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Meet the Pathfinders
OnBoard’s Head of Customer Support Liz Drews is a relatively new Pathfinder at OnBoard, having joined the team in July 2021, but she’s made immediate impacts, winning the “Newcomer of the Year” award, thanks in part to her passion for assisting customers, engaging her team, and helping grow the unique Pathfinder culture.
Meet Liz Drews
Role: Head of Customer Support
Department: IT Support
Joined: July 2021
What She Loves About OnBoard
“I have found that OnBoard is special. The relationships that people have with cross-functional partners, internal partners, and coworkers, has been pretty phenomenal. Relationships matter, and making those connections with folks is important. How else do you get things done?”
“Sync up with as many people cross-functionally as you can ... The minute you do that, you have a new connection and a new view of what that area does with the company and a greater ability to solve problems.”
Right now, you’ve been a Pathfinder at OnBoard about six months. What's your initial impression so far?
OnBoard is special. The relationships that people have with cross-functional partners, internal partners, coworkers, has been pretty phenomenal. Relationships matter, and making those connections with folks is important. How else do you get things done? That’s pretty important. Just because a company says they’re really good to work for, doesn’t mean they’re good to work for. It’s important to give a voice to the actual employees.
How would you describe your job to a layperson who has no idea what a Customer Support is?
I am managing the team that directly supports our clients. Anytime a client or customer is going to reach out to us with a question or problem, we’re the team they’re most likely going to reach out to. It’s super important to the company’s success, and the first line for the customer of who they’re going to be working with.
What’s interesting about working for large companies, especially in support-type roles … my experience comes from customer support, B2B support, Tier 2 support … a lot of policies or procedures or ways of getting things done are just set in stone [at larger companies]. It’s allowed me to see that just because that’s the way we did that yesterday doesn’t mean that’s the best way, and it doesn’t mean we can’t change our trajectory. At LinkedIn, I built a job from two people to 60. That stemmed from a director who said, “I don’t think we need you guys to do this.” I had to prove them wrong. Here at OnBoard, I’m able to bring some of that “Does this make sense? Let’s think about it” mindset.
Proactive social networking is key to growing your career. Not necessarily stepping up the ladder in titles or paycheck, but being able to fill your skills toolbox. On LinkedIn you can get into these tunnels where a lot of people are similar, and it can really narrow your thoughts of how valuable it can be.
Don’t ever NOT connect with someone, even if they’re not in your industry. It does not mean their experience can’t affect your experience. Being able to do that online opens the door to relationships I never would have had.
In terms of professional networking, it’s not all about what’s on your resume. I’m a human, and what I bring to the table is not a degree; it’s not necessarily the job titles I’ve had, it’s the experiences I’ve had, and not all of those experiences in the office. I’ve discovered it’s been essential to bring vulnerability to my posts and lean into the fact that we’re all humans doing a job. Without humans, you’re losing a big chunk of what you can provide. If we’re able to bring that vulnerability, it opens the door to larger conversations.
I went through some pretty traumatic workplace years where it was truly cry-on-the-way-to-work sort of trauma. What that did to me personally but also to my personal brand was really negative. It was not easy for me to show up with a smile.
Now being out of that situation, when I got the job with OnBoard, my husband said, ‘Just show up as a boss’ and you’ll be fine, and I have. So I’ve shown up with the attitude, ‘Today is awesome, let’s do this.’ If I can flash a smile, that’s important, I might be a nine-hour drive away, but my smile is right here (on-screen). I’ve really leaned into being an influence in the way I’ve shown up.
Sync up with as many people cross-functionally as you can. Find a customer success manager who might have a call that you can listen to. Chat with someone on the engineering team about what their day is like. The minute you do that, you have a new connection and a new view of what that area does with the company and a greater ability to solve problems.
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