Robin

Robin began her journey with CIBC in 2009 as a personal banking representative for what was PC Financial at the time. She was part of the mid-level sales queue for front-line representatives. Robin has been a part of both the Solutions and Internal queues, where she worked on both service and fraud. In 2013, Robin was keen for more leadership opportunities and worked as a coach to new hires as well as in support roles for about a year. She moved back to the queue till 2019, before returning to her current Team Lead role. Her current role is her favorite. She loves “being able to help employees grow professionally; help them to set goals and attain them; help them to improve their performance and really drive them to provide excellent service. I am focused on client experience above all else and making sure all our metrics and KPIs lead to that.” She believes that this client centric approach has been more central than ever since CIBC has shifted to a purpose-driven organization focused on making clients’ ambitions a reality. She says, “It’s all we talk about, and it’s such a huge focus. It’s always about what makes sense for your client – have a good conversation and never push them into something that doesn’t make sense.”

Regarding her career path, Robin says you have to determine the kind of work that inspires you to prepare for where you want to go within the bank. Being part of the Contact Centre motivates her because of the real connections she gets to build. She says, “the biggest thing for me that I keep top of mind is that the person you’re talking to has struggles and families and a life just like you. Keeping all that in mind drives the empathy, allowing us to do what’s best and have those sometimes lifechanging conversations. Clients will open up when you create that rapport with them, and you can make a real impact on someone’s life because nothing causes more stress in life than money so it’s all about building that relationship.”

Robin is grateful for the leadership she’s had on her career journey thus far at CIBC. She praises the leaders for providing open and honest feedback on the skills she needed to develop to do her Team Lead role and setting her up for success. She mentions, “Open and honest communication can be difficult, especially in the moment, but looking back now I’m so grateful for the leaders being honest with me. That allowed me to take a step back and grow professionally. If I had been pushed ahead without those skills, I would have been set up for failure. With open communication, it allowed me to take a couple of years to develop those skills and my leadership capability to get back to the role. If it wasn’t for constructive feedback, I would have failed.”

Another aspect Robin is very proud of is the diversity and inclusion efforts at CIBC. She says, “Inclusion has always been something I’m very proud of. I’ve always felt welcome, included and appreciated for my contributions as an employee and a person. It makes me so proud to be part of an organization that’s so involved in LGBTQ community, and now with our CEO taking an active role in tackling anti-black racism, encouraging all of us to have those uncomfortable conversations. It’s great to be part of an organization that is willing to take a stand and willing to say Black Lives Matter.” Robin mentions that she did not feel she had more or less opportunity because of her sexual orientation. She was treated equal in all situations and that’s something great!