No longer a lone wolf

This time last year, I became the latest member of the EMEA SC team and despite me working in sales / solutions consulting for some time now, it was the first time that I had actually found myself working in a team for over 6 years.?

Whilst going through the interview process, I also was speaking with two other companies and one interview that sticks with me, was when I was faced with the question “It feels like you’ve been a lone wolf for a while now, how do you think you will handle being part of a team”?

My natural response was I guess similar to how others would answer. I’m a team player, I work well with others etc...etc... and I did not think any more about it.

Fast forward to now and the end of my first year and I’ve been able to reflect on what being part of a team now means to me and more importantly the difference it has made to my development.?

Knowledge Sharing

Starting at any new company can be daunting, but when you have the task of learning the platform inside out and you realise just how many components there are....wowzers. This is the first place where I realised being part of a team was going to benefit me. The depth of knowledge shared across my peers was insane and the way the team had became SME's in certain areas meant, it was easy for me to identify who I needed to speak with each time, as well as giving me a focus on how I can add value to the team and take on the task of also become an SME in new product releases / updates.

Teamwork & Collaboration

I think anyone who has worked in Pre-Sales long enough knows that both teamwork and collaboration are essential for success. I'm constantly amazed at how often someone in the team goes above and beyond to help myself or a teammate with prepping for a demo, or answering questions in an RFI/P or just helping share knowledge to questions on the platform. The best thing about this, is that everyone is so willing to do that at any time.

Building things together

One thing that I did not realise happened when I joined the team, was the amount of times someone or a combination of people within our team would spot an opportunity to make things better and work on a project that benefits the entire team, for example building new things that enhance demos, working on new decks or taking ownership of processes that we know need improving, all without thinking about it. It has certainly inspired me, even if my KB has become the butt of jokes within the team!!!

So to round off, I wanted to give a shout out to the amazing EMEA SC team. We are a combination of different characters, from different backgrounds and have all somehow found ourselves in the world of being an SC via different routes. Thank you for making the first year amazing and for inspiring me to be the best at my job that I can be.

Bring on year 2!!!!