In this round of our Leadership-in-Focus series, we caught up with Ritu Rodrigues, AVP, Customer Experience and avid plant enthusiast (she has 25+ varieties of plants in her home garden!). Ritu brings her rich and diverse experience in eCommerce to Plural by Pine Labs. Let’s dive in!
About Ritu Rodrigues
- Introduce yourself to our readers
Hi, I’m Ritu Rodrigues, Associate Vice President of Customer Experience here at Plural by Pine Labs. I am a Commerce graduate from Mumbai University. I’ve worked in the eCommerce industry with names such as ebay, TimesofMoney and Croma, before taking up a role at Plural by PineLabs.
- Tell us a bit about your role here at Plural as AVP, Customer Experience
Well, I manage and provide direction to the Support Services team in overseeing Plural operations and all support related functions. My job is to continually improve merchant experience.
- What does a day in your life look like?
On a typical day, I plan, organize and direct activities for developing, implementing and maintaining effective operational controls.
We also stay connected with our merchants and work very closely with them. Each interaction is monitored and processed for further improvements. Having a #customerfirst mindset has helped us achieve great results.
Ritu’s Plural journey
- What’s been your experience working on Plural?
The degree of freedom I have regarding what I want to work on is spectacular! I am always out of my comfort zone here. I always know how I can improve. It helps me grow and learn faster.
- What about Plural excites you?
Providing a seamless experience for a complex payment use-case is very exciting to me.
- How is Plural positioned to take on the future of fintech?
We work tirelessly to eliminate any friction in our product and make it more trusted. In the days to come, you will see simplicity meet technology.
Ritu’s approach to Leadership
- Share with us your approach to business planning, decision making and problem solving.
I have always believed people are your true asset. Investing in your people is investing in the future of your business.
As far as an approach, the brainstorming approach works for me. On our brainstorming days, we’re huddled in a room, working to break down problems and give everyone in the room a voice. The more input you allow, the greater potential you have for finding the best solution.
- How do you keep your team motivated?
I follow one simple trick – establish clear goals and a vision for the team. If you’re assigning tasks and projects to your team, ensure they know what the end goal is, what is expected of them and the deadline to work towards. Then trust them to deliver what you have asked — that means no micromanaging!
- What’s something unique that you do as a team?
We connect every Friday for our “Shout-out and Gratitude” session where each member appreciates a colleague who has supported or inspired him/her during the week and share gratitude for something good in their personal lives. This creates a culture of empathy which increases trusts and drives better business results.
- What advice would you give managers and leaders today?
Hire the best team, even though it may be one of the hardest and most time-consuming things you can do but do it well, and you’ll have amazing results. One wrong person will bring major issues. Every part of the business comes down to the people.
Wrapping Up
Thanks, Ritu for sharing your Plural journey and your two cents on leadership. The #customerfirst approach has put the customer front and center of everything we do here at Plural.
Additionally, your approach to leadership has a few valuable lessons for us. Personally, I love how much you believe in giving each one in your team a chance to voice their opinions.
“The more input you allow, the greater potential you have for finding the best solution.”
Read more from our Leadership-in-Focus series here:
- 14 questions with Sivashankar Thiyagarajan, Vice-President, Engineering
- 14 questions with Akshay Kohli, Vice-President of Sales
Amrita Konaiagari is a Marketing Manager at Plural by Pine Labs and Editor of the Plural blog. She has over 10 years of marketing experience across Media & Tech industries and holds a Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. She has a passion for home décor and is most definitely a dog person.
