Employee of the Month: Mihaela Trif, Customer Engagement Specialist
Join us in our journey of interviewing some of the most extraordinary individuals that continue to make The KPI Institute a role-model for others to follow. In today’s edition, we will be featuring January’s Employee of the Month, Mihaela Trif.
Being yourself is natural and it will attract the right people around you, be it clients, coworkers or anyone else.
1. What is your role at The KPI Institute and what makes it special?
I’m a customer engagement specialist at The KPI Institute. If you’re reading this and asking yourself “What does this even mean?” – let me tell you what it means.
In short, it means that I am part of a sales team. This is a workplace where I feel that I am part of a team, and it is probably the place where I actually learnt what it means to be part of a team where everyone does their part.
I can’t speak of my role at The KPI Institute without bringing up the wonderful team that I am part of. They taught me everything there is to know about this job and their support is clearly showing in my results. We should never underestimate the power of good teachers, as they bring value and they create the joy of learning new skills, which is quintessential in human progress.
A role can only be special if it’s empowered by the right person. This is something universally valid and all roles in a company should be special and indispensable. If a role is not special and vital for the well-being of the company, then how can we expect someone to do their best?
2. How did it feel to be nominated and selected as Employee of the Month?It is a beautiful thing to get formal recognition for the hard work you put in and for the results you achieved. But what’s even more beautiful is to always feel constantly appreciated and valued by those you work with every day, even when you had a bad day or when something went wrong. It’s priceless. It makes you feel at home.
In return, I would love to nominate all of my fellow Customer Engagement team members, and all my colleagues who I am constantly collaborating with, as they are all giving their best and ensuring that our projects go on as smoothly as possible.
3. What do you find most challenging at The KPI Institute?To be honest, I enjoy a good challenge. I’m not an adrenaline junkie, but you could say I’m a challenge junkie. It’s what makes me tick. Some people might complain about encountering one too many hurdles, and I might too, sometimes. But I am secretly enjoying it, because when it’s over, there’s nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done.
But to give a more relevant answer, I think the most challenging situations emerge from breaks in the communication with clients, sometimes from their side, sometimes due to a language barrier. Like any relationship, even those involving clients need both parties doing their best in order to succeed.
4. What would be the three main career lessons that you have learnt thus far?I have learnt that in order to succeed, you must be persistent. I think this is a good lesson for more than just my career – it’s something we should all engrain in our consciousness. Most of the times, failure is a part of the journey, and persistence is the key to success.
Secondly, I have learnt (once again) that life is always full of surprises. Never underestimate, nor overestimate someone’s potential. Don’t make opinions based on beliefs, wait for facts.
The third career lesson that I have learnt so far is that authenticity is one of the most valued qualities, no matter what you do for a living. Being yourself is natural and it will attract the right people around you, be it clients, coworkers or anyone else.
You cannot fail at being yourself, but you can definitely fail at trying to be somebody else. We are not perfect, but nor is anybody else. Trying to be perfect is unnatural and nobody will feel comfortable around you.
5. If you could interview one person, either from the past or present, who would it be and why?I would love to interview Leonardo da Vinci. Besides being a renowned painter, he had so many areas of interest and is now seen as one of the best examples of Renaissance greatness, which was arguably one of the most interesting times in the history of humanity.
I would be curious to find out how he perceived the world, how his daily life was and whether he was aware of his greatness.
