00:07:31] compliance regulation and then kind of yeah just had to
[00:07:36] understand the system capabilities the process
[00:07:38] capabilities and because we were the first every cohort
[00:07:41] that we then brought in with Grove we basically
[00:07:44] embedded them so we became the SMEs very quickly and then
[00:07:48] after that became team manager but yeah it was just all
[00:07:52] about being on the floor supporting them during that
[00:07:55] SME period so you just naturally learn because you're not
[00:07:59] dependent on yourself are you if you've got somebody to ask I
[00:08:01] always find if I've got somebody to ask it's a lot easier to
[00:08:04] ask the question than to put it on yourself and I always
[00:08:08] used to say this when we got people out and floor walking
[00:08:10] that I don't feel confident enough to floor walk that's
[00:08:13] what they'd say and I'd say yeah but that's how your
[00:08:15] confidence comes because you have to depend on yourself to
[00:08:18] give the answer they're depending on you and then
[00:08:20] you're confident actually I do know what I'm talking about so
[00:08:23] that for me like reaffirmed to me actually you know what
[00:08:27] you're talking about look how much you've learned in a year
[00:08:30] and yeah I thrived that you honestly I used to drive people
[00:08:33] mad I'm sure because I used to be hopping I used to be so
[00:08:35] passionate I'd be hopping around like save this woman 20
[00:08:38] pounds because I convinced it to change it to I used to
[00:08:40] love it thrive so then yeah moved into team management
[00:08:43] from there and I ended up managing loads I've managed
[00:08:47] loads of different types of campaigns in different projects
[00:08:50] so multiple different clients and different departments
[00:08:54] so I'd started in voice customer service then I ended up
[00:08:58] I had a back office team I've had an email team a social media
[00:09:01] team have done escalated complaint and like I say then
[00:09:06] after quite a big period of time I'd moved from one project
[00:09:09] then into another one because it was another onboarding
[00:09:13] of a new energy client another fairly big win for us
[00:09:16] and we wanted to make sure it did well so yeah I was
[00:09:18] considered one of the people adequate enough to support that
[00:09:23] and get it on boarded which we did so yeah then I went on
[00:09:27] maternity and then everything changed drastically so
[00:09:31] but yeah that's that's kind of where where it all led from
[00:09:33] like say went into customer services and yeah the rest
[00:09:37] is history I suppose we'll get we'll get to that kind
[00:09:40] of post maternity and but I absolutely love I love your
[00:09:46] story and your passion because it's it's everything that contact
[00:09:50] centres should be about this is a these are the stories we
[00:09:54] should be telling people because you've you've gone through
[00:09:58] it all of the different things that you've done even just
[00:10:02] one of them individually is brilliant but the fact that
[00:10:05] you kind of were one of the first like one of two people
[00:10:08] to go and set something up to make that transition from
[00:10:12] sales to customer service not only that what I love is in our
[00:10:18] industry there's people like you that just throw themselves
[00:10:20] into it so really you were team before you were given the
[00:10:24] title team manager your team manager oh I had applied for
[00:10:27] it and I didn't get it I didn't get it and I remember
[00:10:30] asking for my feedback of the interview and I thought to
[00:10:33] myself they're going to regret this now I can really yeah
[00:10:36] I can remember feeling like they're going to regret this
[00:10:38] I am absolutely and I think the feedback that I got given
[00:10:41] was you do know a lot and they they weren't wrong by any
[00:10:44] any means there's a very big difference between being an
[00:10:47] expert and knowing all of the processes and then going to
[00:10:51] manage in a team and at the time I was young and naive and I
[00:10:54] was like I'm the best of the best like in my head I was
[00:10:56] like I can't know anymore um very probably a bit arrogant
[00:11:00] actually but uh in my head yeah I was really confident
[00:11:02] I was like this campaign is literally I've been here
[00:11:05] since day one I know the ins and outs of it as I said
[00:11:08] probably a bit too arrogant um of myself at that point and
[00:11:11] I've been knocked down a peg or two since then but yeah I
[00:11:14] didn't I didn't know how to manage people I liked helping
[00:11:16] people I liked fixing processes and I liked making things
[00:11:20] work better and saving us time and making my team happier
[00:11:22] because it worked smoother which is ironic now because
[00:11:26] that's where I I that's where I'm right in the business
[00:11:29] now but at the time I didn't I suppose realize that's
[00:11:33] what I enjoyed so much about it I just thought to
[00:11:36] progress I needed to be a team manager and that's my next step
[00:11:40] and I didn't really honestly think about anywhere else in the
[00:11:42] business I didn't think could I work your HR could I support
[00:11:45] I I literally just thought my next step is team manager
[00:11:48] and that's where I want to be and then yeah I got my
[00:11:50] feedback and I was like okay so what do I need to do to
[00:11:53] be a team manager and they were like a lot more than
[00:11:56] you're doing now you need to be understanding how to
[00:11:59] coach people properly and so I went and found out how to
[00:12:01] do it and then applied again and got it so yeah the rest
[00:12:07] came that's amazing because that right there is the
[00:12:11] reaction of either you win or you learn and for you to
[00:12:14] take that I was I was still hungry for money at that
[00:12:17] point I was still fairly young and I was still very
[00:12:19] much like I want a life and yeah I just want to be
[00:12:25] better I think at that point yeah I love it it's
[00:12:30] brilliant because you you used that not getting it as fuel
[00:12:35] right oh yeah it made me bury yeah I was a bit too far away I
[00:12:39] think at that point I was like let's go get it then I'll
[00:12:42] show you I don't know no one and did it and I was I was
[00:12:45] over the moon I can remember getting my acceptance letter
[00:12:49] um and I can remember being so nervous because you see
[00:12:52] it was at the time where everybody would be spoken to
[00:12:55] face-to-face in an office you'd see people going off
[00:12:58] into a meeting room and you could see people walking
[00:13:01] around the office and you'd be like this watching them
[00:13:03] going to the meeting and I'm like oh god I wasn't first maybe
[00:13:06] I've not got it and then I've definitely not got it
[00:13:09] kind of remember sitting in the seat and then going
[00:13:12] and I think they'd asked me how I felt it went and I was
[00:13:15] like well I think I felt like I did a really good job
[00:13:19] and I was like I couldn't have done any more and that's
[00:13:21] all I could have asked if if I felt like I could have
[00:13:25] done more then I'd have been disappointed but I
[00:13:27] remember sitting there and thinking you did everything
[00:13:30] you physically could do if there's more development
[00:13:32] there's more development but as of what you've got to give
[00:13:35] right now you've done every all of it you've done it all
[00:13:39] um you've given them everything you can and then they
[00:13:41] said congratulations and I was like what and then yeah
[00:13:45] that was that I was like knew I could do it watch me go
[00:13:49] that's brilliant that is amazing how many how many people
[00:13:52] were there in your team so I think I started and I
[00:13:56] I think it probably was about 15
[00:13:59] FTE that I had to begin with but then
[00:14:04] there were times where I'd had like a hybrid so I'd have
[00:14:07] like six back office staff and then so I think I had
[00:14:12] probably about 15 FTE voice and then six back office
[00:14:16] staff and then there were other times where I had
[00:14:18] like six FTE which were kind of where they didn't
[00:14:22] fit into equal splits of FTE there was a smaller
[00:14:24] remaining because of the the head count on the campaign
[00:14:28] and then I had say 12 FTE on a complaints team so I there were
[00:14:31] times where I kind of managed two different
[00:14:34] work screens at the same time so I'd be coaching one minute on
[00:14:37] the raht and then the next minute I've been looking at an escalated
[00:14:40] complaint and how we'd structured it to cab or ombudsman or whatever so
[00:14:45] yeah really did you have three you kind of had three so you had back office
[00:14:50] well it so it varied because I started off with just voice then I moved
[00:14:54] into email then I had email and then I had social media and at that
[00:14:57] point I think I probably had oh god it was a while ago so I could
[00:15:01] be completely lying here but let's say you're probably about 20 plus
[00:15:05] at that point so I had the social media as well and then
[00:15:09] from there I think I ended up handing that over to somebody else
[00:15:13] coaching somebody else up on the element the social media
[00:15:16] and the email element and then I think I ended up going back to
[00:15:19] support on voice because we had another project come in
[00:15:23] part of the same campaign but it was a new element it was I remember rightly
[00:15:27] was debt collector we kind of took a new arm on went on a bit of a
[00:15:33] strategy drive for debt and then I supported the
[00:15:37] literally the communications the whole process we supported that project in
[00:15:43] and then ended up backing that customer service
[00:15:46] sort of remit because of that and then after that it was
[00:15:50] complaints and then a bit of voice at the same time
[00:15:54] so yeah shifted around a little bit I think probably maximum team size I don't
[00:15:58] think about any more than I want to say 20ish and I think that would have
[00:16:03] been for a short period of time because we don't usually stretch that
[00:16:06] headcount unless it's for a short period of time until we can recruit back in
[00:16:10] that would have been if people had sort of moved on to other projects and
[00:16:13] we needed to get people somewhere fast
[00:16:17] how did you prioritize where you spent your time because you've got
[00:16:21] you had so much to do there so a lot of stress I find things better written
[00:16:29] down so I did use I just used my calendar and I can remember I supported one of
[00:16:33] the LA's or a couple of the LA's once in how they
[00:16:36] prioritized their day and I found I'd block time out in
[00:16:40] my calendar where I could block time out but I would keep things connected so
[00:16:46] if I had a coaching tracker I could filter it out to see exactly what I wanted to do
[00:16:50] but it's all in one place because my thing is
[00:16:54] like I think we say death by spreadsheet and I love a spreadsheet but
[00:16:58] my thing is if it's not easy to find or accessible to me
[00:17:02] I it gets very confusing very fast and then I just lose my trail and I end
[00:17:05] up in chaos so for me it was just I ended up
[00:17:09] pulling a lot of things again I there's not a shock that I ended up
[00:17:13] where I'm at but I ended up just pulling things together
[00:17:16] myself in terms of tracks and things like that in a way that
[00:17:20] I made it easier for me to manage so I do like coaching forms at the time
[00:17:24] were we were still in the office so coaching forms at the time were a piece
[00:17:28] of paper usually scanned in you know shredded
[00:17:32] uploaded and that's basically what we did so I had sort of
[00:17:35] made an electric version and was like right all my all on my data was going
[00:17:38] to be in one place I can filter it out see how many
[00:17:41] sessions I've delivered on this this this obviously we've got
[00:17:45] yeah I used to use my calendar and then make sure that everything was just
[00:17:49] in one place really and what was your what was your favorite part
[00:17:54] of the of the role what was the thing you love to do
[00:17:57] I love my people at that point yeah I really loved my people
[00:18:01] and I used to do this thing on I forget what I used to call it now but
[00:18:06] I used to ask the guys to come with like a pun
[00:18:10] of the week and on a Friday and I remember we used to have this poster on
[00:18:14] the board behind us and I can't remember what it said now but we used and it was
[00:18:18] something about a team I was a really cheesy team manager I was I very much
[00:18:22] cared about my people so you know how you do your personality trait test
[00:18:26] I was like all green all yellow which is like fun caring about my people
[00:18:32] like want to know your detail and yeah I was very much invested in my people
[00:18:37] it didn't really matter what part of the business I worked in what department
[00:18:41] that's why I was I wouldn't say I'm free flowing but I was flexible and I didn't
[00:18:45] really mind if we needed me moved into supports somewhere else I just would
[00:18:49] because it needed happening so long as my people were okay that's really all I
[00:18:52] was bothered about yeah I really enjoyed team management at that time it was
[00:18:57] right for me I think at that time I absolutely loved that how long did you
[00:19:01] do that for then oh goodness where are we at
[00:19:04] probably including when I came back from maternity probably about four years
[00:19:10] that worked here probably about four and a half years I think when
[00:19:14] roughly might be wrong don't check a CV will you but yeah roughly
[00:19:18] probably about four and a half years including the time
[00:19:22] after my maternity before I moved out into a different department
[00:19:26] but that's including the time as an agent as well so I probably had only been
[00:19:29] a manager around three years but I'd already sort of done all of that in
[00:19:32] that sort of three years loads you've done quality I managed quality at one point
[00:19:37] actually only in the interim but yeah really enjoyed managing quality as well
[00:19:41] that was a very different Ketler fish it's really impressive because you're
[00:19:45] so well-rounded having worked in and being exposed or managed pretty much
[00:19:52] every activity there is I think it's brilliant
[00:19:55] and and you're so young so you did all of this and then yeah
[00:20:03] you went for maternity how was that how was that whole experience like coming
[00:20:08] back your whole life has changed I guess yeah absolute shift
[00:20:12] I was terrified to come back absolutely terrified to come back
[00:20:16] and it's not for like a sort of communication or
[00:20:20] it I just yeah my life flipped upside down I was
[00:20:25] 20 I think I turned 22 in the June sorry I turned 22 in the May and had my
[00:20:31] little boy in the June so I was only 22 so I was quite a young I want to say I'm
[00:20:35] quite a young that's quite a young mum I was a bit clueless as well I wasn't
[00:20:39] very well prepared but I'm a bloody good mum I tell you that I figured it out
[00:20:44] and I got really quite severe postnatal depression
[00:20:48] and I had quite terrible OCD tendencies my partner used to come home while I was
[00:20:54] on maternity little boy had been napping and I'd have split the
[00:20:58] sofa in half because I just needed it to be different because I was just that
[00:21:02] aggravated but then I wouldn't go outside so I was in a bit of a bad way
[00:21:06] during that maternity so coming back having to one go outside my front door
[00:21:12] when I wasn't it when you're on maternity that's in your
[00:21:16] sort of power that if you're not 100% or you're too scared to go out of that
[00:21:20] door which is where I was at right then I wouldn't have gone
[00:21:23] which wasn't healthy but I was just in a bit of a bad way
[00:21:27] coming back to work but if I was on shift I was on shift
[00:21:31] so it was quite a challenge then coming back into what I thought I knew
[00:21:36] I was assigned into one of the newer
[00:21:40] contracts that we'd had which had not really had any exposure to
[00:21:43] we'd got a new building and there was just so much that had changed in nine
[00:21:46] months which is great for the business growth and change it's good
[00:21:50] but when you're in a state of everything's got to be perfect and
[00:21:54] everything's got to be in my control which is where I was at I had like I
[00:21:57] said really bad OCD tendencies my anxiety was through the roof I was
[00:22:01] not well at all it was a real big struggle
[00:22:04] so I came back and I did came in to do a job share because I came in part
[00:22:08] time eventually ended up moving back to full
[00:22:11] time the business were great they really really did support me
[00:22:15] and I did end up going back full-time and becoming a team manager but I was
[00:22:18] still I was better don't get me wrong I was I was getting better
[00:22:22] but I still wasn't 100% and I just thought
[00:22:26] maybe I just don't have this in me anymore maybe all I need
[00:22:30] to do is look after my son and maybe I haven't got enough
[00:22:34] emotion and energy to share myself maybe I just need to get home at the
[00:22:39] end of my shift and just be able to function and I felt like
[00:22:45] I was drained at the end of my shift I was trying to give so much to my
[00:22:50] people while sort of trying to level my anxiety and not tip myself over the
[00:22:54] edge with a panic attack every sort of a couple of hours yeah
[00:22:58] I just thought this is going to finish me off I can't
[00:23:01] I can't continue doing what I'm doing and then that's when I'd sort of
[00:23:05] said I don't think I'm made for contact centre anymore
[00:23:08] my priorities have shifted my life has changed I as a person have changed my
[00:23:13] anxiety was worse than it had ever been in my entire life at that point
[00:23:16] and yeah that point I had an opportunity to become a change
[00:23:22] analyst for it was only on the circumference it was only for six
[00:23:26] months but between me starting that sort of
[00:23:29] interim role a service delivery executive role came up which was when
[00:23:32] then I moved into that professional service environment completely out of
[00:23:36] contacts that were not completely out because we still collaborate very
[00:23:38] closely but out of the contact centre environment as such so
[00:23:43] yeah that's when then I made the shift to where I'm at now with the team that
[00:23:47] I've got so moved into professional services
[00:23:50] and then the service delivery exec role is basically supporting
[00:23:54] at the time it was service delivery manager but
[00:23:57] now with client services and that's the role that we've had a bit of a
[00:24:00] restructure since but at the time it was
[00:24:04] supporting with data and insights for continuous improvement
[00:24:08] I job shared actually I was really fortunate and my boss was
[00:24:12] wicked she was amazing and Barney Beale just give you a shout out
[00:24:16] absolutely amazing and such a good fit for me
[00:24:19] really really helped because I was still shaky at that point build
[00:24:22] some of my confidence back up to where it was before because my
[00:24:26] confidence was non-existent I was scared to present anything I'd be
[00:24:30] scared to have a meeting with people and this was
[00:24:33] COVID had just hit so I'd gone into that service delivery exec role
[00:24:36] literally as COVID had hit so we were me and Siobhani had worked with each
[00:24:39] other for a year before we'd even met face to face
[00:24:42] properly which is crazy when we think about it now but
[00:24:46] yeah she really helped to sort of build my confidence back up and
[00:24:50] my belief in myself in that you know your stuff you just need to believe
[00:24:54] you know your stuff and not doubt yourself and show people what you
[00:24:57] can do again and she worked part-time so I was really fortunate
[00:25:00] because I was full-time that on the days that Siobhani didn't work
[00:25:04] I kind of stepped into that client service manager role
[00:25:08] and I was learning from her on then the other three days and I'd be
[00:25:11] supporting with like risk login risk management change management
[00:25:16] and it was kind of a I didn't have to have the responsibility of
[00:25:19] clients service manager but I had a really good opportunity to sort of
[00:25:21] shadow because it was a job share as such
[00:25:24] learn on the job but still have the safety blanket around me that says
[00:25:29] but you're not the client service manager and you're still learning
[00:25:32] which was amazing for me exactly what I needed
[00:25:36] and within a year people tell me all the time like the shift that
[00:25:40] compared to where you were and the way that I presented myself
[00:25:44] four years ago even massive massive change and then
[00:25:49] yeah as well as a service delivery exec for a little while
[00:25:53] and then after that I basically took on the team that I've got now
[00:25:58] I've supported during that time as well as an actual client service manager
[00:26:03] and onboarding of projects and things like that
[00:26:06] project management program management so on but yeah and then I sort of
[00:26:12] now I head up my team head and process improvement team I've got
[00:26:15] fantastic bunch of people I've got three individuals that report directly
[00:26:19] into me one is junius me she's got a lot of utilities industry
[00:26:25] background and then have two business performance and
[00:26:28] process analysts as well which again utilities background
[00:26:32] retail experience and I've worked in retail since
[00:26:36] leaving the contact center I've worked in retail I've worked in logistics
[00:26:40] I've got utilities experience so yeah the beauty of outsourcing
[00:26:45] I've gained so much knowledge in the last five years and I've been really
[00:26:48] fortunate to be able to have that exposure to be able to go and get it
[00:26:52] but yeah I absolutely love my team now they're fantastic bunch of people and
[00:26:56] they all just care so much and yeah I suppose I'm back to full strength
[00:27:03] hopefully I honestly have so much admiration
[00:27:07] and respect for you and that thank you for for sharing that I think it's
[00:27:12] something the previous guests have come on
[00:27:14] and and talked about you know that kind of you're in flow up to that point but
[00:27:19] you're like you said you're so young you're in flow
[00:27:22] and then your world changes yeah the better you've got a child
[00:27:26] but oh yeah best things that ever happened but massive culture shock
[00:27:30] like and it's totally disorientating isn't it then
[00:27:33] given the pace of contact centers when you come back
[00:27:37] all of a sudden it doesn't take much I felt like I'd been away 10 years it
[00:27:40] was crazy I was like oh my god do I even belong here anymore
[00:27:44] and I'd already felt sort of anyway but
[00:27:48] and there's a theme there's a theme running through this about that you
[00:27:50] you know you are a fighter you know you you kept going
[00:27:54] and you've survived your worst days you know that kind of
[00:27:58] and still now taking on different roles different industries different
[00:28:04] disciplines and skills and recognizing that
[00:28:09] I think people think your career kind of goes in a straight line and
[00:28:12] everything's fine and you just keep progressing it isn't it's very squiggly
[00:28:16] and you get kind of knockbacks that aren't work related
[00:28:20] oh yeah even now you know there will be times now where I
[00:28:23] and I'm working on my own self-belief now that is one of the areas because
[00:28:27] everyone says like I don't like you get you present and you'd never guess
[00:28:32] that you're nervous and I'm like you should see me after
[00:28:34] I am and then give me 10 minutes I'm back to full strength again when
[00:28:38] I've sort of talked myself down and I think for a big period of time with
[00:28:42] me I used to have to talk myself up and then talk
[00:28:44] myself down so if you're going to smash it you're going to be fine
[00:28:47] go and do it you know you're capable I'd go I'd do it and then I'd be like
[00:28:50] oh my god oh my god and then I'd have to talk myself down
[00:28:54] and I'm not as bad now but yeah by any stretch it's 100% it's like a
[00:28:58] it's like a wave and it always has been for me
[00:29:01] and I think it doesn't end when I it didn't end for me when I started feeling
[00:29:07] better and I would consider post-natal depression
[00:29:10] not resolved but better for me now I'm still a parent my priority still has to
[00:29:17] be my child I've still got to make sure that I'm
[00:29:20] giving him what he needs in terms of time and making sure that I reserve my energy
[00:29:24] so that balance it doesn't just stop because post-natal depression got easier
[00:29:29] because my dependency my child's dependency on me is there
[00:29:32] it's there and it will be for the rest of my life now
[00:29:34] so it's not just okay you feel better mentally now
[00:29:38] how do you balance work life with being a parent still be able to give as much as
[00:29:43] you want to give at work but reserve enough that your child's getting everything that
[00:29:47] they need and I have terrible mum guilt terrible mum guilt and that's probably
[00:29:51] the what what I will probably now until he's 18 and then some I'll continue to
[00:29:56] to try and balance because I do I sit back and I think oh I could have you
[00:30:01] know when they're asleep and you think oh I could have done that better today
[00:30:05] and tomorrow is going to be a better day and I put a lot of pressure on myself
[00:30:08] from that respect as well so yeah I think that wave will just it doesn't ever end
[00:30:13] you just just wake up in the morning like right now what
[00:30:18] I bet he's very when he's older or even now I bet he's very proud of his mum so
[00:30:23] that's all I want yeah literally that's what I said earlier when I said if
[00:30:26] you ask him the question now like what motivates you
[00:30:30] I just want my son to get old look back and say
[00:30:33] gosh he smashed it and be proud of what I did and that's literally it I couldn't
[00:30:39] ask for anything more um but that mum guilt gets you it really does get you
[00:30:44] I think just with any of the things that you've mentioned you know we spoke
[00:30:48] before I don't I don't mind admitting I've talked about it way back when I
[00:30:52] had I suffered with depression and you know even after it finished now I'm
[00:30:58] just feel like I'm better informed and better prepared to be aware of the signs
[00:31:03] that might take me into that space again you know but it's it's a companion then
[00:31:10] it's something that you'll always have that you'll always have to just be
[00:31:13] mindful of and your your kind of strategies and coping mechanisms
[00:31:18] you just have you're constantly working on them aren't you yeah like I said
[00:31:23] even now people will say to me like what do you mean that you've got no
[00:31:27] confidence because I am I can be in fact I get I've been told I'm intimidating so
[00:31:32] I can't balance the books really but yeah even now from a self-belief and a
[00:31:36] confidence perspective I might sound like the most confident person you've met
[00:31:41] and I might even now I might still sound arrogant to people I don't know
[00:31:45] I'm absolutely not I shut my laptop at the end of the day and I think
[00:31:49] God and the thousand and one things of what I should or could have done
[00:31:52] differently lists but it is just how like you said you recognize that
[00:31:56] and it's not always easy and I still get caught up in it now
[00:32:00] but it's recognizing that and then trying to like I talk myself down
[00:32:04] in rationalizing my thought process because I do get a bit of tears and a panic
[00:32:08] and like you said it's it's always there it's just recognizing it and
[00:32:13] when you learn strategies trying to continue implementing and using those
[00:32:17] strategies because they do work but sometimes it just gets you too fast
[00:32:21] doesn't it and I still get in a tears like I said now so it's just
[00:32:25] we're all doing the best that we can do at the end of the day aren't we?
[00:32:28] Yeah it's a perfect you're a perfect example I think of
[00:32:32] the combination of when you have a really talented hard work in person that can do
[00:32:38] anything that is your perfect for our industry.
[00:32:41] Never been called perfect before but you are you're perfect for our industry
[00:32:47] because you can just you've you've evidenced in a short space of time
[00:32:50] all of these different things you've done but when you combine that with a company
[00:32:55] that recognizes that and genuinely cares these are the sort of things that people
[00:33:00] don't realize about our our industry you know DDC it sounds like
[00:33:06] of being whether it's individuals or some of the processes that they have been
[00:33:11] for you in the good times and the bad times and
[00:33:14] but they wouldn't be doing that if you were an absolute nightmare.
[00:33:18] I don't know I'll let you ask them that question but no 100% and I we did a it wasn't this year
[00:33:25] but last year we did International Women's Day we did a bit of a round table and
[00:33:29] you'll have probably seen the clips last year in there we spoke about you know the
[00:33:34] imposter syndrome and how we can support each other and the rest of it.
[00:33:37] I owe and I said it in that meeting I feel I owe a lot to a lot of individual people
[00:33:43] but essentially their processes are there as well for a reason but yeah I've had so many great
[00:33:50] individuals in this business because this essentially has been my adult career like a
[00:33:56] proper job she wore a suit jacket you know I thought I was a grown-up at 19 and
[00:34:01] God I didn't have a clue looking back now I didn't have a clue but no I am grateful
[00:34:05] it's been a journey I've learned a lot but honestly if you looked at 16 year old me that was like
[00:34:12] well I may as well just you know learn how to massage somebody at least I'll enjoy it
[00:34:17] and now I'm like looking at no data constantly and understanding AI and how we can automate things
[00:34:26] and yeah it's a completely different world but I thoroughly enjoy it and I never would have
[00:34:32] thought you know 16 year old or you're actually data driven.
[00:34:37] Data driven I was all about and I was like performing arts and yeah performing arts and
[00:34:44] English lit they were my things I didn't do particularly well in maths at GCSE I think
[00:34:49] I just scraped a C and that might have even been on a reset but yeah the things I were good
[00:34:55] I didn't really have a passion in and that was like science I've got really good GCSEs
[00:34:59] in science I was actually in the local newspaper because I got really great GCSEs but I wasn't
[00:35:04] expecting it because yeah just when you're 16 I was in a very different headspace in terms of
[00:35:09] where I'm at now but no way would I have thought I'm going to work in a contact centre then you're
[00:35:14] going to manage a team and then what you're going to do is you're going to automate processes say
[00:35:19] people time say people money and you're going to love it I know no chance.
[00:35:24] And is that the sort of thing that you're doing now that kind of you mentioned
[00:35:28] efficiency processes data and AI do all of those things come to bear in the role that you and the
[00:35:33] team are doing now then? Yeah largely so we sit within professional services so we work really
[00:35:39] closely we've got developers within our department not within my team but within our professional
[00:35:44] service department and we work we're obviously DDC is global so we work really closely with
[00:35:50] our Serbian and Bosnian team so we've got developers in our department we've got
[00:35:57] development we categorise slightly different so we've got like IT development MI development
[00:36:01] and so we've got the ability to build apps we build reporting on Power BI we build software etc I
[00:36:08] say we I don't physically build most of that myself but we support with speaking to stakeholders
[00:36:14] gathering requirements understanding the challenges and then we analyse those challenges and propose
[00:36:19] the best solution for it and then support with the handover of those requirements into the
[00:36:23] relevant department my team sometimes do sort of low code or no code solutions so we will create
[00:36:30] things ourselves but it's low code no code anything further that then we would hand off as full
[00:36:35] requirements drafted into the relevant department and then the other things that we do we go in
[00:36:40] we analyse processes like said we can provide solutions within those processes or it may be
[00:36:45] that we just say waste waste remove that replace it with this we try and automate as much as we
[00:36:50] can and then basically whatever's left over that we can't automate in theory if it's people orientated
[00:36:58] we want our people to be happy so it's making that remaining element of the process smoother
[00:37:05] and as pain-free as possible saving everybody time money and essentially making our teams happier
[00:37:11] but we are client facing as well so we work externally just as much as my team work internally
[00:37:17] and we review both sides of the fence in terms of processes so yeah largely my team go in
[00:37:23] we can just have a spreadsheet of data and somebody says I don't know what the problem is
[00:37:27] can you tell us and we'll just you know analyse the data throw out some insights and let them make
[00:37:31] the decisions themselves but it just depends what people need from us so our process basically says
[00:37:38] if you've got a request you know what you need come and ask for our time we'll go away
[00:37:42] and we'll do what you need if you've got a problem and you're not sure what you're
[00:37:45] actually needing you need to come and get help from us to identify what the actual root cause is and
[00:37:50] identify your problem statement to be able to put the right solution in we can do that as well
[00:37:55] so yeah if they've got an issue with anything existing we work that if they've got any problems
[00:38:00] and they're not sure what they need to do to be able to resolve them that could be I've got a
[00:38:04] really high ht and I don't know why or it could be I've got this really convoluted process it's
[00:38:09] got 16 different sort of handoff points it's chaos it's not working very smoothly it's wasting
[00:38:15] people's time what do we do and then we'll go in and we'll see what we can do to help them but yeah
[00:38:20] essentially in a nutshell try and stop repetitive manual movement and try and automate if we can
[00:38:27] and make everybody happier from a time saving from a satisfaction of doing the process and
[00:38:35] to clean it make it nice and clean now before before I did this I don't even know what this is
[00:38:42] I couldn't even say but before I did the podcast and things like that I did get to a position where I was
[00:38:49] running contact centers doing a global director role so I've managed thousands and thousands of
[00:38:55] people I genuinely have to say if you if I could have chosen someone to be in a team that
[00:39:04] makes improvements and you told me that that person had been an agent being a team manager
[00:39:10] being a SME setup campaigns worked in client services done training coaching done all of the
[00:39:19] different things you've done out of bitting your handoff and say this this you have done you
[00:39:24] have genuinely done so much and you've done it with all of the different things that you've
[00:39:30] mentioned that have been challenging you're you are a perfect example of what's possible
[00:39:37] in our in our industry if you for every time that you doubt yourself you should you genuinely say
[00:39:44] you are awesome and that's not just a throwaway comment it's based on all of the different
[00:39:49] things that you've done and that you've beaten and that you're open to talk about it will
[00:39:53] massively help other people as well so I feel very very lucky to have had this chat with you
[00:40:00] I will actually blow up no thank you it's very much appreciated thank you very much yeah I'm
[00:40:07] very fortunate to have my team like I say I'm I'm very proud of them they are just as agile as I
[00:40:13] am they want to do a good job and yeah I've come a long way I think sometimes I do forget and
[00:40:18] somebody says to me what have you done I'm like well I used to be a team manager and then
[00:40:22] you forget that you did quality in that as well and I think in a nutshell it's
[00:40:27] it's there were there were challenges the business needed support I never said well I did say no
[00:40:33] occasionally but if I was needed and I could help then I would try and help to the best that I could
[00:40:39] I'm not saying that I am like Joan of Arc and I'm going to go fix everybody's problems but
[00:40:44] if somebody comes to you and asks for you to support because they think you're the right
[00:40:48] person for it even if I didn't think it I was like well they think I do so maybe I am
[00:40:54] maybe I am the right person and I used to explicitly say I'll do the best that I can do
[00:40:59] I'll I'll try my absolute best and I always always do I give everything that I can give
[00:41:04] might not be perfect but that's an opportunity to learn isn't it that's how I've gained as much
[00:41:10] it being around really great people taking the opportunity to learn from them and asking
[00:41:16] questions when I don't know what I'm doing I never go in and pretend I'm an expert and
[00:41:20] my team will tell you the other people that work within our business will tell you if I don't know
[00:41:25] the answer to something then there's no shame in that I'm to give you the best answer that I can
[00:41:30] give you but if there's a better person out there for it I will 100% point you in the right direction
[00:41:35] and might ask you to let me know what the outcome was so that I can I know for next time but
[00:41:40] yeah just I've been very blessed and it'll be as cheesy as it wants to sound I've been
[00:41:44] very blessed I've been surrounded by a lot of really great people I've had the opportunity to
[00:41:50] learn a lot from a lot of different people I've had a lot of opportunity from the business and
[00:41:55] equally we've had a lot of from an outsourcing perspective we've had a lot of scope in terms
[00:42:00] of the types of clients that we get so I've been blessed to be able to see utility industry and
[00:42:05] how that functions now equally I've had a few years more than a few half a decade worth of
[00:42:11] sort of retail and logistics so yeah I've been very fortunate but equally had I not
[00:42:17] have taken on those challenges or opportunities that I got given I wouldn't be where I am today so
[00:42:24] that's all I take from my last 30 minutes of this conversation really if you get given an opportunity
[00:42:30] what's the worst that could happen you can learn from it you know you're not meant to succeed
[00:42:34] everything or you'll never get better are you so just have to keep believing in yourself
[00:42:39] and keep trying I suppose which as I said earlier I'm still working on that bit myself
[00:42:43] so it's easier said than done but yeah I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't keep getting given the
[00:42:48] opportunities and keep taking them when I caught so thank you very much for your nice kind comments
[00:42:53] oh well it's thoroughly warned I've absolutely loved chatting to you and hearing about this
[00:43:00] I hope we get to chat again um and you can add podcast guests now to your list list of things
[00:43:08] that you've achieved but Sharalee thank you so much for coming on thank you very much