— Nuno Bonito Receives the OKIN Diamond Eagle Award!
We sat down with Nuno Bonito, Department Manager at OKIN, to get his take on what it was like to receive the OKIN Diamond Eagle Award.
Read our conversation below!
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When did you join the company?
January 16th , 2012.
Can you talk a little bit about your journey at OKIN?
I started off in the customer service department as a Junior Representative, promoted to Senior Representative right after my trial period, six months after the department had grown significantly and I was promoted to Team Leader. Fast forward 2 years, and with further department growth, I took the role of Senior Team Leader. Towards the end of 2016, I was given the opportunity to manage an equipment engineering department, something which I am doing until now with great satisfaction. Very proud of my team leaders and all engineers that day after day produce results. Everyone is very focused on quality and I am lucky to have such a large group of capable people around me.
What do you perceive as the biggest change in OKIN between the time you joined and now?
There have been so many in over a decade, to choose one, it has to be the setup and steady growth in workforce numbers as well as customers in San Antonio, Texas.
What is the biggest challenge for you in this leadership position, managing your own team?
I don’t lead the department alone. We (myself and my team leads) always try to mitigate risks as well as anticipate client needs, however. And in particular, these last 2 years we are literally watching history in the making, with Covid and the war in Ukraine. These events are beyond our control and unpredictable, so it is important to keep a cool head and focus on the tasks ahead of us. As our CEO wrote last year, and to quote Charles R. Swindoll, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react“.
You take part in a lot of OKIN Spirit activities, what motivates you to do that?
Others that had been more active than me in the past have left over the years, so I felt it was not only necessary but also my duty to get involved more. Company culture is crucial and nowadays working from home, we must focus on keeping social interactions with colleagues beyond work duties. Also the fact that several others and particularly within the department I lead (too many to name), take ownership and participate in OKIN Spirit activities motivates me in this direction.
What does Diamond Eagle Recognition mean to you personally?
Anyone that takes pride in their work appreciates recognition. It’s human nature. Interestingly enough, one of the reasons for me to get this reward (perhaps the key deciding factor), was the fact that I mentioned OKIN Agency at dinner to a friend and that turned unexpectedly into a new customer for OKIN! This just goes to show that it is important to promote our company and when possible, make others aware of the great things we do, you never know where that will end up. Another reason why this reward is so meaningful to me is a funny one: the eagle is my favorite animal and Benfica which is the football club (soccer for our US colleagues) I support from childhood, has it as their symbol and mascot. So, the fact that I get to tell other Benfica fans I got a Diamond Eagle award from work? To me, that is priceless 😊.
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Congratulations, Nuno!
