To be young-er

July 2011. I can't remember if this made it to our department's magazine. Headspace screenshot.

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Your Career
• What were you doing before you joined APS
I was a fresh grad, BA Journalism, from UP Diliman. Some seniors, back then, told me that financial advancement is in Corporate Communications and Advertising. I was looking for career opportunities in these fields and 14 attempts failed because of my in/experience and salary expectations. Actually, the job title didn't concern me at all. I just needed a high-paying job that will help me send my three sisters to school. APS was the 15th company I applied in and I'm a proud member of the now indigenous APS Batch 15 (three of us are still in the company). And yes, for 2001, the price was so right!

• How did you find out about APS
Aside from the fact that I needed in a job, I also wanted my boyfriend and I to work for the same company. I followed him wherever he applied. J He had an interview with PeopleSupport (we thought that it was a non-Government organization) and our game plan was that we'll tour all the Philam floors and submit our resume's before his interview. While he was taking the assessment, I submitted my resume to Roger Ong (the 2001 version of Mother Domeng). Since my goal was to join any Corporate Communications team or advertising company, my resume was printed like a Hallmark greeting card. It was pink (this was before I watched Legally Blond so the idea is mine, I didn't steal it). Back then, PeopleSupport was still hiring ahead of the curve. It took almost three weeks before I received a call from Recruitment. I didn't know what I was getting into. But when I saw PhP12,000 as my starting salary, I nearly cried – my expected salary was PhP8,500. Almost two weeks before the job offer, the boyfriend was already offered a job in a real estate company as Copywriter so we didn't get to work for the same company anymore. But that's ok. After eight years, I married him anyway. We do not work for the same company but we live in the same house.

• Tell us about your career in APS
I started out as an eRep for NSI, with a few months in Fandango and Expedia, before I returned to NSI and fulfilled the role of a Subject Matter Expert. Nearly a year into the role, I felt that I was ready for bigger responsibilities and so I applied for the Team Supervisor function with Experian. As a Team Supervisor, I was assigned as Creatives POC and my task was to come up with campaigns and initiatives that will drive performance. One of the projects that we conceptualized was a training campaign to boost retention. I had to collaborate with the training team and in the course of the project preparation and implementation, I realized that it's something I would like to do long-term. Since then, every career move was driven by the long-term goal of practicing training and performance consultancy. I applied for the trainer post in Experian, got accepted, and eventually got reassigned to HCC (now Wyndham). After almost two years of being a trainer, I applied for the NHO Training Manager post and got accepted. Bonuses came along the way. Due to reorganization, I became NHO-Employee Engagement manager and got a year worth of experience in events management, organization-wide employee campaigns management and organizational climate research. Still with the end-goal of training and performance consultancy in mind, I pursued the opportunity to become a Leadership Development trainer when it became available. I then moved to Shared Learning Services (now content and development design). I thought that my professional journey in the company has ended and it's time to leave to continue my pursuit of work experiences that would prepare me for the long-term goal. Then, the opportunity to become a Senior Manager for training presented itself and I pursued it right away. I feel blessed that despite the two-year hiatus from training management, I was still considered for the post.

• What is the most memorable moment in your professional life?
When I figured out what I wanted to do with my professional life – training and performance consultancy. Everything became easier to accept and plan for after that realization. I may disagree with a lot of realities at work but I am always humbled by the fact that 1) I need a job and 2) I need this job to get me my real dream job 5-10 years down the line.

• Who do you regard as your professional role model?
My father. His family was a victim of a series of unfortunate events and so right after high school graduation, he was pushed to the streets, literally, to support his younger brother. To send his brother to school, he became a cigarette vendor, a farmer, a construction worker, a messenger, a factory worker, a truck driver and a jeepney driver. He excelled in every job he took – if he were to be appraised, he'd bag a 5 for intellectual curiosity. To date, he's still a jeepney driver who does not rely on any machine shop for his auto-mechanic needs. He can build a house from the ground up.

Your Job
• What do you like most about your job as Senior Manager for Training?
First, it's one step closer to my long-term career goal of being a training and performance consultant. Second, I get to work with a group of talented individuals. Third, and this has keep me grounded regardless of the post I'm assigned to fulfill, it pays the bills.

• How would you describe your leadership style?
I got the 4P concept from the Initial Supervisor Training (first batch!) that I attended in 2003 and I live by it to this day. As a leader, I exert every possible effort to ensure that the 4 P's coexist harmoniously: People who are clear about what's expected of them and their role in the organization, efficient Processes, fair, well-communicated Policies and documented Procedures.

Aside from 4P, I was fortunate that I've had the chance to work with leaders, whose leadership styles resonate (conscious effort on my part) in mine. I say "resonate" because I have yet to achieve the degree to which I would like to mirror their styles and strategies. Arjay Angodung was my first supervisor when I was still an agent – he's fierce and direct (I transform into my 20-year old self when in front of him). And he will always be the first living example of an unforgettable leadership quotation that I read – "You know that you're a good leader when your team functions even when you're not around." Chino Salgado showed me the "heart" of management – he instilled the weekly 1on1 discipline in all his direct reports and he always took the time to conduct skip-level meetings. If you want to piss him off, just under-report agent sentiments. 😀 Moi Lee-Rodriguez and Bob Greenleaf showed me the science in what I've initially perceived to be an art. Whenever I'd consult Bob on training concerns, I do not only receive advice. I get prescriptions – books, online articles and zillions of PDF files.

• We know you as Romi, Senior Manager for Training. What is the other side of you that our readers don’t know?

I hate the industry and nationwide obsession with the ability to speak like Americans. It angers me that it's given so much importance to the degree that even when people hardly make sense, the twangs and confidence almost always make up for it. EOP and power dressing have become low-risk, high-yield career development investments.

I never conquered my fear of public speaking. When I conducted my demo for the training post, I was in the bathroom for quite some time before the demo. I was throwing up for almost ten minutes. To this date, when I need to speak in front of an audience, I need at least 20 minutes of emotional prep time.

If my circumstances in life were different, I would drop everything to be a full-time mother and wife.

• Being a leader, people look up to you and talk about your success. But what are the three professional achievements that are personally close to your heart?

On my 5th APS anniversary, I finished paying for my youngest sister's College Educational Plan. It was the last goal I set for myself as a single woman.

Some of the processes and procedures that I established for the teams I used to work with have outlived my existence in the team (ex. The Finance Tracker (printed version) was the result of a process I established in 2005, the NHO announcement templates and new hire database in 2006, automation of the enrollment process for Leadership Development Classes, hosting of updated credits tracker and CEFs in SharePoint in 2008, enhancement of the ETP request form for Content Development in 2009, etc.).

In 2005, our team was already documenting processes and procedures. The very first training playbook was from NHO.

• If there is one thing in APS that you can change, what will it be?

We claim that we are the most stable BPO organization. We take pride in our ability to adapt to the changing needs of the industry. Our organization-wide performance management efforts continue to evolve but our compensation and benefits management strategies have already celebrated their 10th anniversary. The salary of a trainer in 2003 (it was higher before this) is still the salary of the last trainer we promoted. The same goes for Operations Team Leads and Leads for other support groups. I hope we take WOW-ing the PEOPLE to heart. Or to use today's buzz phrases. Let's do a DMAIC on employee engagement as it translates to employee retention. Or let's CUIKA 10 years worth of ePulse data.

Now this response is for a what-if question. Since I do not have a direct influence to the matter I chose to "change", allow me to share – and invoke - the mindset that helped me survive the past seven years of my ten-year tenure in the company… (with Valley Girl accent) I dunno, I just work here.

Your Life
• What are you most thankful for?

That I got everything I wanted at 28. I wanted a husband, a child and friends to keep until I'm senile.

• Who was the most influential character in your life?

Jun Cruz Reyes. Please look him up if you have time and read his books too. J He taught me to value the really important things in life. Your passion, your ideas… not the titles attached to your name, not the number of MA's and PhD's or list of honors in your resume. Oriah the Mountain Dreamer and her poem "The Invitation," never fails to give me a much needed refresh (F5) when things get messed up.

• What is the most memorable moment in your personal life

When I found out I was pregnant. It was memorable because it was a miracle (I'll spare you the clinical details).

• Who do you regard as your personal role model

Madonna (Louise Ciccone). She's a songwriter, a performer, a visual artist, a mother, a children's book writer and a romantic partner that has yet to find her happy ending. She has an uncanny talent for reinvention and inciting cultural revolutions. If you've seen Madonna perform on stage, you wouldn't know that every step from any Point A to Point B on stage is measured (yes, counted and timed). Documentaries on her performances reveal that everything is scientifically organized yet on stage, it just looks seamlessly artistic. I hope I can do the same in my personal-professional life.

• If there is one thing in your life that you can change, what will it be?
I learned how to smoke during my first year in the company and all my annual efforts to quit have failed miserably.

Your Legacy
• What is your message to the training team?

The message that I'm about to share is not mine. I just got it from Covey. Start the year right by asking yourself what you want out of your life – what are your needs? Proceed to assess how the company is helping you address your needs while considering how you are able to assist the organization with its needs as well. There may, or may not, be a strong connection but whatever the results are, be quick to respond. If you need this job, do everything possible to keep it. If you don't need this job, then take time to ask why are you here? Whatever the results are of your personal inquiry, hold on to them because they are the realities you need to live with. Be humble enough to accept these realities. And everything else will follow.

When PeopleSupport University was dissolved sometime in 2007, former director Bob Greenleaf told us to just look at the reorganization as a graduation. He said that we've already graduated from the University and it's now time to face the real world.

In the real world, revenue and profit margin reign supreme over training discipline. That's a fact. CST is not an educational institution. We are an assembly line expected to churn out trainees without defects. That's another fact. Except for a few lucky accounts protected by their SOW, we are Non-Revenue generating. We are a cost center – the fact that we have an incentive program is a random act of kindness. That's another fact. Finally, we are not an autonomous department. We all have a dotted line to Operations. The training voice is as good as a soft whisper of recommendation. Operations is not the enemy. It's God. That's another fact.

I read somewhere that "old warriors know how to wait, young warriors fight head on." As managers and training practitioners operating in this type of environment, take the old warriors' stance. Learn how to operate within our realities. Acceptance does not necessarily mean surrender. Wait. Wait for that perfect opportunity to negotiate for what the discipline believes in. Wait for the right venue to present itself and push for what the practice says to be effective. If all else fails, at least you tried. After all, as a manager, you should have learned this by now – the show isn't about you. It is never about you. It's about the disciplines – the training discipline, the management discipline.

And know that even when you fail, your failure stays inside the office. Outside, you're still a friend, a partner, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a daughter, a son, a photographer, a dancer, a cook, a chef, a scuba diver, a jetsetter, etc. – do not allow your work to define who you are. Of course it's an entirely different story when you fail because of sheer negligence. You should be stoned to death, if that's the case, because it's a crime to keep a job you can't decently fulfill. It's a crime because you're stealing the opportunity from someone who will be able to give justice to the post. Neglect of duty is a crime punishable by death. I mean it.