Meet Me In A Minute: Monique Richards, Aquent Australia's Digital Solutions Director

What is your role at Aquent?

Australian Digital Solutions Director, based in our Melbourne office.

What does your role involve day-to-day?

Working with a team of passionate and dedicated Account Directors and Senior Managers to design, implement and support the transformation of our clients' businesses using the most valuable resource – PEOPLE!

What are your top 3 tips for managing a remote team?

Meaningful engagements: the connections you have with your team need to have purpose — you don't need to “check in or check up” on people you trust.
Use tools to help you work smarter. Let technology help you out — Monday.com, #Slack, Trello are all great tools — the easier you can access the information you need the less time you spend following up to see if things are on-track or complete.
Be human: kids, pets, partners and undies drying in the background are part of our world right now. Give your team the space to be themselves — no one needs to be cautious or anxious in their own home when speaking with their manager — embrace and support your team.

Why do you love what you do?

I'm that annoying child that always asked (and continues to ask) ‘why'. In my role I'm able to work with a huge variety of clients and ask them why they do the things they do and work with them to enhance the experience. No two days are the same for me and a MASSIVE bonus for me is that the amount of admin I have to do is minimal, which is AMAZING, because I am terrible at it (just ask our Managing Director, Alex Kenning!).

Describe your ideal client relationship?

I love working with clients who are passionate about what they do and the company they work for. Sitting down with someone and having a great honest conversation where all the cards are on the table about their challenges and journey sets the tone. Most of the projects I work on roll out over years so it's important that we work well together — also if they also have a doggo who can join in on calls that also gets them extra brownie points!

In your role, you need to do a lot of pitches to very senior people in organisations, what are your top 3 tips for success?

Be your authentic self. No-one likes an over zealous sales person talking at them
Tailor your pitch and content for your audience. No copy paste!
NO death by visual aids. Good meaningful content is king. A great solutions presentation should be like telling a story — one with a positive outcome for the ‘listener'.

How does Aquent's digital solutions offering differ from recruitment and what are the benefits to companies?

We realised that we know some of the best humans in the business, and it was time to take those amazing minds and build out something that was accessible to clients in a scalable and flexible model.

Let's be very honest here, most clients know and understand the challenges they face and they have a great foundation of how to tackle this. Our blended model is built to support and enable this. It allows them to access some of the best consultants in their respective fields, engage static or contingent teams to execute projects or BAU campaigns and work with us to upskill their existing workforce to evolve and excel in an ever demanding digital world.

All of this is supported by our outstanding recruitment brand and team of talent legends who consistently meet and bring people into our closed network of experts: ‘the enemies of average'.

When you're not working, what do you love doing?

Once the laptop closes I love nothing more than spending time with my family! My partner and I have two kids under 4, two dogs and a goldfish! It's a full on-household with lots of activities, lots of adventures, lots of noise and lots of dancing in the lounge in nothing but our matching PJ's and Oodies!

How do people get in touch with you?

You can email me at [email protected] or send me a message on LinkedIn – I'm always down to have a conversation with people in our industry.

Aquent News (19)

About the author

As the Managing Director, my role is to continually review, develop, diversify and grow our business in Australia. Looking at our strategic direction, financial management (budgeting, financial forecasting, P&L, etc), people management, local sales and marketing, talent acquisition, retention and performance management. I'm an enthusiastic, positive and high impact leader with a proven ability to inspire high performing teams. I have over 15 years experience across general management, solutions focused sales, operations, finance and workforce solutions within multinational businesses. What I love: communicating and connecting with my colleagues and our clients to create the ultimate partnership. I'm good at: future-focused thinking, streamlining business operations, driving growth and inspiring high-performing sales teams. I have demonstrated experience in creating a client-centric approach along with implementing financial controls, productivity improvements and change management. What inspires me: my team, results, high energy, a growth mindset and positivity. What is my leadership style: I like to lead with integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude. I'm passionate, energetic, genuine and decisive and I look to establish a strong rapport with all of our staff both locally and internationally. What are my strengths: a deep understanding of the APAC region, identifying opportunities for growth, strategy, storytelling, people and culture and P&L management. Who I am outside of work: a partner, a very hands-on mum to three amazing tiny humans and fur pawrent to the world's laziest border collie! As someone with a ridiculous (and somewhat annoying) amount of energy, I can usually be found at the gym, the beach, on a trampoline, soccer field or on a climbing frame hoping to out-energise my kids!