He fell into his chosen field by accident, but Albert Ng, CMEPP Lead, Proposals and Reporting, has embraced a unique talent for data analysis and reporting. Now, as a leader, he still welcomes the chance to step in and assist his team whenever needed and applies a continuous learning mindset to every challenge.
Albert, can you tell me a bit about your role?
My main responsibilities are managing the proposals and reporting team who analyze equipment service contracts. I tackle the complex and large-scale contracts such as MSAs (multi-service agreements) since they have the most moving parts and have specific and unique business needs.
Another core responsibility is creating reports that provide insights into root cause analysis, trend analysis and different scenarios that answer questions and help our Participants make business decisions around their equipment. One of the most satisfying parts of my job is stepping in and helping the team with whatever they need.
What drew you to this kind of work?
To be honest, I fell into it. After leaving university, I didn’t know what to do. Through the magical power of family connections, I landed my first real job as a Business Analyst. From there, it was a matter of grinding and learning on the job. I owe a lot to my previous employer for giving me the time and space to learn everything that I know now. The work itself – doing analysis, understanding the why of what’s going on and planning a path forward – it just fits.
What are the most rewarding parts of your job?
I love seeing things work out. It’s cool to see people take your thoughts to heart, act on them, and then get the results you were hoping for.
As you’ve moved into management, what skills have been most valuable to you?
I think resource management has helped. Our team’s workload changes throughout the year so when times get tough, being able to effectively split off work amongst ourselves so we’re all working on items that are best suited to our skills and experience has helped us through. As well, since I was originally an analyst on this team and know our processes, reports, business requirements and so on, I’m able to step in and assist wherever possible, offering guidance or taking on a task.
You recently implemented some continuous learning approaches that have helped your team and other CMEPP employees as well. Can you talk about why you’re a strong believer in continuous learning?
It’s not anything particularly original but I’ve been taking advantage of our online work environment to record and then edit our training sessions. This means others can watch what is often an impromptu webinar.
The reality is that everything, not just organizations, evolve over time. The landscape you work in changes and things that you thought worked in the past no longer do. As a result, we need to continue to learn so that we’re able to adapt in the right ways. Whether it’s new technologies or a new process, we need to keep ourselves informed. Being informed gives us the power to identify gaps in processes, understand the potential and the pitfalls of a business case, pursue new ways of doing something. If you’re not continuing to learn, you’re going to be left behind.
