Pursuing new challenges is what mobilizes Patrícia Relvas, for whom “a positive attitude and celebrating small victories inspires” to go further, delivering more than could be estimated.
In 2011, the current Regional Co-Pilot Cereal Partners of Nestlé & General Mills, completed the AESE Executive MBA. Working with various teams, both local and international, has been one of his main achievements. In this path, in addition to “learning soft skills“, she also highlights the managers who have “marked her by example” and, as a whole, make her the leader she is today.
What are the main milestones in your professional career that contributed to reaching the position you are in?
21 years of experience, officially with two companies, but in reality, with an average of two years per function, has allowed me to grow in terms of skills, both technical and behavioral.
I started my career in consulting at Ernst & Young, as it is a good school for professional reality. Later, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, who gave me an initial boost for 2 and a half years.
During my 18 years at Nestlé, always in the financial area, I had diversified experiences in both business and corporate areas, including an international mission in Barcelona, and participation in an entrepreneurship project.
By integrating different business areas as a Business Controller (Chilled Dairy, Nestlé Nutrition, Confectionery, Dairy, Food, Cereal) I grew in expertise, through the specificities of each portfolio, brand, tools and processes.
The experience in the corporate areas, with the reality of larger teams, allowed me not only to strengthen leadership skills, but also to reinvigorate my technical knowledge (e.g. Control Framework, responsible for the product cost department, responsible for Decision Support, responsible for Corporate Sales Controlling).
Currently, I assume an Iberian position, as Regional Co-Pilot Cereal Partners.
What were your main achievements?
One of my main achievements, linked to the functional skills forum, was the balance between the macro and micro views. On a daily basis, we have to ensure the output in the timings. This in a context of numerous priorities, with limited resources, implies pragmatism without compromising quality. With the background of my experience, I achieved the balance of being able to have an integrated and comprehensive view, and in cases where a deep dive is necessary, to be able to go into more detail.
Working with numerous teams, both in the market and in the region, and in a reality of matrix hierarchy, I consider as one of my main achievements, the learning of soft skills, through managers who have marked me by example.
What are the main lessons that make you the leader you are today?
Challenge ourselves to get out of our comfort zone! Whether it’s a new role, or a participation in a project, it sometimes comes with the butterfly belly feeling, entailing an increased investment of time, to ensure good performance, quickly. But the return of learning by doing is more than the tangible part, as we are building our own employability and attesting that we are capable.
Ensure functional cross involvement! Sometimes, there is the perception that the numbers are from the financial figures. By involving the various stakeholders in the assumptions, in the assessment of risks/opportunities, in the identification/decision-making of measures, we generate a strong sense of shared ownership, to achieve “our” numbers as a team.
What values do you govern yourself by and that you transmit to your teams?
Set an example. Ensuring that actions go beyond the function itself, following principles and values. Generating a climate of trust, in which we can, as a team, proactively, learn from experience, to improve.
Energize & Engage! We dedicate many hours of each day to our work. A positive attitude and celebrating small victories inspires us (and others) to pursue goals and deliver beyond what we thought we could achieve.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
I had the privilege of doing a job rotation, higher than average, but in practice always in the financial area.
Having experiences outside the financial area, even temporarily, could have contributed to an even broader vision, preserving financial strength.
Professionally, how do you see yourself in 5 years?
“The Future Belongs to God”.
There is a world of possibilities!
I don’t want to close the door to new possibilities.
I am available to embrace new challenges.
