WFM Unfiltered

WFM Imposter Syndrome | Loz Beck

• Loz Beck • Season 1 • Episode 12

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In today’s episode of WFM Unfiltered, I sit down with Loz Beck, a trailblazer in Workforce Management (WFM) and a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Loz, who has climbed the ranks from a real-time analyst to a tactical planning manager at Monzo Bank, is here to share her fascinating journey through the world of WFM. From dealing with imposter syndrome to breaking down gender barriers in a traditionally male-dominated field, Loz’s experience is something you don’t want to miss.

We start by diving deep into the emotional and mental challenges that come with working in WFM, especially imposter syndrome. Loz gets real about her personal battles with self-doubt, even after achieving so much success, and how she continues to overcome it. You’ll find this conversation raw and relatable, especially if you’ve ever felt unsure about your abilities, despite your achievements.

But it doesn’t stop there. Loz and I explore the ongoing struggles of unconscious bias, gender disparities in leadership roles, and how women can empower themselves in the WFM space. Loz shares practical insights from her experience in building successful, engaged teams, even when managing real-time operations can feel like putting out fires every day. She also reveals her strategy for leading with positivity through constant change, offering lessons that go beyond just WFM.

Finally, we discuss the balance between career growth and parenthood. Loz opens up about the challenges of being a single parent while navigating the WFM world and how this has shaped her leadership style. Her vulnerability is inspiring, as she emphasizes the importance of owning your struggles and turning them into strengths.

Tune in to this episode for a wealth of knowledge, relatable moments, and advice that could change how you approach your career in WFM. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to WFM Unfiltered for more episodes like this at www.youtube.com/@wfmunfiltered?sub_confirmation=1.

 

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• RightWFM website: www.rightwfm.com 

• Email: Irina@rightwfm.com

 • Podcast email: WFMUnfiltered@gmail.com 

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• YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@WFMUnfiltered?sub_confirmation=1

Thanks for listening.

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Irina:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of WFM Unfiltered, a podcast by RightWFM. I am your host, Irina. Now Hollatz and I'm having an amazing guest today, and she's an absolute powerhouse, and I cannot wait for her to share everything that she has prepared for us today. But before I do that, actually, I forgot to ask you, Loz, where are you based?

Loz Beck:

I'm based in Portsmouth, very close, sunny,

Irina:

okay, so today we're off to Portsmouth, and as you can already heard, my guest is Loz. You have probably seen a lot of her content in LinkedIn. She's sharing a lot of stuff that she has also done together with the forum. And having that said, how are you doing today?

Loz Beck:

Yeah very, well. Thank you. Excited to be here with you.

Irina:

Likewise, and I've been waiting for that recording for a long time. We had to reschedule due to me being absent, but thank you so much for making the time today. And before we kick off with our topic, which I'm very excited about, would you mind sharing a little bit more about yourself?

Loz Beck:

Yeah, of course. As I've already been introduced, I'm Loz I've in planning for the last. Eight years or so, Similar journey, To most people who find themselves in planning. Started on the phones, And then found myself in a role in the real time space as an analyst. And then Really ended up enjoying it with Southern Electric, And grow myself professionally, moved into like the forecasting space, scheduling space, wanted a little bit more out of it. moved into senior analyst roles and in a real time manager role. Expanded the business into being taken over by OVO, Jumped into a new challenge then like mid COVID, changed WFM platforms, went to more channels and managed to create a team that were brand new real time analysts. Got them elevated, got their skill level up. And then I find myself here two and a half years later after that journey with the energy sector in fintech banking. So I work for Monzo Bank now as a tactical planning manager. And look after the full scheduling, re optimization, real time management space, Which is where I've spent the last few years. Lots of changes, lots of restructure, Trying to get WFM into a, Best practice award winning state.

Irina:

And I'm absolutely sure you're getting there and maybe to share a little bit more about how we got connected is actually, I was attending one of the sessions in the forum and you were doing presentation about what you were able to achieve with the workforce management tool that you were implementing back at the time. And I was so impressed because you were, I'm getting goosebumps because you were talking not only about Technical aspects and difficulties and the journey itself. But you were talking quite a lot about the change management and I will, I'm always saying that's the most important step. Everything that you do, whether it's a WFM to a new process, a new structure, It requires a change. And if you don't manage it correctly, you'll crash down and burn. So ever since that first presentation that I saw from you, I started following you and reading about your content and getting to see you in different events. And I'm very excited about everything that you're doing. And I think we need more people in the space like you who are Making WFM fancy, triggering the interest of everyone into WFM.

Loz Beck:

Yeah, I like that. That's the tagline, right? Make WFM fancy again.

Irina:

You know what? Let's do that. Actually, I'm going to use that for the headline for this episode. But let's get to our topic for today. And you mentioned something offline to me about imposter syndrome. And this is something that I definitely can relate to because I never got officially trained into WFM and even after years of working in every single operational role, I became a consultant and I was convinced I don't know Just because I wasn't formally trained. So after years in the field without having proper or formal training, people often think like they don't know much. And even though you develop yourself all of the mechanisms and the tools and you can reply to every single question and you can have strategies in place, you end up feeling like you're almost not good enough. And this is something that I have been carrying with me throughout my WFM career, and that's why it really sparked my interest when you mentioned it. So can you please share your view on this topic?

Loz Beck:

Yeah, so, I guess it's always been an underlying problem for, me personally, but I've seen it in other people as well. People that I've worked with, people that I aspire to be like, are still being affected by imposter syndrome. And I did a bit of research on it a while back. And there are at least 70 percent of all people feel some kind of imposter syndrome within their career. And like more astonishingly, 75 percent of females in leadership and senior leadership also Also, See imposter syndrome as part of their day to day. And I think it's just about reflecting on your journey. So for me personally, I'm I'm eight years in, I'm only 26 years old. I'm a full time single parent who doesn't, Look the normal way that you would expect in a, Banking or large scale energy industry. So I always felt like it was a bit of an uphill battle just to prove myself generally anyway. I joined the real time space when I was about 20 years old, 1920. 20. And for me, I was in a team of people who were 10 years experience plus in planning. So the straight off the bat, my experience in planning I have no experience. I've been working in a call center for a year. Before then, I was a chef. So who am I to come in and challenge these people that have been doing everything for 10 years? So it felt like already I'm on the back foot. I'm going to have to prove myself, But only I really thought that. I'd already been given the role, the opportunity. I've proved myself and my ability. Someone took a chance on me to put me into that real time analyst role. And there's only me doubting myself. There's no evidence that someone has used my age or my technical ability or the way that I look is part of that, But that's how you feel going into it. As much as I'm self aware of it, and I think people are generally very self aware of it, you still bring it with you along your career journey anyway. I'm here now, eight years later, I've won an award for Planning Manager of the Year I've had various different promotions and roles um, and and again, like we say, I'm trying to make WFM fantasy again, and be someone who voices that in the space. but I still don't feel like I'm qualified enough to have some of those conversations. around technical ability and planning and all of that kind of stuff. But It's just being able to use the tools that you've got to tell yourself that you are good enough and that you are in this role for a reason and lean on some other like minded people.

Irina:

Where do I start with that? Because I have so many thoughts and honestly, everything that you're saying touches me very deeply because I can relate to your experience so much. I've been thinking about my own journey. I also became a manager when I was 25 and everyone else in the organization on the management role was much older than me. So naturally I felt what am I doing here? Who made that mistake to promote me? And I started second guessing and questioning every single thing that I do or say. Then years later, when I became a consultant and I did by myself a Very big project for a global organization. And I've rolled out all of the countries with their new WFM tool. I still felt like I'm not good enough. And I still looked at people who don't even have my achievements, but for me, they were better in what they're doing purely because of age of years spent in the industry or so more. And I was thinking, you know what, I don't even know how that starts and whether this is something that we can say, as you mentioned in your research, also impacts some genders more than others, that we maybe lack that natural confidence that some people have. But I've also noticed that Usually people are very open minded, people can see how much you can do, but you're always feeling probably they think I'm full of shit, probably they think that I have absolutely no idea, they're closing the laptop, they're discussing how much I suck at what I'm saying, and that's not true at all, but it always plays in your head, and it's, So weird to see how that impacts so many people. And exactly like you, I have spoken to colleagues that I absolutely admire. And when they speak with such confidence that I'm like, I want to be like you. You're never stressed. And they're like, I'm terrified. I'm always stressed before my presentations, but we experience it in a completely different way when it's about us than when it's about other people.

Loz Beck:

Yeah. And you, touched on about it being like gender specific sometimes as well. And I did a bit of research into that generally anyway. And you're right in saying that women are generally more predispositions to naturally think that way about themselves anyway. And again, when you look at media and like the world that we've grown up in, in, There is a lot of it all over social media, all over the news, gender pay gaps, Diversity inclusion reports. and You've already got that predisposition of being on the back foot from day one anyway. so it's almost like a natural thing for women To feel that way in when they go into a more senior position.

Irina:

Yeah definitely there is something to it and it doesn't have to be only gender related. Of course, there are, regardless of the gender, people can feel a certain way. I think specifically for all the people that I have worked with, I tend to see that women are much more lacking that kind of confidence in themselves. And one more thing that I'm trying to achieve, I'm a huge supporter of making female empowered in our field, because I don't know what's your experience, but I still see it as primarily male dominated field. And I have been in so many situations where I'm attending a call or a presentation or something and I'm completely ignored or disregarded because I'm not expected to know technical stuff. I'm not expected to be on the same level and somehow I feel like we need to do a little bit more to showcase that we're not worse, we don't know less, we maybe know even more. It shouldn't be a gender related type of a role. It should be skills related type of a role. So have you ever been through that journey of just being the female in the classroom that don't know enough?

Loz Beck:

Yeah, definitely. And I think Even if you look at like things outside of like the workplace, and I think this is an example, quite a few people can probably relate to. A few years ago, I was buying a new car with my partner at the time. And I was buying the car. It was in my name. I was handing over the money. I was signing the documents. Whose hand did they shake at the end of the deal? Who did they talk to the whole time around when the car's gonna be ready and when you come and pick it up? It was his hand that they were shaking. Him that they were directing the questions to. So it's very similar when you bring that back into the workplace. You're sat in a meeting and take hierarchy like out of the equation. You're the most skilled person that they've invited to be there, but you've got someone else from a different space who has an opinion. I naturally would override that. And I'm like, hello, I'm here. I'm the person with the skills and the knowledge that you've asked me, you've invited me to be here. Listen to my opinion. And we can collaborate on it together, not saying That person doesn't have good value add, but it's just naturally The default setting to talk to either the the man in the room or the naturally, the most senior person in the room as well. It doesn't necessarily just have to be The, male in the room. But that's where the boundary between like skills and technical ability gets blurred a little bit because you're looking at hierarchy or you're having a, even if it's just an unconscious bias in your head that you naturally default to someone else, you're not using the person that is holding the most knowledge about the subject that you've asked them to talk about.

Irina:

And I think this is a very important point that you're raising, we're not even saying that somebody does that on purpose or they're disrespecting you. It's just that unconscious bias. And I'm gonna state that again and every single time to that moment, WFM especially still primarily male dominated field. If I look at all of the companies that I have worked in from consultant's perspective, But probably the men are like 90%, maybe even more, and the female are 10%. It's not because we don't have qualified women, but it is just as is. So I'm hoping that now that we're starting to speak more openly and find our voices, things will start shifting. And that's why every single time when I see you and people like you raising their opinion and fighting basically for WFM, I'm getting so excited because I know the impact that will have on others and how it will boost their confidence. Yeah, and

Loz Beck:

I think it's really important. You see a lot of push in similar industries around female engineers and females in data and females in science, etc. Yeah, for sure. And I don't think many people see Contact centres or planning as a skill, an ability, a career sometimes either. So I think it's really important to share that this is a career and I want to get people who are coming fresh out of school, out of university, to see that as an option and aren't just siloed to, specifically engineering, data, science roles, because that's where we say we need more female diversity. And I guess it's like taking a look at it as well. A lot of what I talk about on LinkedIn is around being a parent. Because I think you could probably ask many mothers and parents, to be fair, dads as well, it's not just limited to females, imposter syndrome, but you look at your career before you have a child. And I'm not saying imposter syndrome isn't there at that point, because it was for me and it probably is for others, but you have that child and you already think. If I'm going to have to take a day off for childcare, what are people going to think of me? What is my senior director, who's a man who has no kids, how is he ever going to possibly understand and empathize with the situation if my child is poorly or she's walking in on a meeting and Needs me to go and grab a snack for her and that kind of stuff. So it's, I guess imposter syndrome comes in waves as well. And how you manage through those peaks and troughs and how you like overcome that at the same time.

Irina:

I love that you're mentioning that. And actually the last probably couple of months, up to one year, I started reflecting on my growth journey, personal growth journey, not even work wise and I've always been brought up and thinking you should, especially as a woman, you should put a very strong front. You shouldn't be vulnerable. People will think that you're weak because everyone always assumed that you're emotional because you're a woman. So now speaking about overcoming personal challenges, you're making things worse because you're saying what you have been through. And You know what? I've always been shielding myself speaking about personal experiences including with my friends. I've always like everything is fine everything is cool good and just the last probably one year I started working on actually I'm blocking so many stuff and I'm not allowing people to relate to me because everyone goes through something we just don't know about it and it's just so frustrating. easier for people to relate when they know what you're going through, but somehow we still associate it with the professional environment. Oh my God, if I say that I have that specific issue at home, they're going to think I'm weak, that I cannot manage my time, that I'm emotional, that I'm this, I'm that. And I think this is something that we definitely need to be better and As a society, we need to have more understanding how basically not allowing people to express themselves and what's really going on with them. It will impact them. It will impact their job in one way or another. You just wouldn't know what is the root cause of that impact. Yeah.

Loz Beck:

That's why I talk about it so much because I think I've realized that as well. You're not going to help. anyone if you don't talk about it. And. So many people become a parent. So why wouldn't you want to share your journey with them to potentially give them even 1 percent of making their life a little bit easier? So like with The imposter syndrome that came with like having a child A lot of the feedback that I'd gotten was, you're nailing it, you're a superwoman. And that's all lovely feedback, but some of the best feedback I've had He'll know who it is if he watches this that I've ever had was, I'd love to say Loz, makes it look easy. Managing quite a high demand job on her own with, My now five my now 5-year-old, but actually She doesn't. She She is very open and honest to say how difficult it is, And they much prefer how real that is, rather than sugarcoating it and saying, I'm nailing this, I can do everything. Because I can't.

Irina:

It's much like the conversations with Instagram. And actually, the more you're sugarcoating it and faking it, the worse you're making people feel because they think, okay, maybe I'm lacking something. Maybe I'm unlucky. Maybe I just can't do it. Maybe I'm not good enough. No, everyone struggles. Not everyone is open and honest about it. And that's the important message. And I've been thinking on the back of everything that you have mentioned, I have made a survey a couple of years ago about WFM people being introverted or extroverted, knowing that we all have different percentages of both, but what's your opinion? Is it more on the introverted side, WFM people, or the extroverted?

Loz Beck:

I think extroverted, but it depends Where you're sat, I think.

Irina:

Okay, give me your opinion on this.

Loz Beck:

I think real time analysts, real time management in general. Extroverts, Cat planning, scheduling strategic, introverts, but I think it's a really good mix because that just plays to the skills that are needed in each space anyway. You've got the stakeholder, being on the front line, real time element of it. You can't do that if you're sat behind data, head down, and you need to make those really crucial relationships to get the buy ins with stakeholders. Yes, you can have a bit of both I do find that is more of a skill that you see in the real time space, or in the leadership space, obviously. And you've got the introverted side, where that skill isn't needed as much in the capacity, the scheduling, re forecasting space, because you do need to sit there and have the data skills sit there, head down for a good few hours at a time. You don't necessarily need to be on the front line of it all the time and necessarily need the buy in a lot of the time. But a lot of problems that planning face. is that we're pillared too much in our own areas or the natural go to is just real time and the workload is far too high for just that space because of that natural separation in personality. So this is why I think real time is a good starting point for someone in planning so that they can bring their Extroverted NATO to the strategic space so that they can then progress on themselves, learn a new skill, and also enhance that Skill that's already there in that space.

Irina:

It's, I'm very curious about this one, first of all, because I completely agree that when we're looking at the roles in separation, real time, Most are extroverted and should be, otherwise, if you can't communicate with different stakeholders, it's gonna be difficult for yourself. You're gonna end up presenting your job. Overall, it does seem for me like we're more, WFM in general, on the introverted side. As a whole, if we look at the whole cycle, but I was wondering whether if we're looking at a lot of people, whether incapacity planning, scheduling, and what have you are more on the introverted side, whether that kind of further enhances that kind of imposter syndrome, because you end up sheltering yourself and everything it's getting out of proportion in your head.

Loz Beck:

Yeah, but I think it comes with being in the extroverted space as well, Because you feel a lot more exposed and vulnerable where you're put in front of other people. So it's easy probably to hide away if you are naturally more of an introvert, But if you are thrown into something, having to join meetings with people much more senior than you, you've got messages coming like left, right and center. You're exposed Much more as someone who's naturally an extrovert anyway. So you're probably feeling a little bit more vulnerable when you're in that position.

Irina:

I haven't thought about that angle. Actually, it's a pretty good one. It's a good food for thought. Okay. So taking that kind of a topic into consideration what kind of tips and tricks. We can give to people, how can we ease the journey for everyone, especially new people that are just now starting to go into their WFM journey?

Loz Beck:

Yeah, you're never going to totally eradicate it. I feel like it's always going to be there. I've worked really hard to try and I guess convince myself or actually get myself into a more positive, like mental attitude with it. So a lot of the tips that I've been working with is regularly saying, these are my achievements. Every, however frequent you want to do it every month, every week, every three months, just sit back and have a reflect and say, okay, It doesn't feel like I've come very far. but actually, what have I done in the last week or so? What have I done in the last few years? And begin noting them down, writing them down, almost having them as, Affirmations, They're there in front of you to say, actually, I absolutely nailed this. I've done this to this and achieved this. I've won this. I've I've been promoted for this. Or I succeeded in getting another job for this and then actually there are more pros than there are things that you've probably failed at. And those things that you failed at as well it's really easy to focus on them. I am definitely one of those people that would go to bed after a bad day and think about it until three o'clock in the morning.

Irina:

Yep, same.

Loz Beck:

or if people, if someone was to say one thing, one bit of feedback. I would sit and think about it and I wouldn't think about all the other hundreds of pieces of feedback that have been positive. So, instead of turning it into a complete spiral and going into complete crisis and overdrive with it look at that feedback specifically and actually what you've learned from that feedback as well, and how that bettered you and how you then change that in the next situation that you were in. And I think we touched on this before as well, when we've spoken previously. around looking at your skill set and ironing out your skill set. I started as a chef when I was fresh out of school, 15, 16 years old, and then jumped straight into the course, into a call center. What was I doing in a call center after, after cooking food for three, four years? 4 years? And I was way out of my depth is what I thought. You might think like taking calls is very easy, but it isn't. It's a really difficult job when you're dealing with vulnerable customers. People that are confused, upset, don't understand. People that have specific needs and abilities as well. It's really tough to be on the phone to the frontline. And as as a chef. You don't really come anywhere close to customer interaction whatsoever. You're in the back, you're in the kitchen, you're sat there cooking food and you don't really think that much of it. So when I was doing my, like research into imposter syndrome, I laid out all of my transferable skills and understood how I started my career journey as a chef on the phones and how I still use. Probably a good 80 percent of those skills that I do now. And then obviously I said that there was some anxiety about being a parent and it knocks you back in confidence. And again, what skills did I actually learn from being a parent as well? So I laid all of those out. And you've got really different set of skills that you can bring to the plate with that. Obviously I manage quite a large team of people who have many different needs that need being met. Being a parent has taught me patience, lots of it, empathy, Being able to multitask, right? I've worked from home with my daughter Thea for the last four years now. She's one of the team. I'm convinced she's going to be in real time within the next couple of years. very much. But she is here and I have to be a parent and a manager and get my work done at the same time. And none of those can really give in my head. So it's how you balance all of that. And like I said, it comes with a lot of patience. She pushes her boundaries. She's five years old. You've got to keep your cool in certain situations that frustrate you. So I've learned to channel my frustrations in a much more mature and controlled way than I probably did when I first started in planning, because it is frustrating in planning. It's very frustrating. You're constantly met with a lot of no's and pushback, no one really listening to you and that's what it's like having a five year old. So it's just making sure that you iron out all of those bits and pieces. And actually see how they relate. As a chef, you have multiple orders and tickets coming through that you've got to get out quickly. That's your inbound that you're managing as a real time manager. You've got four plates of food that you've got to get ready for. It's all on the hob. You've got to make sure they're all timed perfectly, cooked perfectly. And there is the occasional fire that you've got to put out, which I think sums up planning in general, is putting fires out and making sure that we dovetail everything to get the best possible outcome. And then you look at like other things like enjoyment, right? I'm someone who has a lot of tattoos. So for me being able to spend six to eight hours Sat in a chair getting stabbed with a needle, Like, that's a good person to have in a meeting because they can take a lot of pain. I

Irina:

Oh I need to say several things here. First of all, you give brilliant advice and I liked so much how you were saying, I'm trying to focus on the positive because it's easier to focus on the negative. I can't even begin to tell you how much time I spent Oh, I got promoted. I got lucky. I got that job. I got lucky. And it was always based on luck in my head. And it took me a lot of time to speak to myself, to convince myself, no, it's because of your skill set, because you've done the work, you deserve it. It's not because you're lucky. So I'm very happy that you made that point because I'm hoping to resonate with more people. The other thing that it impressed me on our first meeting, it impresses me now even more is, You show such a level of maturity and you're able to relate to all of these roles that either you used to have, either you now have, and to translate them and what skills you need to get from them and apply them into their job. And I think if people start thinking about it in this way. They will already see how much of a background preparation they have for certain roles. So I'm I'm honestly so proud of you and of everything that you have achieved and how much you're pushing through and the depth. And as I mentioned, your maturity of thinking about this stuff and also being able to translate them to others and make them relatable. So please continue BU, but before I let you go, we're not done yet, you have to tell me about your success with your real time teams. How, this is one thing that most companies is always a struggle. They struggle meeting their service levels, their targets, their organization, managing stakeholders. So please tell me how to make it happen.

Loz Beck:

I don't think I have the. Secret ingredient for it, it's still A challenge, every, day. Like planning's an evolution. so what you do, even last week, might not even be required this week. So it's, again, it loops it all back to the navigating the change element of it that we were talking about at the beginning. And it's just being able to react to that change in the most positive way through drive, through energy, through enthusiasm. And I think that takes you at least half of the way, just keeping that engagement, that motivation up. There's been a lot of change the last few years that I've been through numerous restructures in multiple companies. COVID, starting new businesses, company takeovers, manager changes, team changes. And like through that, the constant similarity has always been, if I'm the leader through this space, how do I approach it with the most positive attitude to make sure that everyone on that journey with me is invested and bought into it as well. And It's hard to stay motivated if you've changed your goals and your team 10 times in the last year. it's hard to keep that trust within the space, like how do you do that? But I think like I've come a long way and probably learned from many a mistake of how not to do things. I've probably got a decent idea of How to try and approach something, either in a different way that I've not tried before or in a way that I've realized has worked as well. Recent challenges that I guess I'm really proud of, have been more around the people element side of things. I've had a couple of teams now where. There has been no historical planning experience. The people that I have are straight from the call center, potentially haven't even worked in another call center previously before. And how do I make them invested in planning, excited about planning and elevate themselves as analysts or even future leaders in the space? So it's been really enjoyable seeing the best in people come out as part of that, being able to coach them, mentor them, develop them into some pretty good shining examples of what a great analyst, schedule analyst, tactical planner, real time analyst. I see it as, it's not really my success, it's like our success between all of us. I'm not successful unless my entire team is successful.

Irina:

I don't know what to say. This is the definition of a perfect leader. To understand that you are there to help. Make your team better and to basically give them the right environment to thrive and do the best that they can do and the best that they can be. So thank you so much for all of that advice. The last thing that I want to ask you for your general opinion, I'm talking to a lot of people that reach out to me on LinkedIn and they say, I'm feeling insecure of posting. What if people think I'm stupid or I don't know my stuff? What do you say? Do we have to encourage people to be a little bit more vulnerable or rather protect themselves and just lurk in the shadows?

Loz Beck:

Yeah, I wholeheartedly think be vulnerable. Consider obviously what you're saying. But you have a whole community of people that specifically for work, LinkedIn purposes, right? And you can put it on any platform. But there are specific platforms for that kind of thing. And I I don't think I would have grown as professionally as I have without the backing and support of the network that I have grown to love in planning that I've met virtually, Without their encouragement as part of it as well. I wouldn't be sat here today with you if I didn't take that leap and become vulnerable and put. A lot of that out there for people to relate to. So I would actively encourage it as well. And it's not only just about sharing life experiences. Obviously that's what I Do. A lot of what I do is around my role and how I balance that with Being a parent. you don't have to talk about that kind of stuff. If you are struggling with Certain things that you're not confident with or comfortable with within your role, within your skillset, no one is going to look at you for posting something to say, I don't really understand this, or can I just understand what other people are doing? Cause you're not going to know all the answers. And then those people that respond are being lent on for their knowledge. And you're actually helping them at the same time, build their confidence. It works both ways when you post. It's not just about what you gain from it. It's what other people gain from it as well. So actively encourage anyone to just take the leap, Be a little bit more vulnerable, because no one cares. No one cares as much as you.

Irina:

I we're finishing on a great note and I'm always saying we just get wrapped in our head and we think, Oh my God, the whole LinkedIn community is going to check and they're going to spend their entire evening of saying how stupid that one post of yours was. No, nobody cares. And. As a wrap, thank you so much for agreeing to be with me. For everyone out there, I'm gonna post Loz LinkedIn in the show notes, so please connect to her. Go speak to her, send a meeting invite, send a text message, read her posts. I know how much you have already achieved. I think you have just scraped the surface, to be honest. I think great things are ahead of you and I can't wait to have you back for another conversation.

Loz Beck:

Thank you so much. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Irina:

Likewise. Thank you. Thank

Loz Beck:

you.

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Irina Hollatz (Mateeva)

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