Interview with Mariana Vaida: A good manager is the one who has a good team

1. Which have been the steps which you have had to follow with a view to achieving professional success?

After a pretty brief period spent within the financial department, I have reached the human resources department and I have felt that I belonged there.
The steps which I have taken subsequently have been extremely natural. I have learnt a lot of things because the human resources area was something new for all of us in the 1990s. I could state that I have developed my career at the same time with the development of the human resources concept in Romania, with the separation from the financial department and the redefinition of the role the human resources representatives play, away from the obsolescent notion of "the personnel department".

2. Have you ever faced professional failures? Could you please tell us how you surpassed them.

I could not say that I have had professional failures, but in the service business the loss of a client could be considered a failure. And, thus, every time we take over a client we should think of how long it will be part of our portfolio, how we will be able to do things as best as possible so that our collaboration could be long and beneficial for both parties.
At the same time, the employees’ lack of performance could be a manager failure. From this point of view, I am one of the happy managers since I have one of the most competent and long-lasting teams.

3. The higher the position you are holding, more responsibilities you have. How have you perceived this change during your professional development?

Indeed, a higher position involves bigger responsibilities and it is possible that some of them are not part of the category that you enjoy doing.
During my professional development, I have considered each step as a new challenge. And thus I have not felt the new responsibilities as something difficult to achieve. I have learnt and I always learn, I get involved many times in the operational activities and I always try to give confidence to the people around me.

4. Which is the most important motivation which someone could have during their professional development process?

I think different people are motivated by different things in making progress in their career. I have seen people who only focus upon the material part of their promotion or the people for whom promotion means decision-making power or people for whom the climbing up of the hierarchical ladder means knowledge and new skills which they will acquire.
My opinion is that there should be a balance between these three elements – knowledge, money, and decision-making power. This is why, you could develop in a balanced manner and you can be objective.

5. The BIA HR company has a portfolio including clients which are well known in Romania. How can one reach such clients in your business area?

BIA HR has been operating on the human resources services market in Romania since 1992. We are pioneers in this area, we have grown and we have developed at the same time with the market. We are permanently preoccupied with the market trends and we are willing to offer to our clients innovative solutions adapted to the companies’ needs.

The fact that we manage each project with the highest level of responsibility and professionalism makes our partners appreciate and recommend us.

6. How can one retain these clients?

The receipt to retaining a client is mainly based on two aspects:
– the operational part
– the relational part
From an operational point of view, the BIA advisers struggle to be the best every time and they succeed in being the best. And this happens because our team is a professional team made up of experts specialized in their business area.
We are actively getting involved in understanding the business area of our partners from the very start of our collaboration. Our position is that of an active part of the partner’s team and thus we could even anticipate certain needs, being proactive. Our position as an active part of the partner’s team also helps us regarding the relational part.
On the other hand, we pay a lot of attention to the requests, suggestions or complaints of other clients, being well known that a complaining client is a valuable client that helps you improve your processes.
We are closely preoccupied with having a permanent and direct communication with the contact persons or the representatives of the management teams of our partners.

Moreover, due to the specific nature of our operations, our clients are also the applicants applying for different positions or who want to be registered in our data base for future projects. For this year our portfolio includes certain specific projects which address this client segment.

7. Which are the recommendations which you could give to the persons who are now at the start of their careers in the human resources field?

The advice I can offer to the people starting their career in the human resources field is to be good at what they do.
Even if working in the HR field is trendy or seems easy, I recommend young people to look for the job which represents them and dedicate themselves to such. For each of us, having the job we like that also represents us means total fulfilment, performance and satisfaction.

8. Which do you consider to be the most important aspect a manager should pay attention to when leading a team?

I consider that a lot of focus should be placed upon earning people’s trust. Of course, this process takes time, but this is the only way people will follow you.
I lead my team in a democratic way. I believe in this type of leadership, I believe in transparency, openness, permanent communication and I also believe in the principle that a manager should have that overall image of the team so that each member of the team could be perfectly integrated within the assembly. As long as people do what they like they will also do what they should do.

9. A sentence which should be kept as a famous quote for the Management Portal:

                                                                                         A good manager is a manager with a good team!

The published article can be found here: portalmanagement.ro/mariana-vaida-un-bun-manager-este-acela-care-o-echipa-buna/