Interviewee Name: Helga Iliadis, Assistant Deputy Minister
Company Name: ServiceOntario
Website: http://www.ServiceOntario.ca
Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Helga Iliadis: I was born in Germany and have been living in Canada since I was two. I'm currently married to an incredible Greek gentleman, 37 years this coming September. We have two sons, and my career for the past 39 years has been completely focused on customer service.
Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?
Helga Iliadis: I get up with the birdies at 5 am and that's because I commute to Toronto. When I get there I pretty much immerse myself in work that I love throughout the day and then I look forward to returning home to my family in the evening. On the weekends I catch up with friends and family.
Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
Helga Iliadis: For me that's quite simple, I love what I do, and I thoroughly enjoy the people that I work with so that is where the motivation comes from.
Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
Helga Iliadis: if I had something that I could do over I would probably work harder at life balance. Over the years as my career evolved I wasn't always able to spend those precious quiet moments with my boys. I also wasn’t able to invest in my own health and relaxation as much as I could have. I think if I had to do it all over again that's what I would focus on.
Avil Beckford: What's the most important business or other discovery you've made in the past year?
Helga Iliadis: I've just been privileged this past year to join the public service for the very first time. It's a wonderful opportunity and the discovery I've made is that I have definitely confirmed that any notion of a comfy government job is a myth. The depth of change that is happening in the public service arena is really quite transformative.
Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?
Helga Iliadis:
- I'd say not uniquely, global fiscal issues.
- The finite resources of time and energy are always the biggest challenges that any one of us can face in the business arena.
And the most practical strategies that I find for dealing with the those challenges are to engage the powerful knowledge and skills of all the people that we work with and with their help correctly prioritize what we are going to focus our time and energy on.
Avil Beckford: What unique about the service that you provide?
Helga Iliadis: In my current role I support a team that delivers government services to Ontario residents in a rather groundbreaking way. We are on a journey to integrate customer service across various ministries and even orders of government. That has never been done, I don't think to this degree anywhere else in the world, so it's really quite exciting.
Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?
Helga Iliadis: I had a very hard time picking ONE major challenge. When I think about my life I think every significant life event whether personal or business related posed both a challenge and an opportunity. So for example early in my life deciding to share my life with someone, then later on becoming a parent, also taking on any business challenge. I think the lessons that I have learned are to embrace the challenges along with opportunities, to focus on the elements that are within my control, and to choose behaviours that are more likely to help me achieve my goals.
Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.
Helga Iliadis: I was in my very first leadership role and a lovely woman became my mentor before I even understood that the concept existed. She acknowledged my leadership strengths and encouraged me to broaden my horizons, and she opened a completely new door for me, one that I didn't even consider myself, and it was my first assignment to become a leader of leaders. And that has helped to shape the rest of my business career. I'm very grateful to her.
Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?
Helga Iliadis: It's hard to focus on just one because over the span of a career there are many failures, and every one of them is a valuable learning experience. I would say that I learned very early on in my leadership career about the dangers of jumping to conclusions without gathering the facts about a given situation. My heart tends to rule my head, so I have to admit that this continues to be an area of focus for me. I always have to discipline myself to seek the facts of a given situation before leaping towards a solution and when I do that I find that the facts are unarguable, unemotional and they help to guide me to an effective solution the first time around versus the more painful and time-consuming process of elimination. That first happened for me as a brand-new leader working with my very first team. I can remember that vividly and it's a lesson that has stuck with me over the years.
Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?
Helga Iliadis: It was the first time I considered changing my employer. I’d had the blessing of working with one employer, a large company, Bell. I had enjoyed multiple careers within a career and frankly I had never considered working anywhere else. And I wasn't even sure after all of that time that my particular skills and background would hold appeal with a broader marketplace. An opportunity did come and I found to my surprise and delight that indeed the skills I had learned were transferable, and with that I have never looked back.
Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?
Helga Iliadis:
- My birth because it was the fundamental gift of life for me.
- My upbringing because it helped to shape me.
- The formation of my family.
And this continues to challenge me day in and day out.
Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?
Helga Iliadis: Making a positive difference in others’ lives is what makes life meaningful. It's a small legacy that I hope to leave behind when I go. In my career journey it has been a surprise and a revelation when I have the opportunity to help someone else recognize their true potential and then support them as they strive to fully realize that potential, that’s the source of great pride and joy to me.
Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?
Helga Iliadis: I have had a few mentors over the years. I have been privileged. What they have shared in common is that they have encouraged me, supported and advised me, and opened up new ways of thinking, as well as new ways of doing for me. That would have been their key gifts.
Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?
Helga Iliadis: The most powerful one was to believe in yourself and you can accomplish virtually anything.
Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?
Helga Iliadis: Be grateful for the skills and talents you’ve been blessed with and honour those gifts by striving every day to make the most of them, that would be my advice.