What's one thing that surprised you about working in Allstate's tech org?
One thing that surprised me was the sheer scale and complexity of the tech ecosystem. You hear "large organization", but you don't grasp how many systems, teams, and processes are involved until you're inside it. It's been eye opening to see how everything connects behind the scenes.
What's the most exciting challenge your team is tackling right now?
The most exciting challenge we're working on is increasing consistency in how we manage the Service support teams from how issues are logged and escalated and to how changes are communicated. It's not always easy in a large organization, but getting it right really improves the experience for both teams and customers. Both Service Teams that I lead are going through transformational change that will help us achieve our mission and vision.
How does your team culture support learning and growth?
Our culture supports learning by giving people opportunities to solve real problems. We take a realistic approach to learning and growth within the team and allow mistakes and opportunities to happen regularly, which is ok, as long as we learn from it! It's a very practical environment, the teams grow by doing, reflecting, and improving. With leading global teams, not everyone is going to have the same level skill set, so it's about meeting them at their level and bringing everyone along so that development is equitable!
What's one thing you've changed your mind about since working in tech?
I thought that you always had to have the right answer as soon as the question was asked, but what I've seen and learned over the years, which has changed my mind, is that you need to be comfortable in not having the answer sometimes! But making sure you know who speak with and get direction to get the right answer. There always a few different ways to solve the problem so it's taking the time to work that out for yourself.
What's your favorite way to spark curiosity — in yourself or others?
Keep asking questions, even questions that may seem obvious or simple can be valuable, ask it, for I can guarantee someone else on the meeting has the same question or even better, it'll spark something in their head to ask. It's not the easiest thing to do when you're in larger calls or meetings and it's something I have had to work on over the years and will have to continue to work on.
