Which projects from the past year are you most proud of?
Our Digital &Multichannel benchmark is a study with more than 200 participating banks globally and has become the industry standard to assess performance on a critical topic: digital. It is rewarding to see how banks across all the regions I oversee –from New Zealand, Australia, to Singapore, Thailand or India, are using our insights to drive their strategy and prioritizeinvestments. We share knowledge across our teams and learn about the latest best practices from the US, Europe or China. Being exposed to so many wonderful ideas and innovations from across the globe makes us all truly global experts.
How has Finalta facilitated your progression?
In my first few years I leveraged my German and Romanian language skills and managed studies in those countries. My managers trusted me to quickly manage client relationships independently, which allowed me to become truly passionate about working closely with clients. I then got to manage smaller projects, teams, then increasingly more complex projects over several markets with larger teams. When we opened our Singapore office, I transferred over from London to help set up an entirely new team. The transition from role to role was natural and I always received support: training, regular coaching, mentorship –and most importantly, friendly and clear feedback that allowed me to grow and embrace every challenge with confidence.
As a leader within Finalta, how do you mentor more junior colleagues?
One of the most gratifying experiences is enabling more junior colleagues to develop their skills, seeing the team grow their expertise and celebrating success together. I am currently mentoring several colleagues in our London and Chicago offices via video calls, or over dinner when we get to meet in person. Our chats can range from the typical day-to-day project management challenges, to developing skills for the next promotion, or future career plans even beyond Finalta.
How has feedback helped you to approach certain situations and helped your career progression?
Feedback I received has always been clear and constructive. However, there was one occasion where feedback changed the way I was approaching client insights and helped me to progress much faster. The director I was working with on a client report asked me to write the story from the client’s perspective: if I was in the bank’s shoes and had access to all that data, what would I want to know? This new perspective completely changed the way I work and ever since, I am building every deliverable as if I was the client.
How has Finalta changed as a business since you started?
When I joined we were a team of 10, so it was easy to manage each other’s workload and timelines just by walking to each other’s desks. We were running three banking studies: Branch Sales Effectiveness, Small Business and Customer Experience Benchmarks, with roughly 40 European clients. Fast forward 8 years, we have 150+ colleagues, several global offices, tens of studies across several industries and are working with ~300 clients worldwide. Every year we are growing our team, expanding our client base and developing new studies. What hasn’t changed is Finalta’s positive, supportive environment and our culture remains one of our strengths. That, and of course the Friday drinks which have become a tradition across all our locations!
