The other day I was reading a diary of mine where I had written:
“When I grow up, I want to be an actress or an engineer”
Despite enjoying theatre, Mariana Queiroz never pursued an acting career. But her other dream remained. Her love of mathematics and physics led her to study Industrial Engineering and Management. The wish written in that diary had come true.
Today she works at EDP Distribuição, in the Organisation and Development Department, as part of the information management team. Mariana explains that her position in the company is “quite diverse”, as she works with many teams and departments: “What I do is respond to the needs of each team in the area of information management.”
Mariana joined the company in 2015 through an Approach to Professional Life Internship, but it was in 2018 that she had one of her most enjoyable experiences. It was then that Mariana attended the Distribution School, an EDP University branch aimed at the junior staff of EDP Distribuição.
Created in 2010, the Distribution School aims to preserve, develop and disseminate key knowledge about the business of EDP Distribuição. The training plan consists of four courses: Distribution Challenges, Network Management, Asset Management and Customer Service. Each course has a duration of two to three days, with an interval between courses of two or three months.
Knowledge as a huge advantage
When challenged to talk about the advantages of attending the Distribution School, Mariana does not hesitate to point out that knowledge is a huge asset.
“We live in an era of intense technological revolution and receive a vast amount of information. And becoming knowledgeable with this information is a major challenge. I think that the Distribution School is responding very well to this age of knowledge, this knowledge society. It recognises the importance of expertise, values it and spreads it across the company. This is very important,” she emphasises.
The modules are taught by EDP Distribuição managers, which Mariana finds “very nice”. The high level of manager engagement is always evident and contributes to fostering new relationships and interactions. “Another valuable contribution is networking, because there’s a lot of sharing going on, not only with the people who joined the company in the same year as I did, but also with people who’ve been here a while longer,” affirms Mariana Queiroz.
“The Distribution School is responding very well to this age of knowledge”
What about discovering new talent? This is also possible: “We uncover many hidden talents. For instance, we may be doing a job where we need to create a poster and there’s a colleague who’s very good at drawing. The talents we all possess but don’t show in our daily lives are revealed. We get to know people from a different perspective.”
Getting to know the company as a whole
“I have a story here, a parable. A prince places an elephant in front of six blind men and asks them what’s in front of them. The blind men walk in different directions. One clutches the elephant’s tail, another its belly and another its trunk. When they start trying to describe what’s in front of them, they begin to disagree, and because they don’t listen to each other, they fail to conclude that what’s in front of them is an elephant.”
Mariana uses this short story to explain one of the main objectives of the Distribution School.
“I used to have a more focused perspective of what my work was, a much more individual view. The School helps us gain a more global view of what EDP is, and we begin to see it as a whole. The Distribution School is very dear to EDP and I feel that the managers and directors give it high priority.”
The 27-year-old says that contact with people from different areas helps to create a clearer picture of what the company is really about. Nowadays, when Mariana works with another department, she’s aware of aspects she didn’t use to consider before attending the training: “For instance, when I submit a request to the Dispatch and Driving Department, my training in their area has given me insight into their objectives and what they have to take into account. Training helps my colleagues and me with this very aspect; I get to know who works on what, where and how!”
Moreover, Mariana has met people who can help her when she has more specific questions about a subject she’s not very familiar with: “If I have a question, I know there’ll be someone around my own age I can talk to. If I didn’t have that contact, I might feel more embarrassed or not know exactly who I should talk to.”
Giving and receiving
Of the four courses she attended, Mariana says that Network Management was the one she enjoyed the most. Despite recognising it as “very tough,” she considers it to have been “very interesting.” The course involved visits to the call centre and the dispatch centre in Palhavã. Above all, she had the opportunity to learn more about one of the most important assets of EDP Distribuição: the network.
One of the main mottoes of the EDP University is inspired by a phrase attributed to Confucius, a philosopher from Ancient China: “If you don’t know, learn; if you already know, teach.”
Mariana Queiroz doesn’t hide her desire to one day pass on her knowledge and what she’s already learned at EDP Distribuição to other trainees. And that moment may not be that far away!
At that point, she’ll go to Sacavém with a new purpose. She will then meet people who have recently joined the EDP Distribuição family and are looking to learn more. More people like Mariana, people who will also have written their dreams on the pages of innocent diaries when they were children.