What is your role in Quorum?

I initially came onboard as a Service Desk Analyst, looking after a number of clients and supporting them with their IT solutions, which is something I’d done before and enjoyed.

I’ve now transitioned to the Service Desk Lead role, which is something that I was doing more recently when I was in Fujitsu in New Zealand and was hoping to do at some stage at Quorum.  It’s come along a lot faster than I had expected, which is great.

So, in this position I’m there to support the team, to mentor and coach them and to make sure that the day-to-day running of the service desk is going as it should be.

My focus is primarily people management, but I’m also there for things like client escalations.

What have been your most notable moments?

The client site visits have been quite interesting and eye-opening. Coming from the IT world, it’s interesting to see the really varied ways that other businesses run and it’s exciting to spot the opportunities for where we can really add value and improve things for our clients.

I’m trying to think back and the fact it’s only been six months is mad as things seem to have just flown by at a rate of knots. There’s been so much to absorb in that period!

Tell us a bit about your team?

What advice would you give to anyone that would like to work at Quorum?

We have so many different people from all walks of life and different backgrounds, so don’t get too hung up on your own experience or background, just go for it and apply.

Make sure you set out your own goals for learning. There’s a huge amount of opportunity for learning and there’s a lot you can take on if you’re asking for it. It’s great to be eager, but with that huge amount of information coming at you, you could find yourself swamped or overwhelmed. So my advice would be to pace yourself, there’s no pressure or rush, so just enjoy it and learn as you go.

What have been your ‘best bits’ so far?

Seeing the management, the board, and all of the people that are in traditionally more senior positions in Quorum and their approachability. They’re just people like anyone else and of course that’s the case, but I’ve witnessed it in other organisations where it’s more hierarchical and there’s more of a distinct split between management and others, whether that’s intentional or not.

It doesn’t feel like there’s that separation here. Everyone has a job to do and it doesn’t matter where you are in that chain, there’s a culture of openness and approachability.

If you have issues you’re free to speak out and they’ll be listened to. That’s the reason I can see myself here for a long time because if I’ve got ideas or thoughts or problems, whatever it may be, I know I’ve got a place to go that isn’t just straight to HR like in many other places. It’s that feeling of, I know my voice will be heard.

What would you like to achieve in the next six months?

Firstly, to flesh out my role and figure out exactly what it entails and what I can do with the team.

I’m also desperate to get some qualifications under my belt. Because my role doesn’t require as much technical acumen as others, I’ll naturally be pushed less than others on this. However, I want to because I’m interested and for my own development and because it is one of the benefits of the job, I don’t want to lose that.

I want to get the team to the stage where we feel we can look at service improvements, quality of life and work-life balance improvements, because we’ve got a) enough resourcing and b) everyone is efficient and comfortable with the job and job tasks.

It’s getting to the stage where I’m looking back and can see that we had some work to do and now that’s done we can proactively look at what we want to do to make things even better. Making sure the team are in a really good place, everyone is happy, and making those continual improvements, that’s the really big achievement for me.