PUMA employee smiling

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR PAST CHALLENGES?

"I like to work with challenges and getting outside my comfort zone. In my experience, that’s one of the best ways to develop and learn."

Pia joined PUMA in 2010 as a leader in marketing & communications. Having worked in a variety of companies and cultures, she is used to facing and overcoming challenges. We asked her for some practical tips on rising to those challenges.

PUMA employees

CHALLENGES MEAN FACING THE UNKNOWN

There have been a couple of times in my career where I thought, “Wow –How on earth should I get this going?” Looking back on these moments, it felt like a mix of excitement to create something new and fear of the unfamiliar.

I have gone through these experiences in my career, and I found a way to deal with challenges and get going. So here is my advice on how to work with challenges:

Mind Map

HOW TO APPROACH THE CHALLENGE

1. Create a mind-map with everything that’s spinning in your head. Having it on paper makes things clearer.

2. Starting from the mind-map, look into the areas where you need more information or knowledge. Then start digging to find the information you need. Ask questions and keep asking if you don’t understand. Tap into all resources like colleagues, interviews, off- and online research.

3. Write a project brief based on your finding and the briefing you received from your stakeholders.

PUMA employees having coffee

4. Share the project brief with your key stakeholders. Sit down with them and review. (It’s not always so easy to get their time and attention, but insist on it) Why is this important? It’s an easy way for you to see if you are heading in the right direction, can buy-in and build a personal relationship. This way you get valuable feedback. And you can see if you and your stakeholders can agree on the goal and outline of the project.

5. Based on all the feedback you get, create a final project brief, get your team set-up and the budget approval – and you are ready to go.

6. And my final piece of advice: Take the time to really do this. Then, all the execution will be so much easier and fun.