Working at Nevion – Q&A with Joanna Ratajczak
Meet Joanna Ratajczak , Director of Quality and Compliance at Nevion, based in Poland.
Welcome to our newest series of Q&A with the Architects! At Nevion, we’re proud of our people and we have built up a great global team of professionals, with knowledge and expertise in broadcasting, telecoms, IT, hardware, software, baseband and IP network technology.
In this new series, we wanted to give you the chance to get to know some of our Architects personally.
What is your current role?
My current position is Director of Quality and Compliance, and a key part of my role is helping to make Nevion a great place to work for our colleagues and striving to ensure that we’re the best business partner we can be for our customers and suppliers. I get a huge amount of satisfaction from my role, and a big part of that is the people I work with.
What attracted you to join Nevion as part of your career journey?
I’ve always been proud to be both Polish and European, so for me it was really important to work in a multicultural environment. I also wanted to work at an organization where collaboration was at the forefront, so I was delighted to find Nevion and tick both of those boxes!
How has your role progressed whilst you’ve been at Nevion?
I initially began as Quality Coordinator to assist our VP of Quality just over ten years ago, and since then I’ve been on an exciting upward journey, moving to Senior Quality Coordinator and then Quality Assurance Director, before becoming Director of Quality and Compliance. We recently established a new department based around our people culture and quality initiatives, which is led by Heidi Mello Stavnar, our Chief People Officer. While my role is the same, this change means that we now provide more direct support to the management team and help bring greater visibility of Nevion’s working culture to other departments.
How would you describe your role at Nevion in just three words?
It’s tricky to keep it to just three words, but I’m going to go with coordination, diplomacy and plan-do-check-act (PDCA). Coordination is crucial because I have a responsibility to collaborate with different departments and bring feedback together to build a better working environment for everyone. With different opinions from different directions across the business, adopting a diplomatic approach is also crucial to ensure that everyone is listened to, and I think we have that balance here at Nevion. Lastly following the PDCA management method helps me do the right things in the right way when it comes to my role, particularly in a change-driven industry such as broadcast, and I think it nicely summarizes our company culture too.
What interested you about working in the broadcast industry?
For me it’s the people. We have some brilliantly talented and creative individuals at Nevion who I’ve found to be very inspiring and have helped to widen my perspective. The broadcasting world is quite small but there’s still a wealth of knowledge that can be learnt from the professionals who make up the industry.
Can you tell us about a project you have worked on during your time at Nevion that you are most proud of?
It was too hard to pick out just one so I have to go with two! The first was when Nevion started to outsource some production-related processes to Poland, and I played a key role in devising documentation and process instructions to help train the new Polish team. The whole project was initially scheduled to take place over eight months, but I’m really proud to say that it was successfully completed in six.
With Nevion being a conglomeration of different acquired companies from over the years, I’m also proud of the role I have played in helping to bring together employees, cultures and processes together from other businesses. I’ve helped new joiners understand that we all have common goals and that they are as much a part of the Nevion family as those who are already with us. I also lead the successful project to obtain ISO 9001 quality and 14001 environmental certifications for all the Nevion subsidiaries, that are very important for our business and our customers.
What is your favorite thing about working for Nevion?
I keep saying this, but again, for me, it’s the people. We have a great team here and I’ve made so many close friends over the last ten years. The Nevion culture is based on trust and respect for each other which resonates with me. I think it’s also important to highlight the work-life balance at the organization. We’re able to benefit from flexibility in our working day and it’s abundantly clear that management care about our wellbeing. I really like working at Nevion – dare I say I am a Nevionaholic?
What new innovation excites you the most in the broadcasting world?
One of my passions is the environment, so for me it’s the ability for IP solutions to help decrease the electrical equipment and production resources needed in the broadcasting processes and reduce any waste involved. It’s really exciting to be a part of this as sustainability is increasingly becoming more important in the broadcast industry, and the fact that we’re now part of the Sony Group gives us even more opportunity to scale green solutions and increase their popularity on a global level. I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship between sustainability and the broadcast industry develops in the coming years.
