Determination and empathy: the story of a female team

One of the Agile rooms at Enel Energia that is crucial for improving customer experience is the Digital Performance Room. Its goal is to study and analyze users’ purchasing experience on the Enel Energia portal to make it increasingly smooth and easy. The ingredients of this project launched by the Digital Channels Team are challenge, talent, discussion and expertise. For some time now, Enel Energia has embraced the Agile philosophy, an organization that deconstructs traditional corporate standards and enhances non-hierarchical and informal work rooms, where the synergic exchange of skills makes the difference.

However, the Digital Performance Room is not only an excellent example of applying the Agile methodology to complex tasks, but also a model of female leadership, with a team made up of people with different backgrounds and experiences.

Leading the team of solution architects, business analysts and developers is product owner Priscilla Martella, 34 years old, with a degree in International Business and a thesis on the development of renewable energy in Malaysia and China. «I opened a paper atlas in my grandmother’s living room, she asked me: Priscilla, but where is Malaysia? Even today, there is a pen mark on the route from Rome to Kuala Lumpur». Energy and movement are the key words to describe her, determination and decisiveness the distinctive signs of her leadership. Before joining Enel Energia, she worked in a multinational company and at the launch of a startup, heterogeneous but essential experiences for her «attitude for ferment, drive and positivity». She joined the Digital Channels area when it was still called Web Sales and now manages the room’s activity 360 degrees. Working with her are Mariapaola Linfante and Roberta De Martino, both under 30. Their distinctive traits: preparation and precision, creativity and ingenuity.

Mariapaola studied marketing at LUISS University in Rome, her professional experiences have always been digitally oriented, and within the Room at Enel Energia she follows activities aimed at encouraging online subscriptions through digital advertising and customer communications, and she is constantly working to create new digital products. Roberta graduated from Bocconi University in Milan, approaching social media in a communication agency and later joining a multinational company. Her focus is making the subscription experience easy both for customers who sign a contract autonomously and for those who need assistance.

The tasks of Mariapaola and Roberta, like those of the other room members, are always intertwined and interconnected. «Working in an agile environment helps to revitalize and catalyze energy and direct it toward the same goal», explains Priscilla Martella, «People with specific skills, broad delegation and decision-making responsibility enter the room. It is a different way of working that spreads trust and awareness of being able to make a difference, to contribute to a shared goal. It is impossible to work agile and have a rigid, conservative mentality. It is a matter of attitude and cultural approach». There are no hierarchies: the spirit, as Mariapaola recounts, «is based on sharing and mutual support. The effect is that we have fun working, and in this way the most innovative ideas and solutions come to life». The model encourages speed, flexibility, discovery and learning paths. In Priscilla’s words: «From when you think of something to when you realize it, much less time passes».

«I had a kind of fear entering a team composed almost entirely of women», recounts Mariapaola. Then, the ability to recognize and support each other's skills allowed awareness to grow: empowerment is female. «We found the right balance thanks to the empathy that developed and the willingness to accept each other with personal strengths and weaknesses». Same approach for Roberta: «Gender does not matter, people matter, though it is true that the ability to create synergies and make everyone feel comfortable is particularly developed among women. It is a matter of attitude, of attention to people». Priscilla echoes her: «A woman has a more empathetic leadership style, with the ability to put herself in others' shoes, to go beyond». Corporate policies support work-life balance. Priscilla, recently returned after her second maternity leave, finds smart working an ally to balance private and professional life: «time must be quality time, not quantity, so it fosters a mindset that always predisposes you to give something extra». This is the experience of the room, this is the style of a team where women make the difference.