“Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot that goes on behind that seemingly silent reception desk. It could be as mammoth as managing a 100 strong event at the venue or a crucial client conference or as minute as getting the air-conditioning fixed or managing a small client delivery”.
One day in the life of a front office champion
We liken front office executives to swans, who are always poised, charming and calm on the outside even as they are pedalling ragingly hard underneath the surface as the backbone of organizations across the globe
We catch up with the sprightly and dynamic Rubaina Wasi, the front office champion at Garage Society, a fast-growing global coworking chain and a proud member of the Veris customer clan. Let’s see what she had to say.
What does your role entail?
Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot that goes on behind that seemingly silent reception desk. My work encompasses a 360-degree view of departments and activities across the organization. It could be as mammoth as managing a 100 strong event at the venue or a crucial client conference or as small as getting the air-conditioning fixed or managing a client delivery. This role ranges across various functions from ensuring accuracy of invoices to managing client complaints to guiding visitors or ensuring a smooth flow of meeting room bookings. My role also extends beyond my own immediate duties to filling in for community managers in their absence.
How do you manage to play several roles effortlessly and switch between them with such ease?
I would owe the credit of this skill to my past work experience. Over the past, I have worked in several different roles ranging from customer support, content writing, event management, and marketing to name a few. This has helped me garner different kinds of skill sets that are required for the roles I play today. I leverage these different skill sets in my current role. For example – customer support taught to be efficient ways of grievance redressal which I use with clients today. Event management taught me the crucial skill of multitasking which is central to my role today. These myriad learnings have come together to prepare me for the multi-faceted role I play today.
Is multitasking a myth of a reality?
I strongly believe that multitasking is possible. The intensity of tasks at hand determines how easy or difficult it is to multi-task. For example, managing a large scale event and simultaneously creating a new process for meeting room scheduling would be difficult since both tasks are of substantial nature. On the other hand, managing a new client entry alongside a small delivery would be a cakewalk. Prioritization and process are key to great multi-tasking. To set scalable and standardized processes as well as prioritize the important over the urgent.
What do you like most about your job?
The best part of my job and meeting and engaging with new people. They are what keeps me fulfilled. My job allows me the opportunity to meet and interact with people from many different walks of life from corporate clients and technology, vendors to entrepreneurs and artists. Life behind the desk never gets boring.
Describe a typical day in 3 words.
Encapsulating my day in 3 words is definitely a tricky task but let me try.
- Unpredictable – You never know what’s coming next and I love that. I am constantly thinking on my feet and solving one problem after another.
- Fascinating – I meet new and interesting people each day and this makes life so much more fascinating.
- Fun – Engaging with hundreds of people in events, sparking meaningful discussions and debates all under one roof.
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